Arlington International Racecourse Barn Notes: Saturday, May 5

By Bailey Gallison —-

• DiVito Looks Ahead with Recount
• Rivelli Lays Out Options for The Tabulator
• Murrill Returns to Arlington for 2018 Meet, Wins Friday Opener

DIVITO LOOKS AHEAD WITH RECOUNT

Trainer Jimmy DiVito reported that Doubledown Racing Inc.’s homebred sprinter Recount emerged from last Saturday’s victory in Hawthorne’s Robert S. Molaro Handicap in good order and went on to say that the 6-year-old son of Limehouse would likely stick to facing state-breds for his next start.

“He came back really good,” DiVito said. “He’s pretty much a solid allowance horse anywhere else, but he won some open stakes too. He won at Churchill Downs. We’ll probably go for some Illinois bred stakes here and go from there. That would be my plan.”

The next sprint event for Illinois-breds on the Arlington International Racecourse stakes calendar is the $75,000 Addison Cammack Memorial Handicap on June 2, a race which Recount won in 2015 and 2016.

A multiple stakes winner against open company, Recount took the 2014 edition of the Grade III Arlington-Washington Futurity as a 2-year-old. He later went on to defeat five graded stakes winners in Churchill Downs’ Bet On Sunshine Stakes in 2016. He boasts 12 career victories in 34 career starts and lifetime earnings of $623,461.

RIVELLI LAYS OUT OPTIONS FOR THE TABULATOR

Carolyn Wilson’s The Tabulator returned to racing action in style on Thursday night with a gate-to-wire 6¼ length triumph in Prairie Meadows’ Golden Circle Stakes.

Trained by Larry Rivelli, the son of Dialed In broke his maiden at first asking last summer at Arlington International Race Course by six lengths before a stakes victory in the Prairie Gold Juvenile Stakes. The Tabulator then shipped to Churchill Downs for the Grade III Iroquois Stakes in September. His only defeat took place in the Grade I Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Del Mar where he finished fifth.

“We wanted to shoot for an easy spot for his first start this year with him being off for so long,” Rivelli said. “I think that from two to three he is a little bit better of a horse, more mature which is good. Jose (Valdivia, Jr.) sent me a text after the race and just said ‘Wow!’ He was impressed.”

With The Tabulator’s sophomore debut in the rearview mirror, Rivelli is eyeing graded stakes company and stated that he could make his next start in the Grade II $400,000 Woody Stephens Stakes on the Belmont Stakes undercard June 9. He also brought up the Ohio Derby on June 23, Indiana Derby on July 14, and West Virginia Derby on August 4 as potential options later in the year. All three races are Grade III events that carry a purse of $500,000.

“We’ve got some options for his next race,” Rivelli said. “There’s the race in New York and or the Indiana, Ohio and West Virginia Derby. We’ll focus on those four races.”

The Tabulator was a $460,000 purchase from the Ocala Breeders’ Sales Two-Year-Olds in Training Sale in March of last year.

MURRILL RETURNS TO ARLINGTON FOR 2018 MEET, WINS FRIDAY OPENER

Following a summer spent on the Mid Atlantic circuit, jockey Mitchell Murrill decided to return to Arlington for the 2018 meet and got off to a good start when taking the first race on Opening Day aboard Another Richie ($7.60, $3.60, $2.60), an Illinois-bred son of Successful Appeal who raced for a $12,500 tag and is trained by Joe Kirby.

Murrill had been the second winningest rider at Arlington in 2015-16 behind Jose Valdivia Jr. with a respective 72 and 76 wins each season.

“Me and my agent (Tim Hanisch) were working hard getting on the right horses,” Murrill said. “We’re hoping that they all perform and we’re just getting back to where we left off. Hopefully we keep continuing on and riding good races. I didn’t have as much success at Delaware and if it ain’t broke don’t fix it. People like us here and it’s a good spot to be.”

Murrill is named the rider aboard seven mounts for Saturday’s card.