11-05-2025
'I Expect Him To Be Tough': Nutella Fella Looks To Make Amends In True North
Bell Gable Stable's Nutella Fella will return to the scene of two of his best career efforts when he contests the Grade 3, $400,000 True North, a 6 1/2-furlong sprint for older horses on the June 7 Belmont Stakes Day card at Saratoga Race Course.
Trained by Gary Contessa, the now 4-year-old Runhappy bay rose to prominence with a 54-1 upset in the 2023 Grade 1 Hopeful at Saratoga when rallying from last-of-10 and 6 1/4-lengths off the pace to notch a 1 1/2-length score over next-out Grade 1 Champagne-winner Timberlake.
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Nutella Fella made his next outing on last year's Belmont Stakes card when overcoming a troubled start to finish a deep-closing 1 3/4-length third in the Grade 1 Woody Stephens presented by Mohegan Sun won by Book'em Danno. Nutella Fella earned a career-best 96 Beyer Speed Figure for his Woody Stephens effort.
The $12,000 purchase from the 2022 Keeneland September Yearling Sale has made three starts this year, including a gritty neck score over next out optional-claiming winner Caramel Chip in the six-furlong Pelican (L) in February at Tampa Bay Downs.
In that event, with regular rider Junior Alvarado up, Nutella Fella needed every bit of the stretch run to squeeze up the rail to the inside of the Irad Ortiz Jr.-piloted Caramel Chip.
'He made three different moves, and it was the third one that got him the win,' Contessa said. 'You see a lot of horses that cut to the inside, and they hang. They just don't like being in there. He's a horse that really likes to win.
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'He made a move to the outside at the top of the stretch - the hole closed, and he went back behind horses and at the eighth pole he went to the outside again and the hole closed,' Contessa continued. 'So, he ducked down to the rail and came through and won. He made three absolute moves that day. It was a great ride and also a great show of how much heart this horse has.'
Last out, Nutella Fella endured a difficult outing when fractious at the gate en route to an off-the-board effort in the seven-furlong Grade 3 Commonwealth on April 8 at Keeneland.
'He threw an absolute fit at Keeneland. Even though we schooled him at Keeneland he knows the difference between morning and afternoon and the afternoon is always going to be his Achilles heel,' Contessa said. 'He caught his bridle on the back of the gate and ripped the bridle off his head. They had to get a completely different bit and bridle that they keep on hand and get the bridle back on his head while he held up the whole field. He did everything wrong at Keeneland, but he still tried. Nothing went right for him that day.
'If things go right for him, I expect him to be tough in the True North,' Contessa added. 'The New York gate crew knows him, and they know how to handle him and what his shenanigans are.'
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Nutella Fella returned to Florida and worked once at Tampa Bay Downs on April 27 before shipping up to Saratoga where he breezed five-eighths in 1:01.60 Wednesday over the Oklahoma Training Track with Katie Davis up.
'He's doing great. The best thing we did for him was wintering in Florida. He looks like a million dollars,' Contessa said. 'We shipped him up and that was his first work here and it was amazing - he went the first three-eighths in 38 and went 1:01 and change. He seems to love Saratoga.'
Bred in Kentucky by Ashview Farm, Nutella Fella is out of the Candy Ride mare Krissy's Candy, who is a half-sister to the graded stakes-placed duo Danny Boy and Meal Penalty. He has banked $318,875 via a 6-3-1-1 ledger.
