The class of 2023 Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint (G1T) winner Nobals proved enough to defeat reigning Canadian champion sprinter Patches O’Houlihan by three-quarters of a length in the Nov. 16 Kennedy Road Stakes (G2) at Woodbine.
Patricia’s Hope’s bay 5-year-old gelding Nobals, who entered Saturday’s race winless in three starts since his Breeders’ Cup triumph last fall at Santa Anita Park, got back on track in the CA$182,000 Kennedy Road. Showing the same effectiveness over the synthetic Tapeta surface at Woodbine as he has long exhibited on turf, he never gave front-runner Patches O’Houlihan a breather in the six-furlong race. Hounding him through fractions of :21.80 and :44.24, he poked a head in front midstretch and gradually inched clear over the game runner-up with a final time of 1:08.59. As is his custom, Patches O’Houlihan tried to drift out at one stage approaching the stretch.
War Bomber ran third, never threatening the top two.
Nobals made life easy for veteran rider E. T. Baird, who, like Nobals’ trainer Larry Rivelli, has long been a winning figure in Illinois racing.
“The way he acted today in the post parade, and everything about him just was really professional,” he said.
The hard work for Baird came in simply getting to Canada. He said he spent all day Nov. 15 in a Chicago government office getting a new passport after his prior one had expired.
In a telephone interview with BloodHorse, Rivelli said he was not even sure if Baird had made it to Canada, never hearing from him all day, and then was relieved to see him “bounding out of there into the paddock.”
“He’s the greatest, man,” Rivelli added. “He’s one of the best riders I’ve been around.”
Baird’s freshly issued passport could come in handy down the road. Rivelli confirmed Nobals is invited to compete in the Dec. 8 Hong Kong Sprint (G1), a 1,200-meter (about six furlongs) turf race worth more than $3.3 million at Sha Tin Racecourse.
If Nobals travels there, it would mark Rivelli’s second runner in the race. His ace female turf sprinter, Nicole’s Dream , ran 12th in the same race in 2005.
In describing Nobals’ three other starts of 2024, all of which resulted in close losses but with the gelding finishing out of the money, Rivelli said Nobals did not seem to care for the turf courses at Keeneland and Kentucky Downs in graded company after a needed comeback race at Saratoga Race Course over the summer. Nobals paid $8.40 as the second wagering choice in Saturday’s race.
Dr. John Chandler bred Nobals in Kentucky from his winning homebred Empire Maker mare Pearly Blue , a producer of two black-type runners. Chandler consigned Nobals to the 2020 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky Fall Yearling Sale with his family’s Mill Ridge Sales, selling him for $3,500 to Eat n Cheese.
The winner is a son of Noble Mission , a full brother to European leading sire Frankel . Noble Mission now stands in Japan.
Nobals is 11 for 22 with earnings of more than $1.5 million. This was his second stakes victory at Woodbine after he captured Woodstock Stakes on Tapeta as a 3-year-old in 2022. In taking the Woodstock, he set zipped six furlongs in 1:07.63, establishing a track record that still stands.
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Blinkers Trigger Wicked Django’s Autumn Upset
A change of equipment by his veteran trainer Rodney Barrow changed the fortunes of Ryan Brewster’s Wicked Django in the CA$199,850 Autumn Stakes (G2), the first of two graded races Saturday at Woodbine.
A late runner who had previously tended to rally into contention, only to idle late and sometimes lose ground, Wicked Django exhibited a sustained rally that catapulted him to victory in the Autumn. With jockey Keveh Nicholls staying aboard after the 4-year-old colt’s transfer from trainer Krista Cole to Barrow, he settled in seventh place early in the eight-horse field, looped his rivals a wide, sweeping charge on the second turn of the 1 1/8-mile race, and sustained that momentum to upset Dresden Row by 1 1/4 lengths. The winner returned $50.40 for a $2 wager.
Wicked Django prevails in the Autumn Stakes at Woodbine
Nicholls said the blinkers led to Wicked Django’s much-improved performance.
Boosted by hot fractions of :23.60, :47.18, and 1:10.80 set by 2023 King’s Plate Stakes winner Paramount Prince , who would yield to finish last, Wicked Django was clocked in 1:48.45 for the distance.
Stanley House , stuck in traffic until late, rallied to show behind runner-up Dresden Row.
The victory marked the first stakes win of Wicked Django’s 12-race career and gave Barrow his first overall victory of 2024 after 29 losses.
“He needed to train a little different,” Barrow said of Wicked Django. “So, just changed up everything.”
The winner, bred by Denny Andrews and Niall Brennan in Ontario, Canada, is a 4-year-old by Wicked Strong out of the Flatter mare Belcarres. Wicked Strong has been pensioned from stud duty.
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