Trainer Larry Rivelli’s second season stabled at Fair Grounds has started better than his first. Rivelli wound up winning eight races during the 2023-24 Fair Grounds meet after moving most of his horses north well before the end of the racing season. This time, Rivelli already has six winners from just 13 runners during the meet’s first month. “Last year, we did it on a whim. This year, we’re planting our flag,” Rivelli said. To that end, Rivelli and one of his main clients, Vince Foglia’s Patricia’s Hope, earlier in 2024 purchased Louie Roussel’s private barn on the Fair Grounds backstretch. Roussel and his father owned Fair Grounds until 1990, and even after selling the track, Roussel retained possession of his barn, situated just beyond the far turn at the edge of the Fair Grounds property. Rivelli said he has 26 horses stabled there, Roussel’s remaining stock, now trained by Daniel Simpson, occupy the other dozen stalls. :: Bet the races with a $200 First Deposit Match + FREE All Access PPs! Join DRF Bets. “It’s awesome. It’s like the Taj Mahal. You can’t even compare it to the other barns here. For your help, it’s like an Extended Stay. They love it,” Rivelli said. While things are humming along in New Orleans, a trip to Hong Kong for one of Rivelli’s top runners, Nobals, didn’t end well. Nobals, winner of the 2023 Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint, contracted a fever shipping to Hong Kong and was taken out of the Hong Kong Sprint several days before the Dec. 8 contest. “He’s shipped all over the place and shipped great. But when he got over there, you could just tell the trip got to him,” Rivelli said. Nobals was scheduled to get out of quarantine in the Chicago area Thursday, plans for winter racing yet to be formulated. Rivelli also reported that One Timer, third last weekend in the Holiday Cheer at Turfway Park, will be scratched from the Richie Scherer Memorial on Saturday at Fair Grounds. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.