Wellabled earns 109 Beyer in comeback win

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. – Back from a layoff of more than a year, Wellabled appears to be as fast as ever.

Away from the races because of physical problems, Wellabled started for the first time since February 2018 when he raced May 10 at Arlington in a five-furlong allowance race carded for turf but rained onto Polytrack. Wellabled cruised to the lead under Jose Valdivia Jr., won by more than nine lengths, and got a 109 Beyer Speed Figure, the co-third highest number in North America this year. In the penultimate race before his layoff, Wellabled won the Forego Stakes at Turfway by seven lengths and got a 107 Beyer, the highest North American synthetic-surface figure of 2018.

“Everything that could go wrong with him did for a while. He picked up an injury here and there, and when you have a good horse, you stop,” said Larry Rivelli, who trains Wellabled for Carolyn Wilson.

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Wellabled won the Arlington-Washington Futurity as a 2-year-old of 2016 and is 8-6-0-1 in synthetic-surface races. He finished second at Saratoga during the summer of his 2-year-old season in a turf sprint, and Rivelli hopes grass might become an option, owing to the relative dearth of synthetic sprint stakes at a purse level befitting Wellabled’s talent. Woodbine has the best schedule of races in that division but also is home to the crack sprinter Pink Lloyd, whom Rivelli isn’t eager to face.

That leaves the $100,000 Karl Boyes Memorial Stakes, a Tapeta Footings sprint on June 17 at Presque Isle Downs, as a likely next stop for Wellabled.

Also on the comeback trail is the Rivelli-trained New York-bred 3-year-old Dugout, who won the $194,000 Funny Cide Stakes at Saratoga and the $200,000 New York Breeders Futurity at Finger Lakes last year. Dugout chipped a knee last fall and required arthroscopic surgery to repair the injury.