Jim O'Donnell: Rivelli now a new kid on the Louisville block with an old Kentucky Derby dream

THE SUN WAS SHINING BRIGHT on Larry Rivelli's brief Kentucky home Wednesday.

That home is Barn 1, Stall 1, on the Churchill Downs backstretch.

Saturday, the North Barrington resident will saddle Two Phil's - his first Kentucky Derby starter - in the 149th Run for the Roses (NBC, Peacock, NBCSports.com, NBC Sports app; post time - 5:57 p.m., full-card coverage begins at 11 a.m.).

"It's a blur. It's a dream. It's fantastic," said Rivelli, 51, who has as good a chance as any to win North America's most famous thoroughbred race.

A full field of 20 is scheduled to go postward. Two Phil's - No. 3 with Derby rookie Jareth Loveberry in the irons - is a sixth selection in the morning line at 12-1.

The top opening picks are: Forte (No. 15, trainer Todd Pletcher, 3-1), Tapit Trice (No. 5, Pletcher, 5-1) and Angel of Empire (No. 14, Brad Cox, 8-1).

Rivelli is not fazed.

"Here's the reality," he said. "My horse couldn't be doing any better. We gunned through a five-furlong work at Hawthorne in: 59 flat last Saturday and then shipped. That's great.

"But this isn't a claiming race where going in, I could tell you, 'We've got the best horse and we're going to win.' Essentially, we've got nineteen other 'best horses' in this race and practically all have to be doing very well to get this far. Now so much depends on good fortune and sheer old-fashioned racing luck."

SOME RACING LUCK but also a quick hit of sharp strategic placement has brought Two Phil's to the prime international marquee of the Louisville oval.

The Hard Spun 3-year-old won three of his first seven races, running on five different tracks, none in Illinois.

Then, on March 25, Rivelli and stable adviser Steve Leving raced the one-run colt in The Grade III Jeff Ruby Steaks - named for a regional meat-and-restaurant firm - at Kentucky's Turfway Park.

Two Phil's settled early and then blew home by 5¾ lengths.

By Churchill accounting, the victory netted the connections 100 Derby points. That sum earned the spot in the starting field of the $3M classic.

TWO PHIL'S IS JOINTLY OWNED BY Patricia's Hope LLC (Vinnie Foglia and mother Pat Foglia, both of North Barrington, 80 percent) and former advertising exec Phil Sagan of Bloomingdale, who bred the chestnut charger in Kentucky.

The colt is named for Sagan and eightysomething Phil La Sala of Bensenville. La Sala is the father of longtime Chicago jockey Jerry La Sala, who was instrumental in helping to bring about the breeding of Hard Spun to Mia Torri, a General Quarters mare. Anthony Sagan - the son of the breeder - also played a role.

All are expected to be among the Rivelli posse of 30 or so at Churchill on Saturday. Others in the expected contingent include: Vic McCormack and wife Julie (Rivelli's stepfather and mother), son Dominick Rivelli and daughter Brittney Rivelli.

(Dom Rivelli, age 19 of Highland Park, recently completed his fourth season of junior hockey. The right winger finished the 2022-23 campaign with the "A" Langley Rivermen of the British Columbia Hockey League. Brittney is an honors graduate of Miami of Ohio.)

Also in the good seats will be Vince Foglia Sr., a co-founder of the tremendously successful Sage medical products group of Cary, and Nancy and Dena La Sala, wife and daughter of the ex-jock.

The gabby Leving will also likely be there, but on a word count.

WITH POST TIME CLOSING IN, Rivelli said that media interviews have been a big portion of his Derby week.

"They're there and they're all just trying to do their jobs," he said. "I think as far as wanting to talk to me, a big part of it is that I'm a new kid on the block. I'm not Todd Pletcher or Brad Cox. So they think I'm fresh and might have some particular kind of great new insight, which I don't.

"The most impressive interview so far was one with Jerry Bailey and Randy Moss (NBC's prime duo). I've known Jerry casually for years and he was riding regular at Arlington when my grandfather (the late Pete DiVito) was still there. They came incredibly well-prepared and asked great questions. There was clearly a lot of homework done before they sat with me."

FOR RIVELLI'S HOMIES - his friends and fans who will be watching and rooting from the Chicago area - his Derby dazzling comes with a touch of bittersweet.

In a perfect Illinois racing world, one unaffected by greedy legislators, disconnected regional "officials" and carnivorous gaming corporations, Arlington Park would be opening its 2023 season on Friday.

Rivelli won nine training titles at Arlington, including the final eight (2014-21).

Now he is set to start in the biggest race of his career, 317 long light miles from home.

But that home is southwest suburban Hawthorne Race Course, not Arlington Park.

"Obviously, the best outcome here would be that we ship to Baltimore for the Preakness as the Derby champ," the man known to some as "High Strike" said. "But has the thought crossed my mind about being able to race a Triple Crown winner for Vinnie and the Foglias and the Sagans at Arlington Park?

"Not really. Way too much of a pipe dream. Especially the part about Arlington. I don't even want to think about that right now."

But in the old Kentucky sun, the possibility exists that Larry Rivelli could be sitting on the greatest thoroughbred racing moment of this and his next eight lifetimes.

All his Two Phil's has to do Saturday is beat 19 other "best horses."

Jim O'Donnell's Sports and Media column appears Sunday and Thursday. Reach him at jimodonnelldh@yahoo.com. All communications may be considered for publication.