Elizabeth Merryman | Horse Racing Free Tips

MGISW Caravel Retired, Date With Justify Scheduled

GI Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint heroine Caravel (Mizzen Mast) was retired to Kentucky's Hunter Valley Farm by the ownership group of Qatar Racing, Madaket Stables and Marc Detampel, and will be bred for the 2024 season to Justify, as first reported on the Lancaster Farming website by Mid-Atlantic Horse correspondent Sam Cavalieri.

Bred by Elizabeth Merryman and raised on her farm in Coatesville, Pennsylvania, Caravel is heading to the breeding shed after she RNA'd for $2.4 million at the Keeneland November Sale.

“The ownership group has very much kept me in the loop and it's been a lot of fun enjoying her successes,” said Merryman, speaking to Cavalieri. “I'm so glad that she's at Hunter Valley because I know the way she has wintered there the last few winters. She's loved it there.”

Caravel earned nearly $2 million as a 15-time winner, which included her longshot performance in the 2022 Breeders' Cup at Keeneland. The ownership group decided to race her as a 6-year-old this year, and she rewarded them with three more stakes wins, including another Grade I victory against the boys at Belmont Park in the Jaipur S.

“Caravel always has been a little bit of a freak of nature,” Merryman told Cavalieri. “She's incredible. She puts so much into her racing but from day one she had so much personality and talent. She's a once in a lifetime horse.”

Her dam Zeezee Zoomzoom (Congrats) was also set to be sold at the same Keeneland November, but Merryman couldn't part with her life-changing mare.

“It might not be the best business plan, but it was the right move for me,” Merryman told the publication. “The mare owes me nothing and she is really, really happy where she is. I didn't want to put her through the stress of shipping somewhere new. I was worried she might not take it that well and it might be really hard on her. I promised her a good life and didn't want to go back on it.”

The 11-year-old is currently in foal to Justify and has also produced the MSW Witty (Great Notion), who is bred, owned and trained by Merryman.

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Caravel on Track for Troy

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – On the Whitney Day card with three Grade I races, the GIII Troy S. is pretty easy to overlook.

Last year, though, two-time Breeders' Cup race winner Golden Pal (Uncle Mo) drew attention to the 5 1/2-furlong turf test, which he won by a head. On Aug. 5, Caravel (Mizzen Mast) will be the headliner in the 20th running of the Troy and, if the 2022 Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint upsetter prevails, will be its first female winner.

Caravel prepped for the race Saturday on the Oklahoma turf training track with a half-mile in :48.88 under Kelvin Perez. It was the sixth-fastest of the 20 at the distance.

Trainer Brad Cox gave the breeze a solid review.

“Very good. She's always a great workhorse,” he said. “Great work this morning, so very pleased with what we saw out there.”

The gray 6-year-old Pennsylvania-bred mare brings a five-race unbeaten streak into the Troy. Starting with her victory at 42-1 in the Breeders' Cup at Keeneland, three of those wins have come against males.

While she was a very accomplished runner for breeder-owner-trainer Elizabeth Merryman winning seven of nine starts–topped by the GIII Caress S. in 2021 at Saratoga–and finishing third in the other two, she has really blossomed since last summer. Merryman sold a 75% stake to Bobby Flay in 2021 and they sold her for $500,000 to Qatar Racing and Marc Detampel at the 2021 Fasig-Tipton Fall Mixed Sale. Madaket Stables subsequently became a partner. The 5-year-old was turned over to Cox, who tried her once against males without success in the GII Twin Spires Turf Sprint on the Kentucky Derby program.

Cox said he had no idea that Caravel was capable of what she has accomplished.

“She got really good starting last fall,” he said. “She's always been good, but she became dominant maybe.”

After Caravel won the GIII Franklin S. at Keeneland on Oct. 16, Cox and the owners decided to try her in the Breeders' Cup over the same course. She handled pace pressure throughout, won by a half-length and paid $87.78. This year she is three-for-three and has beaten males in the GII Shakertown S. at Keeneland and the GI Jaipur S. at Belmont Park.

“She stepped up. She's been able to defeat them three times now within the last nine months,” Cox said. “She's really good. She's happy. She likes Saratoga. I'm looking forward to getting a run into her here the first part of August.”

Cox said entering Caravel in the Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint was a gamble.

“We were taking a shot,” he said. “She had just come off a win at Keeneland in a Grade III. It was a big run. We were asking her to run back in three weeks. We were taking a shot. She was 40-something to 1 or whatever she was. When you run horses in races and when you're that price there's really no pressure. There was no pressure and obviously the favorite that day [Golden Pal] missed the break. I don't know how things would have played out, but she's gone on to capture another Grade I since that against the boys and is undefeated since. She's got a nice win streak going and she gives us a lot of confidence throughout the entire year, really.”

