One Timer gets his Kentucky Downs prep in Robert Molaro

It will have taken 210 days for One Timer and Nobals, crack turf sprinters trained by Larry Rivelli, to make their first start during 2024. All that time, and the pair returns to action on the same day, Sunday, Nobals in a Saratoga allowance race, One Timer in the $100,000 Robert Molaro Stakes at Hawthorne, Rivelli’s home track.

One Timer, who has the rail and David Cohen named to ride, is one of nine entered in the Molaro, a five-furlong turf sprint that will go with no more than eight runners after losing Nobals. While Nobals won the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint, One Timer had a strong if somewhat frustrating four-start 2023 campaign. Third at Woodbine in the Highlander Stakes in July, One Timer’s main seasonal goal was the $1 million Turf Sprint in September at Kentucky Downs, where he’d won the Franklin-Simpson Stakes a year before. One Timer missed by a head.

“One Timer is doing awesome. I think both horses might be a little better this year,” Rivelli said.

One Timer aired in his June 2021 debut at Arlington Park but never has raced at Hawthorne. The Molaro long has been the intended spot for One Timer’s comeback, with a return trip to the Turf Sprint at Kentucky Downs the major summer target.

:: Bet the races with a $200 First Deposit Match + FREE All Access PPs! Join DRF Bets.

“This might be a little short for him, but over here, with the long stretch, it should be okay,” said Rivelli, who plans to keep strategy simple breaking from the fence. “Go, go, go. I got him sitting on blast off. He’s ready to roll.”

With Nobals absent, One Timer figures to be favored, but Kentucky shipper Mischievous Rogue rates a solid chance, and Mark of the Z isn’t without hope.

Mischievous Rogue exits a strong-closing second-place finish in the $224,000 Mighty Beau, a five-furlong turf sprint June 8 at Churchill Downs. He races for the first time since being purchased by Paradise Farms and David Staudacher and moved from trainer William Cowans into the barn of Mike Maker. A one-run closer, Mischievous Rogue needs someone to keep One Timer honest on the lead. If he gets pace help, he can rally to victory.

Mark of the Z, a one-time $5,000 claimer beaten a neck last fall at Keeneland by Mischievous Rogue, hasn’t raced on the Hawthorne grass course since the summer of 2020. He went 2 for 2 over the local lawn and his stalking style will at least get him first run on Mischievous Rogue – if not first place in the Molaro.

Lady Carey

If only one of Riley’s Redemption and Moonlit Lady was entered in the Lady Carey Stakes on Sunday at Hawthorne, you could easily envision that filly posting a front-running victory. The presence of both serious pace players might be all Oeuvre needs to win for the 17th time in 30 starts.

Those three horses comprise one-third of the entrants in the Lady Carey, a five-furlong turf sprint. And getting back to turf sprinting, what she does best, can get Oeuvre back to her best.

Oeuvre, an Illinois-bred win machine trained for breeder Richard Perkins by Chris Block, has started six times during 2024 but only twice in short grass races. At Fair Grounds in February, racing over a wet course, she ran into Ova Charged, who delivered a powerful front-running victory that preceded her 113 Beyer Speed Figure in a Louisiana-bred turf-sprint stakes and a Grade 3 win in the Unbridled Sidney at Churchill Downs. At Keeneland in April, racing on another wet surface, Oeuvre didn’t have a great trip and never really got untracked, finishing eighth in the Giant’s Causeway.

In her most recent start, June 6, Oeuvre finished a distant second to front-running winner Katie M’Lady while carrying 130 pounds in a two-turn Hawthorne turf race.

“I’ve always felt that she can go two turns, but she’s better around one turn, and getting back to a turf sprint is a good thing,” Block said.

Oeuvre has raced without much of a break since May 2022. The question is whether subpar recent form comes with excuses or is a sign that Oeuvre needs real rest.

“She’s happy, she trains good, she eats good. I think she’s coming into this her normal self,” said Block, who also runs longshot Faccia Bella. “The question is if and when she’s going to tail off.”

A poor start last out in an Ellis Park turf sprint stakes proved the undoing of lightning-quick Moonlit Lady. She’s drawn outside Riley’s Redemption, an Indiana-bred claimed last fall for $40,000 by trainer Mike Maker for Nice Guys Stable and Al Bianchi Racing.

The claim came because Riley’s Redemption had scarcely been tried on turf and was coming off a sharp grass-sprint score at Horseshoe Indianapolis. Maker gave her an extended break and brought her back June 18 at Horseshoe, where set a wicked pace and crushed a field of second-level turf-sprint allowance foes.

Ouevre, at her best, poses a much sterner challenge than anything Riley’s Redemption beat last time. But it’s Riley’s Redemption who’s the fresher horse with greater upside on the day.

:: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.