Month: November 2023

Elite Power Goes Out On Top With Successful Title Defense In Sprint

A rivalry in any sport makes it more exciting. People tune in to watch a pair of foes with a well-established history of beating one another give it another go. And so it was that Elite Power (Curlin), in his final start before retiring to stud next year, came home first in front of his long-time rival Gunite (Gun Runner) to defend his title in the GI Qatar Breeders' Cup Sprint.

Last year's Eclipse Champion Male Sprinter, Elite Power kept his good form going into 2023 and defeated Gunite for the first time in the Middle East with a 3 1/4-length score in the G3 Riyadh Dirt Sprint. After winning both the GII True North S. and the GI Alfred G. Vanderbilt H.–defeating Gunite for a second time in the latter–the 5-year-old saw his win streak end at eight races when the tables were turned in his last race and he had to settle for second in the GI Forego S.

Off a two-month layoff, the Bill Mott trainee shipped west for the first time and was given a deserving 8-5 shot on a day that had already seen a pair of horses successfully defend their crowns. With rival Gunite breaking just to his outside, Elite Power broke in a line that only Speed Boat Beach (Bayern) was quick enough to clear. Nakatomi (Firing Line) was not going to let the Baffert runner get an easy lead and the 26-1 longshot surged up along the inside to stick a head in front through a contentious opening quarter in :21.99. Elite Power, running near the back of the field, kept his face clean along the outside and really began to pick it up as Speed Boat Beach again tried to open up on the front end. Moving three wide with an impressive move to draw to within a length of the leading pair at the top of the lane, the Juddmonte runner really turned it on once he switched leads at the eighth pole. Speed Boat Beach and Nakatomi both began to fade along the rail as Gunite surged up but he had to tip outside of that pair for running room as Elite Power was already finding his best stride close to the wire. And, just as they had in their last three starts against one another, Elite Power and Gunite came home one in front of the other. The win gave Juddmonte a second on the day following Idiomatic (Curlin) in the Distaff and was a third win on the weekend for trainer Bill Mott.

“It's a difficult job to keep a horse going year after year,” admitted Mott. “To come back and win two Breeders' Cups in a row says a lot about the durability of the horse and the luck that I have. We were lucky enough to have him and he's had a great career. He's off to his new career which will be in the stud barn and we wish him all the best. Irad [Ortiz Jr.] warmed him up good and he said he wanted to be close to the pace without using him too hard. He recognized all day that the only horse to come from behind was Cody's Wish and he is observant enough to see that. The rivalry with Gunite was there and he certainly showed up. I thought he was the one we had to beat.”

“I had a beautiful trip,” added Ortiz, Jr. “I was in the clear early and the horse took me beautifully right to the quarter pole. I was a good passenger sitting in the passenger's seat until the quarter pole. Then I asked him and he just responded well.”

Pedigree Note:

Elite Power, a $900,000 KEESEP yearling, is one of 55 graded winners, 21 at the Grade I level, for the super-sire Curlin. His dam Broadway's Alibi, a MGSW & GI Kentucky Oaks runner-up and Robsham homebred, brought $2.15 million from Alpha Delta Stables while in foal to Smart Strike at the 2013 KEENOV sale. Broadway's Alibi is also represented by a Curlin colt of 2021. She was bred to City of Light for 2023. Further back in the family, Elite Power's fourth dam is champion 2-year-old filly and GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies heroine Eliza (Mt. Livermore). This is also the family of GISW and sire Dialed In (Mineshaft). Elite Power will stand stud for Juddmonte next year at an introductory fee of $50,000.

“I know, Bill [Mott] would like me to say otherwise, but we're going to retire him to stud,” said Juddmonte' Garrett O'Rourke. “I think he's earned it. He's a very masculine horse, and I bet he'll enjoy it. He's got all the credentials to be a tremendous stallion. I think breeders will just swarm to him. Twice, he's surely sewn up the championship two years in a row, and that's pretty special.”

Elite Power's unnamed 2-year-old full-brother, the last reported foal out of Broadway's Alibi, has yet to race but has been spotted on the worktab.

 

Saturday, Santa Anita Park
QATAR RACING BREEDERS' CUP SPRINT-GI, $1,800,000, Santa Anita, 11-4, 3yo/up, 6f, 1:08.34, ft.
1–ELITE POWER, 126, h, 5, by Curlin
         1st Dam: Broadway's Alibi (MGSW & GISP, $521,500), by Vindication
         2nd Dam: Broadway Gold, by Seeking the Gold
         3rd Dam: Miss Doolittle, by Storm Cat
($900,000 Ylg '19 KEESEP). O-Juddmonte; B-Alpha Delta Stables, LLC (KY); T-William I. Mott; J-Irad Ortiz, Jr.. $1,040,000. Lifetime Record: Ch. Male Sprinter, 13-9-1-1, $3,775,711. Click for the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–Gunite, 126, c, 4, Gun Runner–Simple Surprise, by Cowboy Cal. O/B-Winchell Thoroughbreds LLC (KY); T-Steven M. Asmussen. $340,000.
3–Nakatomi, 126, g, 4, Firing Line–Applelicious, by Flatter.
1ST G1 BLACK TYPE. ($18,000 Wlg '19 KEENOV; $25,000 Ylg '20 FTKOCT; $205,000 4yo '23 FTKHRA). O-Qatar Racing LLC and Hay, Mrs. Fitriani; B-Arnold Zetcher LLC & Crestwood Farm (KY); T-Wesley A. Ward. $180,000.
Margins: 1HF, HF, 1. Odds: 1.70, 3.10, 26.60.
Also Ran: Speed Boat Beach, The Chosen Vron, Hoist the Gold, Dr. Schivel, Three Technique. Scratched: American Theorem.
Click for the Equibase.com chart or the TJCIS.com PPs. VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.

