Just hours before saddling Two Phil's in the Kentucky Derby, trainer Larry Rivelli and owner Patricia's Hope established some serious momentum on Saturday afternoon when Nobals led every step of the way to win the Grade 2 Twin Spires Turf Sprint at Churchill Downs as the longest shot on the board.
The 4-year-old Noble Mission gelding was hustled out of the gate from the inside post under jockey Gerardo Corrales, and after briefly doing battle with Bad Beat Brian, Noble Reflection established himself as Nobals' primary challenger on the outside. Those two ran past the opening quarter in :22.03 seconds with Nobals carrying the advantage by a head.
Nobals and Noble Reflection continued to battle through the turn, and Corrales took advantage of his inside position to put distance on his foe as they passed the quarter pole, and eventually set a half-mile time of :44.48 seconds.
Under right-handed urging from Corrales, Nobals pulled away from the field in the stretch, stretching out as far as 2 1/2 lengths from the rest, but Motorious unraveled a ground-saving move through traffic under jockey Flavien Prat that saw him emerge from the other contenders with momentum to challenge the leader. Motorious made up most of the ground as Nobals approached the wire, but he ultimately finished three-quarters of a length behind the winner. Go Bears Go was the best of the rest in third, 1 1/2 lengths behind the runner-up.
Nobals completed the 5 1/2-furlong race in 1:02.45 over a firm turf course. He paid $78.42 to win with the field's highest odds.
The Twin Spires Turf Sprint was the seventh win in 14 career starts for the well-traveled Nobals, who has competed at eight different tracks over the course of his career. Saturday's race was the first graded victory for the gelding, who had previously won stakes races over the all-weather main tracks at Arlington Park, Turfway Park, and Woodbine.
Nobals' upset score was the first graded win of the year for Corrales, and the second for the owners and trainer, with the first being Two Phil's Derby-securing triumph in the G3 Jeff Ruby Steaks in March at Turfway Park.
Nobals was bred in Kentucky by Dr. John A. Chandler, out of the winning Empire Maker mare Pearly Blue. He was purchased for a bargain $3,500 at the 2020 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky Fall Yearling Sale. His earnings now stand at $725,074.
Quotes supplied by Churchill Downs notes team:
Gerardo Corrales (jockey, Nobals, winner) – “This is a nice horse. He was a runner all the way. Mr. Rivelli (trainer Larry Rivelli) told me that I could do it and he wished me good luck. For me, this is the biggest purse ($500,000) that I've ever won. It's exciting.”
Larry Rivelli (trainer, Nobals, winner) – “We were all coming down, and figured that we would throw him into a race, and see how he'd do. I thought he was going to run good, I wasn't sure if he was going to win. His last race (at Keeneland) was a throwout. He was acting up in the gate and got off to a bad start. I schooled him all week, he didn't act up in the gate all, so I told the kid (Corrales), 'Let's go.' That's the way the horse likes to run. I knew he was going to show up, but I wasn't sure if he could beat this quality. I told the jockey, go no matter what. You go out there and make the lead, and he said, 'Yes, sir'.”
Flavien Prat (jockey, Motorious, second) – “We had a good trip. He broke OK and was traveling well. He made a good kick and for a second I thought I was going to be the winner.”
John Velazquez (jockey, Go Bears Go, third) – “I got a good trip. He broke well and got a good position. I had to wait a little bit at the 3/8th pole with a horse in front of me but when I got through, he ran well to the finish.”
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