In Keeneland's second consecutive race Saturday with a Breeders' Cup-winning mare from last November returning to the scene of her greatest triumph for her 2023 debut, CARAVEL (m, 6, Mizzen Mast-Zeezee Zoomzoom, by Congrats) won the Lexington oval's GII Shakertown S. She was last seen taking the GI Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint over this course and distance Nov. 5. It was deja vu, as just like last November, when Goodnight Olive (Ghostzapper) won the GI Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Sprint in the race immediately preceding the Turf Sprint on that card, Goodnight Olive won the GI Madison S. in the race immediately preceding the Shakertown on Saturday's card.
Caravel earned a 107 Beyer Speed Figure in the Breeders' Cup, her first time beating the boys. She was 42-1 that day, but the secret was out Saturday in her return to the races, again against males. The 2-1 choice had worked well at Turfway Park on the all-weather surface since February and secured a bullet in her lone Keeneland work, a :48 1/5 (1/4) over the all-weather training track Apr. 1.
The gray went straight to the front in the Shakertown and looked strong throughout despite Bad Beat Brian (Jack Milton) hounding her two furlongs in. Caravel hit that mark in :21.86 while Bad Beat Brian increased the pressure. The two rounded the turn with Caravel just in front at the :44.77 half, then battled down the lane, neither wanting to give an inch. It was around the :56.45 five-furlong marker that Bad Beat Brian poked his head in front, but Caravel absolutely would not be denied. She gamely fought back, all heart, and got her head down on the wire in 1:02.58. MGSW & GISP Arrest Me Red (Pioneerof the Nile) finished third.
“I loved it [when she came back after being headed],” said winning rider Tyler Gaffalione, who was also aboard for the Breeders' Cup. “She showed so much heart there. She's a tremendous filly. I'm just lucky enough to be able to guide her around there. [Whether she wants the lead] depends on her break. She's a very alert filly. She jumped well today, so I didn't want to take anything away from her.”
Picked up by her current connections for $500,000 at the 2021 Fasig-Tipton November sale as a Grade III winner, Caravel was turned over to Brad Cox for 2022 and had a stellar year, winning five of eight, all black-type events. She is actually on her third straight course and distance victory, as she also took Keeneland's GIII Franklin County S. at the fall meet. Her ownership group originally had her entered in last fall's Keeneland November sale to follow her Breeders' Cup win, but withdrew her and opted to race her this year.
Pedigree Notes:
Caravel has put an exclamation mark on the final crops of Juddmonte's pensioned Mizzen Mast, whose 13 current 2-year-olds are his final foals. The Cozzene stallion has 26 graded winners and 63 black-type winners with Caravel marking his third Breeders' Cup winner following 2012 Juvenile Fillies Turf winner and French champion Flotilla (Fr) and 2012-13 Turf Sprint winner Mizdirection. Caravel is also one of 19 stakes winners out of a daughter of Congrats, although surely none has such a fun name as Caravel's dam, Zeezee Zoomzoom.
The first foal for Zeezee Zoomzoom, Caravel has a younger dual black-type winning half-brother, as well as a 2-year-old half-brother named Enzo (Great Notion) and a 2022 half-sister by Street Boss. The workmanlike family has not been generous with black-type; until Zeezee Zoomzoom's feat of producing Caravel, one has to go back to the Shakertown winner's seventh dam to find a graded producer, making Caravel's record as a five-time graded winner all the more impressive.
Saturday, Keeneland
SHAKERTOWN S.-GII, $319,094, Keeneland, 4-8, 3yo/up, 5 1/2fT, 1:02.58, gd.
1–CARAVEL, 121, m, 6, by Mizzen Mast
1st Dam: Zeezee Zoomzoom, by Congrats
2nd Dam: Zee Zee, by Exchange Rate
3rd Dam: Emblem of Hope, by Dynaformer
($330,000 RNA 3yo '20 WANOCT; $500,000 4yo '21 FTKNOV).
O-Qatar Racing, Marc Detampel & Madaket Stables LLC;
B-Elizabeth M. Merryman (PA); T-Brad H. Cox; J-Tyler
Gaffalione. $169,725. Lifetime Record: GISW, 21-13-0-3,
$1,500,877. *1/2 to Witty (Great Notion), MSW, $308,900.
Werk Nick Rating: A++.
Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
Free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–Bad Beat Brian, 122, g, 6, Jack Milton–Ultimate Class, by
During. 1ST GRADED BLACK TYPE. ($22,000 RNA Wlg '17
KEENOV; $16,000 RNA Ylg '18 KEESEP; $115,000 2yo '19
EASMAY). O-Marsico Brothers Racing LLC; B-Pope McLean,
Pope McLean Jr., Marc McLean & Phil Hager (KY); T-Brittany A.
Vanden Berg. $63,875.
3–Arrest Me Red, 122, h, 5, Pioneerof the Nile–Maraschino
Red, by Medaglia d'Oro. O-Lael Stables; B-M. Roy Jackson (KY);
T-Wesley A. Ward. $31,938.
Margins: HD, HF, NO. Odds: 2.15, 40.93, 3.80.
Also Ran: Oceanic, Mark of the Z, Bakers Bay, Stitched, Noble Emotion, Mister Mmmmm, All in Sync, Artemus Citylimits, Johnny Unleashed. Scratched: Nobody Listens. Click for the Equibase.com chart or the TJCIS.com PPs. VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.
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