Rivelli Firsters Come Out Rolling

[Wandering Eyes]

Wesley Ward isn’t the only trainer unleashing impressive debut maiden winners in bunches.

Hurricane Highway (g, 3, Quality Road-Stormy Kiss {Arg}, by Bernstein) kicked off a banner three-day weekend for Arlington Park’s perennial leading trainer Larry Rivelli with a front-running, nine-length victory at first asking going six furlongs over the all-weather in last Friday’s nightcap (video). The $95,000 OBSAPR juvenile (:10) earned an 85 Beyer Speed Figure for the eye-catching effort.

The dark bay’s versatile dam Stormy Kiss, a Group 1 winner in her native country, annexed Saratoga’s GII Honorable Miss H. sprinting on dirt and came within a neck of capturing the two-turn grassy GIII Beaugay H. at Aqueduct. Hurricane Highway, also a $10,000 KEENOV weanling, $80,000 OBSOCT yearling and $15,000 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky February graduate, was bred in Kentucky by the Marchanta Syndicate.

“He’s a nice horse,” Rivelli said. “He wasn’t really developed as a 2-year-old, so we turned him out and gave him some time. We always liked him, he’s always trained really well.

He continued, “Going forward, being by Quality Road out of a Bernstein mare, I’m thinking maybe a little bit longer on the turf might be his deal. I might try to earmark him for one of those Mid-America triple races in Chicago here at Arlington [GIII American Derby July 13; GI Secretariat S. Aug. 10]. Maybe try to win an ‘A other than’ first at Ellis–he’s a Kentucky bred–and go on from there.”

A trip to Canada for Woodbine’s $100,000 My Dear S. July 6 and $100,000 Victoria S. July 7 could be next for a pair of Rivelli’s flashy 2-year-old debut winners with a year-end target of the $1-million GII Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint. Rivelli saddled Big Drink of Water (Soldat) to a respectable fifth at 18-1 in last year’s inaugural running at Churchill Downs.

Vincent William (g, 2, Iqbaal-Yogi’s Polar Bear, by Lucky Lionel) “broke like a rocket,” per Arlington Park track announcer John G. Dooley, and, despite swerving in deep stretch after receiving a reminder from jockey Chris Emigh, never gave them a chance, running away to score by 4 3/4 lengths in his unveiling Saturday (video). Bred in Florida by Wesley Ward, the gray stopped the timer for 4 1/2 furlongs over the main track in a swift :51.84, good for a strong 83 Beyer Speed Figure. He is a half-brother to Yogi’ssplashofgold (Touch Gold), who finished second in the GIII Kentucky Breeders’ Cup S. as a 2-year-old.

After a heavy downpour late in the card Sunday, Angelcents (f, 2, Goldencents-Pomeroy Angel, by Pomeroy) followed suit as the 1-2 chalk in the nightcap with a devastating 5 3/4-length wire-to-wire tally (video). Wrapped up late, the $250,000 OBSMAR purchase (:20 2/5*) completed 4 1/2 furlongs over the synthetic in :51.90. She earned a 72 Beyer Speed Figure. Angelcents, also a $28,000 RNA as a Fasig-Tipton Kentucky Fall yearling, was bred in the Sunshine State by Angela Ingenito.

“In the mornings, if you had asked me who I thought would win heads up, I would say her,” Rivelli said of his pair of promising juveniles. “You never know when raceday comes–it’s a whole different ball game–but I would at least think they are equal as far as talent-wise in my eyes. The fact that I liked them both a lot is probably worth more than whatever Beyer they ran, but I guess we’ve got to go by something, right?

He added, “Vincent William will be on the same path as Angelcents, but we have a pretty nice fallback with him being a Florida-bred and a Florida-sired horse. They write some big race toward the end of the year down there [Florida Stallion Series], so we’ll have some options.”

The aforementioned Rivelli trio all carried the aquamarine-and-black silks of Patricia’s Hope LLC, the nom de course of Vince Foglia.

“We were pretty high on all three of those horses,” Rivelli concluded. “I would’ve been really disappointed if they didn’t all win, especially with the spots that they were in. Vince is one of my closest friends. We’ve had good luck together buying young horses and he lets me do my thing. He’s a great owner and an even better friend. It’s a rarity in this game to have a relationship like that. He makes it easy to do my job.”

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