Grade 1 sprinter Nobals has fully recovered from a star-crossed trip to Hong Kong and is ready to contest the $600,000 Twin Spires Turf Sprint Stakes (G2T) May 3 at Churchill Downs, hoping to recapture the race he won in 2023.
The 6-year-old gelded son of Noble Mission was sent to Hong Kong in December with the hope of becoming the first American-trained horse to compete in the Hong Kong International Races since 2017. He had been entered in the Hong Kong Sprint (G1).
"That trip was a disaster," trainer Larry Rivelli said. "It totally screwed up the year for us. He got shipping fever and it took awhile for him to get better. He was over there a month longer than I wanted him there."
Nobals, who races for Patricia's Hope, made his first start of the year in the Jan. 25 Gulfstream Park Turf Sprint Stakes, which is run at five furlongs. The gelding got bumped at the start and then struggled for traction on the sandy Gulfstream Park turf course. He finished seventh but only by two lengths behind the winner Coppola, who wired the field and will break from the rail in the Gulfstream Park Turf Sprint.
"(Coppola) daylighted everybody but that is a different turf course," Rivelli said. "Nobals loves Churchill, and he is going really good now. I wouldn't take him there if I didn't think he was ready. He is breathing fire here."
Nobals comes into the Turf Sprint off a close second to Arrest Me Red in the March 8 listed Big Daddy Stakes at Turfway Park going six furlongs on the all-weather Tapeta track. He worked four furlongs in a sharp :47 1/5 April 13 at his home base at Hawthorne Race Course. Nobals will break from post 3 and will have Gerardo Corrales aboard. Corrales was the gelding's pilot for his win in the 2023 Twin Spires Turf Sprint and later that year when the pair won the Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint (G1T).
Wathnan Racing's Rogue Lightning and Godolphin's homebred Think Big are the top choices in the morning line at 7-2 and 4-1, respectively.
Rogue Lightning, a 5-year-old gelded son of Kodiac comes into the Turf Sprint off a second by half a length to Think Big in the April 8 Shakertown Stakes (G2T) at Keeneland. Trained by Tom Clover, he won multiple stakes overseas, including the Dukhan Sprint (G3) Feb. 15 at Al Rayyan Racecourse in Doha, Qatar. The Shakertown was his first United States start. In the Turf Sprint at Churchill, he will break from post 8 with Flavien Prat in the irons.
Think Big has two wins and a third so far from three starts this year. He ran third in his seasonal debut at Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots in a sloppy $50,000 allowance optional claiming race taken off the turf and then came back and won a 5 1/2-furlong turf sprint at the same non-winners of two conditions. He captured his first stakes win in the Shakertown for trainer Michael Stidham and will be ridden in the Turf Sprint by Ben Curtis, who has piloted Think Big to all four of his career victories.
With rain in the forecast for several days leading up to Kentucky Derby (G1) day, neither Rogue Lightning or Think Big are likely to be fazed by soft going. Both have won on soft turf conditions. Nobals ran second on soft turf in the 2023 Troy Stakes (G3T) at Saratoga Race Course.
Churchill Downs, Saturday, May 3, 2025, Race 7Entries: Twin Spires Turf Sprint S. presented by Accenture (G2T)
PP Horse Jockey Wgt Trainer M/L 1 1Coppola (KY) Manuel Franco 121 Dale L. Romans 10/1 2 2Ambivalent (KY) Juan J. Hernandez 121 Michael J. Maker 12/1 3 3Nobals (KY) Gerardo Corrales 121 Larry Rivelli 6/1 4 4One Timer (KY) Jareth Loveberry 121 Larry Rivelli 10/1 5 5Arrest Me Red (KY) Corey J. Lanerie 121 Wesley A. Ward 6/1 6 6Run Carson (KY) John R. Velazquez 121 Kelsey Danner 6/1 7 7Think Big (KY) Ben Curtis 125 Michael Stidham 4/1 8 8Rogue Lightning (IRE) Flavien Prat 123 Tom Clover 7/2 9 9Boss Sully (CA) Luis Saez 121 Brian J. Koriner 15/1 10 10Unconquerable Keen (IRE) Umberto Rispoli 121 Philip D'Amato 30/1 11 11Eamonn (KY) Edgard J. Zayas 121 Joseph F. Orseno 12/1 12 12Mischievous Rogue (KY) Christopher A. Emigh 121 Brittany A. Vanden Berg 20/1
