Qatar Racing Limited, Marc Detampel, and Madaket Stables' Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint (G1) winner Caravel had her final tuneup Saturday morning for her 2023 debut in next Saturday's $350,000 Shakertown (G2) when she breezed a half-mile in :48.20 on Keeneland's all-weather training track with exercise rider Edgar Quinteros aboard.
“You can't do it any better than that,” Tessa Walden, assistant to trainer Brad Cox, said of the drill, fastest of four timed moves at the distance on the synthetic surface.
“We called an audible Friday and just galloped on the all-weather and pushed the work back a day,” Cox said Friday morning before heading to Oaklawn Park for the Arkansas Derby (G1).
Caravel, who in her most recent race defeated males in the Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint Nov. 5 at Keeneland, is scheduled to face males again in the Shakertown at the Lexington track.
“(The Shakertown) has been the plan for the comeback all along. I love the way she is training,” Cox said of the 6-year-old Mizzen Mast mare, who returned to the work tab Feb. 18 with the first of six works over the all-weather surface at Turfway Park in Northern Kentucky prior to her work Saturday morning at Keeneland.
A 10-time stakes winner with four graded stakes victories, Caravel is undefeated in two Keeneland starts, capturing the Franklin (G3) during the 2022 Fall Meet prior to her victory in the Breeders' Cup.
The prospective field for the Shakertown (with trainer): Caravel (Cox), Johnny Unleashed (Eric Foster), Mister Mmmmm (Wayne Catalano), Our Shot (John Terranova II). Possible: Oceanic (Jordan Blair), Stitched (Greg Foley).
The post ‘I Love The Way She Is Training’: Caravel Breezes At Keeneland Toward 2023 Debut Against Males In Shakertown appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.
