Grade 1 winner Nobals will take his first steps toward a possible return to the Breeders' Cup when he launches his 6-year-old season in the $165,000 Gulfstream Park Turf Sprint Stakes Jan. 25 at Gulfstream Park.
Midwest-based trainer Larry Rivelli decided only hours before the field was drawn for the Gulfstream Turf Sprint to send the 2023 Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint (G1T) winner, satisfied with his recovery from a 32-hour round trip to Hong Kong and a fever which forced him to be scratched four days after arriving for the Dec. 8 Hong Kong Turf Sprint (G1).
"I had this race on the radar a little bit," Rivelli said. "He had gotten back from Hong Kong and I wanted to make sure he had the right amount of time and was doing as good as he's doing. I had him entered in one race that got canceled and another race at Fair Grounds that came off the turf. He's ready to run and this spot came up."
Nobals, owned by Patricia's Hope, has been unraced since taking Woodbine's Kennedy Road Stakes (G2) in November, where he defeated Canadian champion sprinter Patches O'Houlihan by three-quarters of a length. The effort earned the Noble Mission gelding a sparkling 118 Equibase Speed Figure.
"The last time he ran, he ran a bang-up race in Canada. Hopefully, he can get back to his Breeders' Cup form," Rivelli said. "It looks like rain there and if it comes off he's probably better on a synthetic track, or just as good."
"He's a one-of-a-kind horse, that's for sure," Rivelli said. "He's just a cool dude. He's always been a sound horse, which is the main thing. He ships well, which was a shock for us when he got the fever in Hong Kong, but that's a whole different animal being on a plane and in a crate for all that time. He takes his race with him wherever he goes."
Racing for the first time at Gulfstream, Nobals will break from post 9 in an overflow field of 15, including three also-eligibles, for the five-furlong Gulfstream Turf Sprint with rider E. T. Baird aboard.
"We've managed him well. We give him time off in the winter most of the time every year before we bring him back," Rivelli said. "Last year I had my sights set on running in the Breeders' Cup and it's really kind of my fault (he didn't). We ran twice against Cogburn and he beat us both times, so I was just going to look for an easier spot. We did, and he won the race, but in hindsight being that Cogburn didn't show up for the Breeders' Cup, I really think (Nobals) would have won or been 1-2-3 anyway.
"My goal is to run him back in the Breeders' Cup this year."
This press release has been edited for content and style by BloodHorse Staff.