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Rivelli Reveling Following Nobals’s BC Turf Sprint Win

It's been a year of ups and downs for trainer Larry Rivelli, who saddled the very talented Two Phil's (Hard Spun) to a runner-up effort in the GI Kentucky Derby and subsequent victory in the GIII Ohio Derby before a premature retirement to stud. The conditioner was dealt another blow this week when One Timer (Trappe Shot) was ordered scratched from a potential appearance in the GI Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint, but the gelded Nobals (Noble Mission {GB}) parlayed a ground-saving trip into a 12-1 upset in the five-furlong dash to ease whatever upset there may have been.

The well-supported Live In The Dream (Ire) (Prince of Lir {Ire}) hit the ground running, but he had company from Japanese speedball Jasper Krone (Frosted) through an opening quarter in a slick :21.15. When the latter failed to handle the tight left-handed turn and began to struggle, Live In The Dream was left alone up front, but had gone very hard in the lead and the come-from-behinders were licking their chops. Defending champ Caravel (Mizzen Mast) came there with a winning chance, but it was Nobals who rode the rails into the stretch and the final furlong and drove home first. Big Invasion (Declaration of War) also rallied up the inside for second ahead of Aesop's Fables (Ire) (No Nay Never), who raced over the top to claim third spot.

It was a first win at the Breeders' Cup for perennial Midwest leading trainer Rivelli–and his first Grade I of any variety–and for journeyman jockey Gerardo Corrales, who seamlessly replaced Jareth Loveberry aboard Two Phil's at the 11th hour and delivered a perfect ride in the Ohio Derby.

“Obviously you can't do this without the unbelievable team I've had for 20 years, 15 years. My assistant, Rogelio Sanchez, my assistant Pam Little, Gonzo Gonzalez, all the guys back home. No way possible this could be done without them.

“When I saw the entries, the nominations, I think you could have thrown a blanket over the whole field, to be honest with you, as far as who was better than one another.

“We had Corrales, and we had a great trip. You've got to get lucky in these kinds of races. Our plan was to be a little closer. Didn't work out. They were gone. He ended up working out a trip, and we held on.”

It was also a first elite-level success for Corrales, participating in his third Breeders' Cup.

“It's a lot of confidence in the horse,” the jockey said. “He did good work, on the money. Good solution from the trainer. Everything is good, you know.”

Nobals had made appearances at six different venues this season, defeating Saturday's favorite Motorious (GB) (Muhaarar {GB}) in the GII TwinSpires Turf Sprint in May and added the William Garrett H. at Horseshoe Indianapolis in July ahead of a runner-up effort in Saratoga's GIII Troy S. Aug. 5. He most recently dropped his head on the wire to win the Sept. 9 Da Hoss S. at Colonial Downs.

Pedigree Notes:

On an afternoon where his full-brother Frankel (GB) was also represented by his first Breeders' Cup winner in the form of the sensational Inspiral (GB), the expatriated Noble Mission was siring his second Grade I winner following Code of Honor.

Versatile enough to sire a top stayer like Spanish Mission, Noble Mission has had an outstanding 2023, with five stakes winners worldwide, three at the group/graded level, including GIII Kentucky Downs Ladies' Marathon S. winner Vergara and the American-bred recent Australian Group 3 winner Buffalo River.

Bred by Dr. Chandler, Nobals is out of a winning daughter of Grade III winner Western Ransom and he has a weanling half-brother by Known Agenda foaled this past Mar. 5. Pearly Blue was most recently bred to Dialed In.

 

Saturday, Santa Anita Park
BREEDERS' CUP TURF SPRINT-GI, $920,000, Santa Anita, 11-4, 3yo/up, 5fT, :55.15, fm.
1–NOBALS, 126, g, 4, by Noble Mission (GB)
       1st Dam: Pearly Blue, by Empire Maker
       2nd Dam: Western Ransom, by Red Ransom
       3rd Dam: Western Wind, by Gone West
1ST GRADE I WIN. ($3,500 Ylg '20 FTKOCT). O-Patricia's Hope LLC; B-John A. Chandler (KY); T-Larry Rivelli; J-Gerardo Corrales. $520,000. Lifetime Record: 18-10-3-0, $1,453,274. *1/2 to My First Pearl (First Samurai), SP, $202,674. Click for the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–Big Invasion, 126, c, 4, Declaration of War–Curls in Place, by Curlin. ($72,000 Ylg '20 KEESEP). O-Reeves Thoroughbred Racing; B-John O'meara (KY); T-Christophe Clement. $170,000.
3–Aesop's Fables (Ire), 124, c, 3, No Nay Never–How's She Cuttin' (Ire), by Shinko Forest (Ire). O-Westerberg, Magnier, Mrs. John, Smith, Derrick and Tabor, Michael B.; B-Barronstown Stud (IRE); T-Aidan P. O'Brien. $90,000.
Margins: NK, HF, HF. Odds: 12.00, 12.40, 10.10.
Also Ran: Live In The Dream (Ire), Motorious (GB), Arzak, Beer Can Man, Tony Ann, Roses for Debra, Caravel, Gear Jockey, Jasper Krone. Scratched: Bradsell (GB), Lane Way, One Timer, Twilight Gleaming (Ire).
Click for the Equibase.com chart or the TJCIS.com PPs. VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.

The post Rivelli Reveling Following Nobals’s BC Turf Sprint Win appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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