Caravel

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...

In the final Mid-Atlantic Thoroughbred/The Racing Biz poll of 2022, GI Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint heroine Caravel (Mizzen Mast) was named 2022's top Midlantic-bred. The honor marks the fifth straight year the Top Midlantic-bred was also a Breeders' Cup winner. In addition to her Breeders' Cup triumph, the Pennsylvania-bred daughter of Zeezee Zoomzoom (Congrats) racked up a record of 8-5-0-0 for earnings of $930,983, which included wins in the GIII Franklin County S. and GIII Intercontinental S. She is the sixth Pennsylvania-bred to win a Breeders' Cup race, joining Go...

Edited Press Release Elizabeth M. Merryman, who bred Caravel (Mizzen Mast), winner of the $1-million GI Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint Nov. 5 at Keeneland Race Course, has been named the 2022 recipient of the John Deere Award, in recognition of the breeders who participated this year in the Breeders' Cup Challenge Series: Win and You're In and in the Breeders' Cup World Championships. The John Deere Award, presented by Breeders' Cup Limited and NTRA Advantage, emphasizes the contributions of breeders to the Breeders' Cup program. The industry's breeders and nominators...

To the casual observer, it might appear that success has come fast and early to Tyler Gaffalione, who has yet to see the dawn of his 30th birthday. As of Dec. 7, Gaffalione has registered 1,997 wins with career earnings of just over $113 million. That's pretty heady stuff, especially for a 28-year-old. However, don't let that fool you because the young horseman has already packed a tsunami of sweat and tears--not to mention good old fashioned hard work--into a life still very much in progress. I've had great people...

LEXINGTON, KY--The industry action moves back to Keeneland Monday, just two days after the Lexington oval hosted the Breeders' Cup, for the 10-day Keeneland November Sale, which runs through Nov. 16. The auction opens at 1 p.m. Monday with a single session Book 1, containing 240 head. Thirty minutes prior to that however, Keeneland offers the chance of a lifetime, a 2.5% fractional interest in the undefeated and sensational GI Breeders' Cup Classic winner Flightline (Tapit). It will be part of their first metaverse experience. (Click here for full story)....

LEXINGTON, KY--This was a day that seemed to hang suspended, if not quite on a single hair of his tail, then certainly on the fate of a single horse. Even the gale that blew through the afternoon had a portentous quality, as though the very elements were anticipating some complementary melodrama of wind and fire from Flightline (Tapit). Yet history is often made not to a blaring fanfare but in quiet increments--and the 39 steps taken by the Breeders' Cup since its inauguration in 1984 here brought the Europeans to...

LEXINGTON, KY - Gutsy Pennsylvania-bred mare Caravel (Mizzen Mast) took the field wire-to-wire and just held off Emaraaty Ana (GB) (Shamardal) with Creative Force (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}) closing powerfully late to give Godolphin the two-three in the GI Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint Saturday at Keeneland. The gray mare, dismissed at 42-1, shot out to the early lead as favored Golden Pal (Uncle Mo), who had been expected to set the pace, was off to a slow start after jumping at the break. The favorite was rushing up through the field,...

LEXINGTON, KY--Over the past few days that I've been in Lexington, I've been asked the same question quite a few times by friends and family who are not in attendance. "Who looks good?" So, I decided I'd share my opinions on who has stood out this week with our TDN readers as well. Quick disclaimer: I have not seen every single Breeders' Cup horse, but I have seen many of them. It is the World Championships, so, of course, every horse here looks fantastic. This list is just a few...

Caravel, purchased for $500,000 at last year's Fasig-Tipton November sale, captured her second graded win for the new connections this year when she sauntered clear to the wire to win the GIII Franklin S. at Keeneland Sunday. Sent off the 2-1 favorite, the gray mare sat settled in a tracking third along the rail behind and opening quarter in :21.40. She charged up four wide into the lane and collared pacesetting second-choiceTwilight Gleaming (Ire) (National Defense {GB}) with a furlong to run before skipping clear late. "The mare ran a...

Nasser Bin Omairah's Mo Strike (Uncle Mo), winner of Saturday's GIII Sanford S., will likely make his next start in the Sept. 5 GI Hopeful S., trainer Brad Cox confirmed Sunday. "He's great and looks fantastic. I think the right thing to do, from a timing standpoint, is to look at the Hopeful and work our way back from there," Cox said Sunday. "I think we'll skip the [Aug. 13 GII] Saratoga Special, because it's asking a lot of him and this gives him more time. We brought him back...

After a season of near perfection that included six stakes wins, Daniel Lopez and George Chestnut's homebred Chub Wagon was named 2021 Pennsylvania-bred Horse of the Year at the Pennsylvania Horse Breeders Association's 43rd annual Iroquois Awards, held May 13 at The Inn at Mendenhall in Chadds Ford, Pa. The richest state-bred of 2021 when banking $487,400, Chub Wagon scored in eight of her nine starts at age four, and was second in her only loss. After getting her first stakes win in the Unique Bella at Parx in April...

Entries from nine countries appear on course for the eight Group 1 races at Royal Ascot, headlined by the world's three highest-rated sprinters: Nature Strip (Aus) (Nicconi {Aus}) (Australia, 124), Golden Pal (Uncle Mo) (USA, 121) and Home Affairs (Aus) (I Am Invincible {Aus}) (Australia, 120). The Australian pair--who may face Golden Pal in the G1 King's Stand S. or contest the G1 Platinum Jubilee S.--are joined by fellow Australian invader Artorius (Aus) (Flying Artie {Aus}) (Anthony & Sam Freedman), set to run on the final day of the meeting....