Nobals, the 2023 Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint winner, set a course record while winning an allowance last Saturday at Churchill Downs, an effort that had trainer Larry Rivelli planning a return to the Breeders’ Cup. “For him to do that, now I know he’s back,” Rivelli said. “He had no excuses. That was his race to win and he did it in the way that you want him to.” Nobals led throughout the 5 1/2-furlong sprint against a field of six that also included fellow millionaire and Grade 2-winning stablemate One Timer, as well as multiple stakes-placed Shards. Nobals poured it on in the lane to win by 3 3/4 lengths, stopping the clock in 1:00.96 on a course rated firm. That eclipsed the mark of 1:01.29 set by Queen Maxima in the Grade 3 Unbridled Sidney earlier in the month, although she raced on a course rated good. Nobals earned a 100 Beyer Speed Figure. After his Breeders’ Cup win, Nobals lost three races to open 2024 before he got back in the win column in the Grade 2 Kennedy Road on Woodbine’s synthetic course over Canadian champion Patches O’Houlihan. A trip to Hong Kong followed, but Nobals developed a fever after shipping and was scratched from the Group 1 Hong Kong Sprint. :: Access the most trusted data and information in horse racing! DRF Past Performances and Picks are available now. “I was kicking myself from Day 1 after I sent him out there and he got sick,” Rivelli said. Saturday’s allowance was Nobals’s third start since that misadventure. He was beaten two lengths while seventh in the Gulfstream Park Turf Sprint on a sandy course that didn’t suit him, then battled with multiple graded stakes winner Arrest Me Red through the Big Daddy Stakes at Turfway before finishing second. “His race at Turfway was okay. I thought he would win that race,” Rivelli said. “But when you go that far and then get sick on top of it, you think they’re good, you think they’re fine, but you just don’t ever know until they run.” Rivelli said the ultimate goal for Nobals will be the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint on Nov. 1 at Del Mar. In the interim, he mentioned races at Colonial Downs, where Nobals won the 2023 Da Hoss, or at Kentucky Downs in September as a possibility. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.