Rivelli Cocked and Loaded for Spa

Larry Rivelli, the current leading trainer at Arlington Park by a wide margin, will once again send a string to Saratoga, led by Saturday's GIII Sanford S. contender Cocked and Loaded (Colonel John).

Unveiled successfully despite a troubled trip by trainer John Hancock for Blue Checker Thoroughbreds at Keeneland Apr. 9, the $16,000 KEESEP yearling was subsequently acquired by Rivelli for two of his main owners, Vince Foglia's Patricia's Hope LLC and Richard Ravin.

“A buddy of mine, Steve Leving, who used to be racing manager for Frank Calabrese and is now agent for jockey Jose Valdivia, Jr., knew about the horse before he raced,” recalled Rivelli of how Cocked and Loaded first made it onto his radar. “[Leving] said to watch him run. Wesley [Ward]'s a good buddy of mine and he had a horse in the race. So I just happened to be watching the race, and called Wesley and he said he loved his horse [runner-up Maniacal {Kitten's Joy}]. But Cocked and Loaded got left–hit the gate and dropped back to last going 4 1/2 furlongs–and with a Wesley Ward horse in there, he still ran over the top of them. So, before he galloped out into the first turn, I was calling Steve to get [a deal] done… I didn't even have [an owner] in mind for the horse at the time, but I knew we needed to have him.”

Cocked and Loaded soon joined Rivelli in Chicago, and appeared to be working well before shipping to Belmont Park to annex the lucrative Tremont S. June 5 over a pair of next-out winners, including expected Sanford rival Paynes Prairie (Tale of Ekati) and Swipe (Birdstone), who shipped back to California to take the Summer Juvenile Championship S. at Los Alamitos earlier this month. Rivelli was far from surprised by his charge's performance.

“When you run a horse for the first time yourself–and I'd trained him for a little bit in between–there's always something you figure out after they run,” the 44-year-old said. “But he did everything we thought he would do. There were no surprises.”

Rivelli expects more of the same this time around.

“He's just kind of a plain, brown-wrapper kind of horse, but he's got an unbelievable stride for a horse of his size,” he offered. “He's smaller, but he's not a midget. His mind is right, and he's been training unbelievable. The horse is doing fabulously… The thing I like about him, is he'll just sit behind [horses]. I worked him [July 8] at Arlington behind some older horses going three quarters [in 1:14 1/5] and he just sat behind them and ran over the top of them. I'm expecting him to do the same thing Saturday.”

By MGISW Colonel John (Tiznow)–winner of the local GI Travers S. going 10 panels–and out of a Malibu Moon mare, there's nothing on pedigree to suggest Cocked and Loaded can't continue to be a factor as distances increase.

“I think he'll run all day long,” Rivelli asserted. “That's one thing about this horse that amazes me. After his works, he's cooled out in like 10 minutes. He's not breathing hard. He's never taxed. He never looks like you've gotten to the bottom of him.”

Rivelli, a successful all-around horseman who does well shopping at auction and in the claiming game, says his experience with Cocked and Loaded might spark an increased interest in looking for potential private purchases.

“It's hard to buy horses–regardless,” he noted. “You see these sales and you've got yearlings and 2-year-olds going for twice as much as I paid for this horse. I think the reason why we got him is, if you had walked over to the barn after the race and he was this giant War Front or some monster, he would've been too much. I'm an athlete type of guy–I always try to buy the athletes. I played football and other sports my whole life, had college scholarships and stuff, and I know it's all about the athlete… Pedigree helps, but a runner's a runner.”

Cocked and Loaded won't be the only Rivelli runner seen at the Spa this summer, as the conditioner looks for his fifth consecutive year with at least one winner at the prestigious meet. Among his other expected Saratoga starters are Ravin and V-Leaf Stables's Lewys Vaporizer (Lewis Michael), who was third behind 'TDN Rising Star' and subsequent GII Dwyer S. winner Speightster (Speightstown); an unraced Kitten's Joy juvenile filly who Rivelli is high on; and a few claimers who are still in Chicago, but will fly in once they've been entered.

“We don't like to ship unless we think we can win,” Rivelli quipped.