Arlington International Racecourse Barn Notes: Noel Michaels new Racing Analyst

By Bailey Gallison —-

Arlington International Racecourse is pleased to announce the addition of handicapper Noel Michaels to the broadcast team as Racing Analyst.

Michaels recently worked as Editor-in-Chief and contributor to American Turf Monthly Magazine in addition to consulting for the National Thoroughbred Racing Association on the National Horseplayers Championship (NHC). Michaels has previously lent his voice and analysis to major racing broadcasts including NYRA’s Talking Horses and TVG.

“We are very pleased to have Noel join the Arlington broadcast team,” said Arlington General Manager Tony Petrillo. “Noel has worked in many areas of the racing industry and we feel our guests will like his style and informative presentation.”

Michaels, a Chicagoland local from Skokie, Illinois who frequented Arlington as a youth, received his bachelor’s degree in Animal Science from the University of Arizona Race Track Industry Program in 1993. He went on to spend 10 years as a handicapper and columnist for the Daily Racing Form, during which Michaels wrote the Handicapping Contest Handbook: A Horseplayer’s Guide to Handicapping, before joining Nassau County Off-Track Betting for a decade where he took on roles as Field Operations Manager and Director of Development.

Look for Michaels on-air starting this Friday, May 4 as Arlington kicks off their 71-day meet with eight races on the card. First post is 3:15 p.m.

• Rivelli Geared Up for Another Arlington Meet
• E.T. Baird Aiming for Riding Comeback
• Stakes Winner Bet She Wins Returns to Action in Opening Day Feature

RIVELLI GEARED UP FOR ANOTHER ARLINGTON MEET

Trainer Larry Rivelli will look to continue his dominant ways at Arlington International Race Course when the 2018 meet kicks off this Friday, May 4.

Rivelli will be eyeing his sixth training title at the Chicagoland oval after setting a single season record last summer with 79 victories on the meet Trainer Wayne Catalano was the previous record holder when making 75 trips to the Arlington winner’s circle in 2010.

“I didn’t foresee winning that many last meet but I ended up getting on a little bit of a roll,” Rivelli said. “The ones you lose by nose turn into winners by a nose and so it wasn’t really a goal to beat Catalano’s record, but once we got close we started paying a little more attention.”

On opening day, the Rivelli stable will be well represented with a total of ten horses entered throughout the eight-race card.

“I gave some of them some rest,” Rivelli said of his opening day entrants. “Some had injuries and are coming back and so you don’t know how they’re going to be, if they’ll be as good as last year. Costly King (race 3) I always give a freshening up and he’s in an easy spot. He’s doing well. I claimed one of my old homebreds back, Dom The Bomb (race 6), and he likes this track. He runs really well over this track as well. This will be his first race in about six months.”

Rivelli is proven to have a knack for training young horses and believes that one could see more young talent out of his barn this year than last.

“This year, I have a lot better 2-year-olds,” Rivelli said. “I probably won’t get to run them all here so I may have to ship some of them around, probably to Saratoga, Woodbine or other venues. The last two years we went to the Breeders’ Cup with some horses that we bought at the sale, which is really hard to do, I always go to the sale to try and buy an athlete more so than breeding. I had Cocked and Loaded (fifth, Breeders’ Cup Juvenile) three years ago, then we went with Wellabled (tenth, Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf) two years ago and The Tabulator (fifth, Breeders’ Cup Juvenile) last year.”

Speaking of the latter, he will be making his 3-year-old debut on Thursday night in Prairie Meadows’ $50,000 Golden Circle Stakes The son of Dialed In has not raced since the Grade I Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, which is the only loss of his four-race career. Prior to that effort he won the Grade III Iroquois Stakes at Churchill Downs.

“He’s in on Thursday night and he’s been doing great,” Rivelli said.

E.T. BAIRD AIMING FOR RIDING COMEBACK

Following a hiatus of about a year and a half, veteran rider E.T. Baird is planning on getting back in the saddle.

