Rivelli calls another audible with Nobals in Turf Sprint
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HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – When it comes to Nobals, trainer Larry Rivelli always seems to be calling audibles.
After being forced to scratch from the Hong Kong Turf Sprint in December due to shipping fever and then scratching again from last week’s Duncan Kenner Stakes at Fair Grounds due to a surface switch, Rivelli has shipped Nobals to South Florida for Saturday’s $165,000 Gulfstream Park Turf Sprint scheduled for five furlongs.
“The rest of the country is frozen, it rains every day in Louisiana there’s no place to run him unless I want run him on [synthetic],” Rivelli said.
Gulfstream will be the 13th track at which Nobals has competed. He has won at eight of them, including Santa Anita, where he won the 2023 Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint. He skipped last year’s BC Turf Sprint at Del Mar, ducking the super-fast Cogburn, who finished fifth. Rivelli is targeting this year’s BC Turf Sprint at Del Mar for Nobals.
“He’s about as good as he ever was. There was never an issue with him as far as how he trained or soundness. He’s always been a very sound horse,” Rivelli said.
Rivelli said he would like to have Nobals on the lead in the Gulfstream Park Turf Sprint, though if Yes I Am Free breaks – something he didn’t do last time – that spot could be occupied. Nobals drew post 9 while Yes I Am Free breaks from post 2. Mucho Del Oro, another speed horse who is returning from an eight-month layoff for Doug O’Neill, breaks from post 3.
“We drew well, we’re going to come out of there running. I got [E.T.] Baird on him for a reason,” Rivelli said. “If somebody wants to go crazy inside of him we’ll just sit off of them.”
There are plenty of other speed types, including Coppola, who won the Janus here on Dec. 21 on the lead from post 11 and now has to deal with post 12.
Leading the list of closers is Johnny Podres, an 8-year-old who has raced exclusively in California. He has been shipped to Jose D’Angelo in Florida for his 44th career start and has drawn the rail.
No Nay Hudson, Axthelm, and Reef Runner are other closers who have an upset chance with the right pace scenario.
South Beach Handicap
Tutta La Vita showed a good turn of foot when rallying to finish second in an allowance race that was declared a no-contest due to a spill that occurred early on in the race. If she can transfer that turf form to the synthetic, she could be tough to handle in the $100,000 South Beach, scheduled for one mile and 70 yards on Tapeta.
Tutta La Vita, who made the first 11 starts of her career in her native Australia, broke poorly in that Dec. 28 race. She split horses in the stretch and was running at Steel Lute but fell a half-length short.
“She ran big last time, she should have won by three lengths,” said Ignacio “Nacho” Correas IV, who trains Tutta La Vita for John Stewart’s Resolute Racing. “She’s a good filly. I don’t know about the synthetic.”
Sand and Sea and Sun Bee ran one-two in the Key West, a 1 1/8-mile overnight handicap here on Dec. 29. Sand and Sea got loose under pedestrian fractions while Sun Bee was severely compromised by the pace and a wide trip.
Dana’s Beauty, who has some early speed, has won her last three starts over Turfway Park’s synthetic surface, including the My Charmer Stakes on Dec. 14.
The South Beach drew 10 but De Regreso will scratch as she drew into the Pegasus Filly and Mare Turf.
Carousel Handicap
Trainer Marty Drexler is 5 for 13 with a $3.45 ROI on Tapeta at the Gulfstream 2024-25 winter meet. In Saturday’s $100,000 Carousel Handicap he’ll send out Classic Mo Town, shortening up from a runner-up finish in the Grade 3 Valedictory going 1 1/2 miles over Woodbine’s synthetic surface.
Drexler claimed Classic Mo Town for $25,000 out of a wining effort last Feb. 24 and immediately won back with him in a Florida-bred allowance race. Saturday, Classic Mo Town drew favorably in post 5, when compared with logical contenders Jerry the Nipper in post 11 and Possiblemente in post 7. Those two finished one-three in the St. Augustine run here on Dec. 28.
Trainer Chad Brown has the trio of Smokin’ T, Portfolio Company, and Exact Estimate. Smokin’ T and Portfolio Company could be prepping for the Barbados Gold Cup, a race Portfolio Company won last year.
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