2021 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint: One Timer has dazzled since early training
One Timer made his career debut June 26 at Arlington Park, but the youngster had strongly advertised his ability beforehand when he first hit the work tab the prior month. That ability has come to fruition as One Timer is one of the leading hopefuls for the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint on Nov. 5 at Del Mar.
“In one of his workouts in Chicago – it was one of the best works I’ve had [with] a horse – ever, ever,” said Larry Rivelli, who trains the Trappe Shot gelding for Patricia’s Hope LLC and Richard Ravin. “And I’ve had a lot of fast young horses, some that [succeed], some that don’t, and this was, by far, the most eye-opening individual work that I’ve seen.
“We see a lot of horses that go fast, but just the way he did it,” Rivelli continued. “Nobody was expecting it, it wasn’t a planned thing. He just went out and covered a lot of ground, and he looked like he was going in a certain time and he was like three seconds faster. It was one of those, ‘Oh, wow. Holy [expletive].’ ”
That doesn’t mean One Timer has been an easy horse to develop from that jaw-dropping youngster into an unbeaten two-time stakes winner.
“We decided early to cut him, because that would make him a better horse, to make him a gelding,” Rivelli said. “And I believe that was absolutely the right move. He’s very, very professional, but we’ve worked with him a little bit. He can be a little bit rambunctious every now and then.”
One Timer won his debut as advertised, coasting by 12 1/2 lengths at Arlington, and then took the Victoria Stakes on July 31 at Woodbine by 3 3/4 lengths, again racing on a synthetic surface. The speedy gelding would attempt to punch his ticket to the Breeders’ Cup with a move to turf in his next start, and his connections selected the Speakeasy Stakes on Oct. 1 at Santa Anita, in the same state as the Breeders’ Cup, as opposed to more convenient options.
“There were three races in the same time frame – one in New York, one in Kentucky, both closer than California,” Rivelli said. “But our plan was to stay out there if we won.”
That plan is in motion. One Timer led throughout to win the Speakeasy, an automatic qualifier for the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint, by three-quarters of a length over Time to Party, missing Belvoir Bay’s course mark by .62 of a second. The gelding has remained in California, filling his mornings with gallops and schooling.
And did his last effort, more hard-fought than his first two starts, take the starch out of him? One Timer returned to the work tab last Friday with a bullet move at Santa Anita.
“That wasn’t by design,” Rivelli said. “I think, once again, the rider didn’t know how fast he was going, and it’s not the rider’s fault, because the horse just does it so easily.”