Refreshed Caravel Poised for Another Exciting Campaign

Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint (G1T) winner Caravel  could make her reappearance during the Keeneland spring meet, according to trainer Brad Cox's longtime assistant, Tessa Walden. Since arriving at Turfway Park last month, the 6-year-old daughter of Mizzen Mast  has recorded two three-furlong breezes, the latest being a :36 3/5 move Feb. 25 at the Florence, Ky. oval.

"(The breeze was) really good. I'm just seeing a lot of things I like so far," Walden told BloodHorse Monday. "She's probably prepared to go a half this coming Saturday."

Following the mare's shocking wire-to-wire triumph in the Breeders' Cup, Caravel was given a winter freshening at Hunter Valley Farm in Lexington.

"She was also going out to KESMARC (Kentucky Equine Sports Medicine and Rehabilitation Center) and doing a little bit of work on the aqua tread there," Walden said. "They had her in fantastic shape when she came back in. She was carrying good weight, really happy, everything you'd want to see in a horse coming off a layoff. She got here and hasn't missed a beat. She seems to love being back in training."

Since being purchased by Qatar Racing, Marc Detampel, and Madaket Stables for $500,000 at the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky Fall Mixed Sale, Caravel has thrived in the Cox barn, capturing five of her last eight starts. The earner of $1.3 million, voted the 2022 Mid-Atlantic Horse of the Year and a finalist for the 2022 Eclipse Award champion female sprinter, streaked to stakes victories in the Queen Stakes, Intercontinental Stakes (G3T), Smart N Fancy Stakes, and Franklin Stakes (G3T) before culminating her 2022 season with a memorable 42-1 upset in the Breeders' Cup.

"I can't say we were entirely surprised with how she ran in the Breeders' Cup," Walden said. "She was doing so amazing coming into that race and kind of breathing a different air, and so we weren't entirely shocked that she was able to put in a lifetime best performance."

Caravel has taken her numerous connections on a thrilling ride over the past three years. Initially trained and raced by breeder Elizabeth Merryman, the Pennsylvania-bred filly turned heads with a trio of black-type victories during the spring and summer of 2021. She is the best racehorse bred by Merryman to date, who was on hand to see the mare defeat some of the finest turf sprinters in the world at Keeneland on Breeders' Cup Championship Saturday.

Returning back to the barn with a swagger in her step, head bobbing happily, after a routine one-mile jog Monday morning at Turfway Park, Caravel appears poised for another exciting campaign.

"She’s one of a kind and very, very sassy," Walden said. "She’s very animated in the barn and very animated to train. She’s a really fun horse to be around.

"There are definitely plans to win more stakes with her."