Grade 2 winner Nobals well spotted for William Garrett
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The trainer Larry Rivelli and Vince Foglia’s Patricia’s Hope LLC came close to winning the Kentucky Derby on May 6, but earlier on the Derby Day card at Churchill Downs, overshadowed by Two Phil’s’ excellent runner-up Derby finish, Rivelli and Patricia’s Hope did win the Grade 2 Turf Sprint. While Two Phil’s has been injured and retired, Turf Sprint winner Nobals swings back into action in the $100,000 William Garrett Handicap on Friday at Horseshoe Indianapolis.
Nobals, a 4-year-old gelding by Noble Mission, is well spotted. He’s drawn sweetly in post 8 among nine horses in the main body of this five-furlong grass contest and with a good break should get an excellent pressing trip. And a good break is likely with E.T. Baird, one of the best gate riders of recent vintage, getting the call. Rivelli and Patricia’s Hope have ridden Baird for years, but the 56-year-old Baird scarcely has ridden during 2023; this will be just his 36th mount of the year.
The William Garrett shares top billing on the Friday card with its $100,000 sister turf sprint, the Clarksville Handicap, as Horseshoe Indianapolis closes in on its biggest race of the season, Saturday’s Indiana Derby. The Garrett is carded as race 8, post time 5:47 Eastern, with the Clarksville to immediately follow. The races are handicaps in name only, with most entrants carrying 121 pounds and only a four-pound spread top to bottom.
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Patricia’s Hope, with an assist from bloodstock agent Steve Leving, purchased Nobals after a winning 2-year-old career debut in July 2021 at Presque Isle Downs. Nobals came right back to win the Arlington-Washington Futurity, then hit a new level during the summer of 2022 before losing his edge at Saratoga in July and Woodbine in August. His second start following an extended layoff yielded the sharp Turf Sprint success, and Nobals, working steadily at Hawthorne, comes to the Garrett a fresh horse on a steady work pattern.
Charcoal, Just Might, and Carotari provide the chief opposition. Horseshoe Indianapolis-loving Charcoal finished second in this race a year ago, won nicely over the local course in May, and ought to get a favorable setup closing into a quick pace. Carotari and Just Might ran poorly behind Nobals in the Turf Sprint but both rebounded in their subsequent starts.
◗ Trainer Cherie DeVaux holds a strong hand in the Clarksville, where she entered the speedy Love and Money as well as Bout Time, the latter the pick to win. Bout Time was third and Love and Money fifth in a third-level turf sprint allowance May 27 at Churchill, but both horses were part of a three-horse show photo. Bout Time did run the better race, as she was stuck behind horses from about the three-furlong marker well into the homestretch before finding room and finishing with a flourish. Bout Time got all the way up to a 96 Beyer Speed Figure winning a Monmouth Park turf sprint stakes last summer and makes just her second start of 2023.
Trainer Brad Cox’s Indiana string as of July 5 was a robust 26-11-5-3 at the Horseshoe Indianapolis meet, and the Cox-trained Goin Good is sure to take action. The 5-year-old exits a fifth-place finish last month going six furlongs in the Grade 3 Intercontinental at Belmont Park and better suits this shorter sprint against somewhat lesser opposition. Goin Good hasn’t started on the local turf course since she won her career debut over it in September 2020.
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