April, 2023 | Horse Racing Free Tips

Caravel Beats The Boys Again At Keeneland – This Time In Shakertown

Caravel, a grey Mizzen Mast mare who scored a shocking 42-1 upset over males in the Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint at Keeneland last November, returned to Lexington, Ky., for Saturday's Grade 2 Shakertown, beating the boys again with a narrow front-running victory under Tyler Gaffalione.

The Brad Cox-trained 6-year-old covered 5 1/2 furlongs on firm turf in 1:02.58 after setting fractions of :21.86, :44.77, and :56.45. She paid $6.30 as the 2-1 favorite in the field of 12 veteran sprinters – all colts or geldings with the exception of Caravel.

Bad Beat Brian lived up to his name, finishing a head back in second at 40-1 odds, appearing to have the momentum in midstretch after putting his head in front before falling short.

“Great trip,” said Emigh. “I knew I was on the outside of the big favorite. I was going to stalk her and try and get her, and I got by her. I was a neck in front most of the lane. She kept fighting back and just refused to lose and caught me right at the last jump. I wanted to cry.”

Wesley Ward-trained Arrest Me Red, the 9-2 second choice, finished a half-length back in third, a nose ahead of Oceanic in fourth.

“I loved it (when she came back after being headed by runner-up Bad Beat Brian in the stretch),” said Gaffalione. “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.”

Caravel, winning for the 13th time in 21 starts, is owned by Qatar Racing, Marc Detampel and Madaket Stables. She was bred in Pennsylvania by Elizabeth Merryman and was produced from the Contrats mare, Zeezee Zoomzoom.

Gaffalione gunned Caravel to the early lead, outrunning Artemus Citylimits and Mark of the Z, then was challenged by Bad Beat Brian and Chris Emigh entering the far turn. Those two raced as a team around the turn and down the stretch, with Arrest Me Red and Oceanic rallying late but never really threatening the top two.

Caravel is now a perfect 3-for-3 sprinting over the Keeneland turf, having won the G3 Franklin Stakes against fillies and mares last October before her wire-to-wire upset in the Breeders' Cup.

“It was nice to see her gutsy performance, said Qatar Racing owner Sheikh Fahad. “She did that in (winning) the Breeders' Cup (Turf Sprint-G1 at Keeneland last year), and she did it again today. It is very hard once you get headed to come back again, but it was nice to see and I think it bodes well for the future for her.

“It wasn't that difficult (to decide to come back this year after what she accomplished last season). My brothers and I had a chat and they want good horses running around the world. She fits the bill perfectly, so it wasn't that tough, to be honest.”

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Tapit Trice Outslugs Verifying In Toyota Blue Grass Thriller

Favored at 8-5, Whisper Hill Farm and Gainesway's TAPIT TRICE (c, 3, Tapit–Danzatrice, by Dunkirk) was forced to make several runs, but in the end outgamed perfect trip Verifying (Justify) to take out Saturday's GI Toyota Blue Grass S. at Keeneland. Under a hustling ride early from gate one by Luis Saez, the $1.3-million Keeneland September graduate was consigned to a midfield trip around the first turn as Verifying set up shop a couple of lengths behind longshot pacesetter Clear the Air (Ransom the Moon). Steered out into the clear down the backstretch, Tapit Trice improved into a forward position but was four wide at the five-eighths and continued to chart a wide course into and around the turn. Floated a bit wider by Verifying into the the stretch, Tapit Trice joined that one in earned a furlong from home and got the better of a good battle for a first Grade I victory. It was the second winner of the Blue Grass in three years for Tapit, whose multiple champion son Essential Quality decisioned a game Highly Motivated (Into Mischief) in a finish reminiscent of Saturday's. Sales history: $1,300,000 Ylg '21 KEESEP. O-Whisper Hill Farm & Gainesway; B-Gainesway Thoroughbreds Ltd (KY); T-Todd Pletcher.

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Irish Import Papilio Scores First U.S. Win In Appalachian

Irish-bred Papilio was up in the final strides in the the $400,000 Appalachian (G2) to win by a neck and post her first U.S. victory while adding a first stakes triumph to her record Saturday at Keeneland.

Sent off at 5-1 odds, the Starspangledbanner filly was winning for the third time in seven career starts while rebounding from a runner-up finish in the Herecomesthebride (G3) March 4 at Gulfstream in her U.S. debut.

Papilio, who was ridden by Javier Castellano for trainer Mark Casse, returned $13.98 for the win after finishing the Appalachian's one mile in 1:36.32 on turf rated as good.

Cairo Consort was second, a length in front of third-place finisher Heavenly.

Papilio, who is campaigned by D. J. Stable LLC, Medallion Racing, Barry Fowler, and Parkland Thoroughbreds, earned $176,700 winner's share of the Appalachian purse to boost her lifetime bankroll to $258,700. Her dam is the High Chaparral mare Glafyra.

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Caravel All Heart in Shakertown

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 2-1 Saturday in her return to the races, again against males, after working well at Turfway Park on the all-weather surface since February and securing 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 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. It was around the :56.45 marker for the five furlongs 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 Keeneland November sale as a GIII winner, she 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 took Keeneland's GIII Franklin 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 winners out of a daughter of Congrats, although surely none have 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 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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