Nobals kicks off 2024 in stakes-class allowance
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SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Nobals, the 2023 Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint winner, will make his seasonal debut Sunday at Saratoga in a $120,000 stakes-caliber allowance race at 5 1/2 furlongs on turf.
Trainer Larry Rivelli entered Nobals and One Timer, a multiple stakes winner, in both this race and Sunday’s $100,000 Robert Molaro Stakes at Hawthorne. One Timer wound up on the also-eligible list for the Saratoga allowance, making Rivelli’s decision on where to run both horses an easy one.
Nobals, a 5-year-old gelding by Noble Mission, upset the BC Turf Sprint at 12-1 last Nov. 4 at Santa Anita, beating Big Invasion by a neck. That capped a 4-year-old campaign in which he went 4-2-0 from seven starts.
Rivelli said he turned Nobals out shortly thereafter and said his goal was a campaign similar to the second half of last year, when he won three of four starts.
Last July, Nobals won the William Garrett Stakes at Horseshoe Indianapolis. Rivelli had him entered in the William Garrett Stakes earlier this month but scratched him when that race came off the turf.
“He was ready to run 30 days before that,” Rivelli said.
The only race Nobals lost in the second half of 2023 was the Grade 3 Troy, where he was beaten three-quarters of a length by Cogburn, who this year is 2 for 2, including a 3 1/2-length victory in the Grade 1 Jaipur for which he earned a 111 Beyer Speed Figure.
Rivelli said he doesn’t want to face Cogburn before the Breeders’ Cup. Cogburn is targeting the Troy, now a Grade 2 worth $300,000, to be run here Aug. 3.
“Maybe if we meet in the Breeders’ Cup that would be pretty cool,” Rivelli said. “But I don’t want to see him until then.”
Rivelli said there are stakes at Ellis Park, Kentucky Downs, and Colonial Downs that he would likely look at following Sunday’s race.
Sunday’s field includes Thin White Duke, who last year won the Harvey Pack Stakes here and was also third in the Troy, and No Nay Hudson, who is making his first start as a gelding after winning three of his first 10 starts.
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