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Merryman Wins John Deere Award

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 provide funding for the purses of the World Championships through the annual nominations of foals and stallions.

NTRA Advantage and John Deere will award a John Deere TS Gator Utility Vehicle to Ms. Merryman.

This year's John Deere Award winner was determined by a drawing from all breeders who won either a Breeders' Cup World Championships race or a Breeders' Cup Challenge Series race.

“We congratulate Ms. Merryman on being this year's recipient of the John Deere Award in recognition of Caravel's outstanding victory in the Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint,” said Dora Delgado, Breeders' Cup Executive Vice President and Chief Racing Officer. “The John Deere Award is a tribute to the importance of the breeders in our sport and whose annual contributions have been the backbone of our funding for the Breeders' Cup racing programs and the World Championships. We also thank John Deere and NTRA Advantage for their sponsorship of this award and their salute to the breeding industry.”

“I am very happy to accept the John Deere Award on behalf of Caravel in honor of her thrilling win in the Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint, and in recognition of all breeders who participated in the World Championships,” said Merryman.

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Caravel Skips Clear in Franklin

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 great race,” said winning rider Tyler Gaffalione. “She broke alertly today. I knew [jockey] Johnny [Velazquez's] horse [Twilight Gleaming] was the one to beat, so I worked my way out to get behind her, and coming into the stretch, I attacked her as soon as I could. My horse was game, and she finished the job well.”

Caravel began her career racing in the silks of her breeder and trainer, Elizabeth Merryman, for whom she won four stakes. Bobby Flay joined the ownership line ahead of her first graded score in last summer's GIII Caress S. at Saratoga and the mare moved to the barn of trainer Graham Motion to finish third in the Aug. 22 GI Highlander S., sixth in the Sept. 25 GIII Turf Monster S. and 12th in the Nov. 6 GI Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint.

Fergus Galvin of Hunter Valley Farm signed the ticket to acquire Caravel for $500,000 at the Fasig-Tipton November sale. Transferred to Brad Cox, she took the Queen S. at Turfway in March in her first start for the new owners. She added wins in the June 10 GIII Intercontinental S. at Belmont Park and Aug. 20 Smart N Fancy S. at Saratoga and was coming off a fourth-place effort in the Sept. 19 GII Presque Isle Downs Masters S.

Asked whether Sunday's win had earned Caravel a return trip to the Breeders' Cup in three weeks, Cox said, “That will ultimately be up to the owners [Qatar Racing, Marc Detampel and Madaket Stables], but we'll talk to them about it. I do know she's in the [Keeneland November Breeding Stock] sale, but there's been some talk about possibly running her next year as well, so who knows? At the end of the day I'm just proud of what she's been able to accomplish, and congratulations to the ownership group. She's a tough filly. She always brings it.”

Caravel is entered in the Keeneland November sale as hip 224.

Pedigree Notes:

Caravel is the first foal out of Zeezee Zoomzoom, who is also the dam of multiple stakes winner Witty (Great Notion). The 10-year-old mare produced a colt by Great Notion in 2021 and a filly by Street Boss this year. She is a daughter of multiple stakes winner and multiple graded placed Zee Zee.

Sunday, Keeneland
FRANKLIN S.-GIII, $263,000, Keeneland, 10-16, 3yo/up, f/m,
5 1/2fT, 1:02.59, fm.
1–CARAVEL, 122, m, 5, 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. $143,375. Lifetime Record: 19-11-0-3, $811,152.
*1/2 to Witty (Great Notion), MSW, $275,900. Werk Nick
   Rating: A++. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
   Click for the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–Thundering Creed, 122, f, 4, Jimmy Creed–Thundering Gale,
by Thunderello. 1ST GRADED BLACK TYPE. ($14,000 Ylg '19
KEEJAN). O-Blackout Racing Stables; B-C. Kidder & N. Cole (KY);
T-Michael A. Tomlinson. $55,500.
3–Star Devine (Ire), 120, f, 4, Fastnet Rock (Aus)–Stars At Night
(Ire), by Galileo (Ire). 'TDN Rising Star' (200,000gns Ylg '19 TATOCT).
O-Lawrence Goichman; B-Rockhart Trading Ltd. (IRE); T-Jorge Abreu. $23,125.
Margins: 1 3/4, NO, 1. Odds: 2.44, 19.73, 7.77.
Also Ran: Twilight Gleaming (Ire), Have A Good Day (Ire), Creative Credit, Brooke Marie, Tobys Heart, Querobin Dourada, Bout Time, Elle Z. Scratched: Change of Control, Illegal Smile (Ire), Miner's Queen, Violenza. Click for the Equibase.com chart and the TJCIS.com PPs. VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.

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