A regular rider on the Illinois circuit over the past three decades, Baird has not ridden since December 17, 2016 when guiding Richies Sweetheart to a ninth-place finish in Tampa Bay Downs’ Lightning City Stakes.

“I wanted to take time off,” Baird said. “A lot of things were going not so right and physically, I rode for over thirty years and had a lot of injuries and everything was just catching up to me. It was just kind of like pulling the plug and rebooting a little bit. It was injuries and things like that, getting tired of having to put up with certain things and I just had to give my body a break.”

“I’ve been fortunate that I’ve never really had a problem, but I’ve never had this long off,” Baird continued. “It [won’t] take me long; I stay pretty fit. I try to stay active and do certain things but then taking that time off, I didn’t want to do much. It was a good break. At no point in my career have I ever not felt some type of pain whether it was muscles or whatever. After doing it for so long and getting over injuries things just catch up [with you] and I wanted to give my body a break.”

Baird did not specify a time frame as to when he would ride again but will soon start getting on horses in the mornings.

“I just want to come back and get fit and see where I’m at,” Baird said. “I’ll take me time, I’m not in any hurry. If I get fit quick, I’m good but I’ll see where it comes. There’s anxiety, after doing it for thirty years you always have anxiety, but I could take a couple of months off and still have the same anxiety that I have then too. Once you get up there and feel it, you feel like you’re back at home.”

Baird is just one win shy of 2,400 career victories, 17 of which have taken place against graded stakes company and include a win aboard Eclipse Award-winning filly Dreaming of Anna in Arlington’s Grade III Pucker Up Stakes in 2007. The following year, he won the Grade II Illinois Derby on Recapturetheglory who became Baird’s only mount in the Kentucky Derby when finishing fifth in that year’s edition of the Run for the Roses.

STAKES WINNER BET SHE WINS RETURNS TO ACTION IN OPENING DAY FEATURE

Lothenbach Stables Inc.’s Bet She Wins, winner of last year’s Arlington-Washington Lassie Stakes will be in search of her first victory since said race in Friday’s seventh – a 1 1/16-miles allowance optional claiming event on the turf for fillies and mares.

Trained by Chris Block, the 3-year-old daughter of First Samurai will make the second start of her sophomore campaign after a seventh-place finish in the Grade III Bourbonette Oaks at Turfway Park on March 17.

“I don’t really have an answer for [her performance] other than that it was off the layoff,” Block said. “[Jockey Albin Jimenez] said that she didn’t handle the surface, but she handled the Polytrack real well when she ran in the Lassie. I’m still scratching my head after that race but she’s training well since then. I’m not big on running against older horses, but there’s not much else for her right now. I thought this would be a good spot to get her back going.”

Bet She Wins will break from post five at 4-1 morning line odds with jockey Jose Lopez in the irons.

The following day, Block will have the opportunity to showcase some of his barn’s talent on Churchill Downs’ Kentucky Derby undercard when he sends out Captivating Moon against a full field in the Grade II American Turf Stakes. Said field includes the likes of Grade I Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf winner Rushing Fall.

“They entered [Rushing Fall] the day before in the Edgewood too, so it’ll be interesting to see where they end up going with her,” Block said. “Outside of that there are others in there that are solid. My horse is doing real well right now, he appears to be taking a step forward each times he runs. If he can do that on Saturday, he should be very competitive.”

A son of Malibu Moon, Captivating Moon broke his maiden first time out over the turf at Arlington before a second-place finish in the Arlington-Washington Futurity behind Horacio DePaz trainee Barry Lee. Captivating Moon went on to win his 3-year-old season debut, an allowance optional claiming event over the Tampa Bay Downs turf on February 7, before a pair of runner-up finishes against stakes company in Tampa Bay Downs’ Columbia Stakes on February 10 and the Grade III Transylvania Stakes on April 6.