One Timer getting rest ahead of 3-year-old campaign

One Timer has run for the last time in 2021.

The 2-year-old gelding won an Arlington maiden race in his career debut before shipping to Woodbine to capture the Victoria Stakes on July 31. Trainer Larry Rivelli trained One Timer in Chicago before shipping to California, where One Timer won the Speakeasy Stakes on Oct. 1, running his record to 3 for 3 and earning a start in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint on Nov. 5. There, under 54-year-old jockey E.T. Baird, One Timer disputed the early pace but faded to seventh as a 9-1 shot.

“He didn’t run as good as we thought,” Rivelli said. “He was getting out a little on the turn. I don’t know if it was too tight or if they went too fast for him. We went over him with a fine-toothed comb and he’s perfect. We’ll turn him out bring him back next year as a 3-year-old. He’s traveled all over the place, that horse. I don’t know if he’s necessarily a turf horse – he’s just a good horse. Think he wants to go three-quarters or seven-eighths more than five furlongs,” the distance of the BC Juvenile Turf Sprint.

Baird was fined $5,000 for violating California whip rules in the race and has appealed the penalty, Rivelli said.

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Rivelli has close to 100 horses bedded down at Hawthorne, where he is racing more sparingly than at Arlington, which has been the annual focus of Rivelli’s season for years. Arlington isn’t racing in 2022, and Rivelli will need to come up with a new summer plan, but for now he is set to divide his stable between Turfway Park and Gulfstream Park with plans to ship out of Hawthorne in late December

Purr Sea eyes Ill. Debutante

Three-year-old filly Cat Attack turned in a disappointing performance finishing seventh in the Illini Princess Stakes on Oct. 23 at Hawthorne, but her 2-year-old half-sister Purr Sea did much better in the Showtime Deb Stakes on Nov. 6.

Purr Sea, sent to the lead by Rocco Bowen, drew clear for a 3 1/2-length victory in the $64,000 Showtime Deb for Illinois-bred 2-year-old fillies. By Midshipman out of Kitty’s Castle, Purr Sea romped on Arlington Polytrack in her career debut before contesting the pace and fading to finish a solid third in the Arlington-Washington Lassie. The Showtime Deb marked her first dirt start, but the filly had trained well at Hawthorne, trainer Michelle Boyce said.

“She’s a competitive little thing. I thought she’d handle it,” said Boyce, who trains Purr Sea for her breeders, Steve and Diane Holland.

Purr Sea remains in training at Hawthorne since she is eligible for the Pat Whitworth Illinois Debutante, a two-turn dirt race in December.

“I don’t know if she wants to go that far, but we’ll try it,” Boyce said.

Boyce initially was uncertain what she’d do with her stock this winter and was a late applicant for stall space at Tampa Bay Downs. If granted space, she said she’ll ship there sometime in December.

The day after Purr Sea’s race, Wildwood Sicilian won the $64,000 Sun Power Stakes for Illinois-bred 2-year-olds, skipping home by four lengths over Fast Jack. Scott Becker trains the homebred son of Ghaaleb and the Storm Boot mare Sicilian for owner William Stiritz.

◗ Several sunny and unseasonably warm days will help extend Hawthorne’s grass racing season, and Friday’s featured third race (post time 4:06 p.m. Central) is a five-furlong grass sprint. Lily’s Woofy, whose trainer, Wayne Catalano, won the Breeders’ Cup Sprint with Aloha West last weekend, is the most likely winner.