Nobals’s signature win came on the turf, and the 6-year-old gelding is coming off a record-setting win on the lawn. But trainer Larry Rivelli has said Nobals is just as good on a synthetic surface, and he will run on one Friday in the $100,000 Karl Boyes Stakes at Presque Isle Downs.
Nobals was cross-entered in the $100,000 William Garrett Handicap on turf Friday in Indiana, but Rivelli said Wednesday the gelding will run in Pennsylvania.
Nobals, whose biggest win came in the 2023 Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint, has won six of 10 starts on various synthetic surfaces, with three runner-up finishes, including a nose defeat in the 2021 Fitz Dixon Jr. Memorial Juvenile at Presque Isle. The most recent of his five stakes wins on synthetic tracks came last fall, when he won the Grade 2 Kennedy Road at Woodbine, besting eventual Canadian Horse of the Year Patches O’Houlihan.
At the time, the tide seemed to be turning. It was his first win since the Breeders’ Cup, but an international misadventure followed, as Nobals developed a fever after traveling overseas and was scratched from the Group 1 Hong Kong Sprint. It took him three starts to round back into form.
He was beaten two lengths when seventh in the Gulfstream Park Turf Sprint on a sandy course that didn’t suit him, then battled with multiple graded stakes winner Arrest Me Red through the Big Daddy Stakes on Turfway’s synthetic track before finishing second.
Most recently, Nobals led throughout an allowance in May on the Churchill Downs turf, winning by 3 3/4 lengths and stopping the clock in 1:00.96 for 5 1/2 furlongs on a course rated firm. That eclipsed the course record of 1:01.29 set by Queen Maxima in the Grade 3 Unbridled Sidney earlier in the month, although she raced on turf rated good.
Nobals will meet a solid lineup at a distance of six furlongs. His Beyer Speed Figure of 100 is easily the best last-out number in this field of eight, with Busk coming closest with a 90.
Rivelli said the ultimate goal for Nobals is the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint on Nov. 1 at Del Mar. The Karl Boyes provides a bridge to potential prep races. On Sept. 6, Colonial Downs will host the $150,000 Da Hoss Stakes, a prep Nobals won in 2023. Rivelli also mentioned interest in the rich Kentucky Downs meet, which has its first of seven racing dates on Aug. 28.
Nobals prefers to be forwardly placed and should have company from the streaking Busk and Going Up, a front-running allowance winner at Presque Isle last out. Busk is stepping up in class off five straight wins, the first a $7,500 claiming race at Turfway. He has since run through various starter-allowance conditions on dirt in Kentucky and Indiana.
Ponce de Leon, who could sit off a strong pace, is making just his second start since winning the Tom Ridge Stakes in June 2024 at Presque Isle. Off the layoff, he was second by a neck locally to Diamond Dust, a multiple Ohio-restricted stakes winner, in an allowance.
My Buddy B is also making his second start off a layoff, and had a troubled trip in his return. Second in the 2024 Karl Boyes, he crossed the line first in the Grade 3 Bold Ruler at Aqueduct last fall, but was disqualified.
:: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.