RIVELLI READY TO ROLL AT GOLDEN GATE FIELDS
Trainer Larry Rivelli, who has won the Arlington Park training title five years in a row, recently shipped a string of 17 horses to Golden Gate Fields and will be a regular in the entry box at the current Winter/Spring meet. Based in Chicago, where Rivelli runs horses at Arlington Park and Hawthorne Racecourse, the Midwest horseman indicated he was ready to rumble with his string on the West Coast.
But why did a successful trainer like Rivelli decide to take a shot at Golden Gate Fields, a track many miles from where he and his owners are based? The answer was pretty simple.
“You’re racing secretary [Patrick Mackey] did a pretty good job recruiting me,” said Rivelli with a chuckle.
Kudos to Mr. Mackey.
“We’ve got horses that run well on the synthetic at Arlington [Park] and we figure they can transfer their good form to the Tapeta at Golden Gate,” continued Rivelli. “[Golden Gate] increased purses recently, too, and that helped. And of course, Patrick has been trying to recruit me for a while now. I knew Patrick when he was in Chicago for a number of years. Hopefully my barn has some success.”
As mentioned, getting horses to perform on the Golden Gate Fields Tapeta is not a worry for Rivelli, who has plenty of experience training and racing horses over synthetic surfaces. In fact, Rivelli has had just as much success over synthetic surfaces than any trainer in the country. With five straight Arlington Park training titles in the bag, there is reason to believe he will have plenty of trips to the winners circle at Golden Gate.
“We’ve got some good horses at Golden Gate,” said Rivelli. “Richiesinthehouse runs [Thursday, January 9] and he’s a nice horse. He’s been competitive against stakes horses in Chicago. He’s been off [since September], but we’re looking forward to getting him going again.”
Rivelli has 2 horses entered on Thursday and 5 for Friday, with 6 of the 7 entrants scheduled to be ridden by Rivelli’s go-to jockey in Chicago, Jose Valdivia Jr.
GOLDEN GATE FIELDS STAKES WINNERS PUT UP RESPECTABLE EFFORTS AT SANTA ANITA
Golden Gate Fields stakes winners Sueno and Tomlin finished in-the-money in two major graded stakes events at Santa Anita Park this past weekend.
Sueno, winner of the Gold Rush Stakes in December, ran second in the Grade 3 $100,000 Sham Stakes for 3-year-olds going a mile on Saturday. The son of Atreides out finished two well regarded Bob Baffert trainees in midstretch before getting tagged late by the talented Jerry Hollendorfer entrant Gunmetal Grey, who won the race under Hall of Fame pilot Mike Smith. Sueno earned 4 points to the Kentucky Derby for his second-place effort. Though not definite for the El Camino Real Derby next month, the Keith Desormeaux trained Sueno can surely be listed as a “possible” for that race.
One day after Sueno’s runner up finish, 3-year-old filly Tomlin, who won the Golden Gate Debutante on November 23, ran third behind Grade I winner Bellafina and the Grade I placed Mother Mother in the $200,000 Santa Ynez Stakes for 3-year-old fillies going seven furlongs. Tomlin, conditioned by longtime Bay Area horseman Steve Specht, improved her lifetime record to 3 wins and 2 thirds from 6 lifetime starts with career earnings of $95,820.
FINISH LINES: CARRYOVER ALERT: The 50 Cent Late Pick 5 has a $38,284 carryover heading into Thursday’s card. The Late Pick 5 sequence goes as Races 3-7. We also have a Rolling Super High Five carryover in the first leg of the Late Pick 5, Race 3, of $9,198…Race 2 on Thursday begins the 20 Cent Golden Pick Six Jackpot wager of $15,346…Reports indicate that Magnificent McCool, a Doug O’Neill trainee that recently broke his maiden on the turf at Santa Anita, will ship up to Golden Gate Fields for the El Camino Real Derby next month. The 3-year-old colt, purchased by owners Phoenix Thoroughbreds for $650,000, will train up to the race at Santa Anita…Juan Hernandez sits atop the jockey standings with 16 wins, two more than Abel Cedillo. Silvio Amador, Alejandro Gomez and Kevin Orozco are tied for third in the standings with six wins apiece…Trainers Bill Delia, Jerry Hollendorfer, Jonathan Wong and Blaine Wright are in a four-way tie atop the trainer standings with 6 wins each.