Arlington Barn Notes

By Granu LaGrange —-

Barn Notes: Friday May 30, 2019

• Wellabled Sets New Track Record in 2019 Debut
• The Tabulator Returns in Winning Form

WELLABLED SETS NEW TRACK RECORD IN 2019 DEBUT

Carolyn Wilson’s Wellabled returned to racing on May 10th to make his five-year-old debut in an Allowance race that was scheduled for the turf course, but was washed off and was run at five furlongs on the Arlington synthetic main track.

He was bet down to the odds on favorite in the field of seven, and won like an odds on favorite should. After breaking quickly from post 5, Jose Valdivia Jr. hustled him to the lead and kept him there for a 9 length victory completing the five furlongs in 56.43 seconds, a new Arlington track record.

With that effort Wellabled also earned a 109 Beyer speed figure which ranks third in the country so far for races under a mile.

Before his track record setting comeback race, he had not been seen since last February at Golden Gate Fields where he ran second in the Lost in the Fog Stakes capping off his short 2018 campaign where his only other race was a win at Turfway Park in the Forego Stakes.

The long layoff brought a few question marks coming into his 2019 debut, but trainer Larry Rivelli is confident in his now five-year-old son of Shackleford,

“He’s always been such a man amongst boys. He’s had a bunch of little injuries, running as fast and as hard as he does is hard on him, but now he’s back to where he was before” Rivelli said.

“We knew he would run a big race off of the layoff, he had been training like a monster as he always does. This race really didn’t take much out of him, which is great being that he did it so easily and broke the track record in the process. He’ll obviously have to run harder next time out against better competition but I was very happy with his comeback and how well he is doing coming out of it” he explained.

Wellabled was a Graded Stakes winner in 2016 after winning the GIII Arlington-Washington Futurity, and could prove that he still belongs in Graded Stakes company later this year,

“On synthetic he’s a Graded Stakes caliber horse. The only issue is that there’s only so many tracks with the synthetic surface so we may put him back on the turf at some point. Although it was a long time ago he ran really well on it in the Skidmore at Saratoga in 2016. I still think he will transfer to it well if we need him to” said Rivelli.

For the near future, Rivelli will keep Wellabled on the synthetic as he is pointing him towards a five and a half furlong Stakes race at Presque Isle Downs.

THE TABULATOR RETURNS IN WINNING FORM

Carolyn Wilson’s The Tabulator also made his 2019 debut in the month of May when he took on six other competitors in an Allowance race going six furlongs over the synthetic Arlington main track.

Breaking from post 4, jockey Jose Valdivia Jr. sent him to the lead where he was involved in a brief battle and was forced to go a quick opening quarter mile in 21.4 seconds. After shaking off the first challenge, he opened up turning for home and was clear most of the way through the stretch. He got a little tired nearing the wire, and held on for just a neck victory in his comeback performance.

Although the margin of victory was not impressive on paper, the fractions he was forced to set and the way that he kept on was visually impressive, and trainer Larry Rivelli said he came out of the race doing just fine.

In 2017 The Tabulator secured his first Graded Stakes victory after winning the GIII Iroquois Stakes at Churchill Downs. He then went on to cap off his 2017 season with a fifth place finish in the Breeders Cup Juvenile behind champion two-year-old Good Magic.

The Tabulator was seen four times in 2018, with his only victory coming in the Golden Circle Stakes at Prairie Meadows last May.

The now 4- year- old son of Dialed In will look to add another Graded Stakes victory to his resume sometime this year. As of now however, Rivelli will be pointing him for a Stakes race on dirt for his next start.