Breeders' Cup Winner Caravel to Face Boys in Shakertown

Qatar Racing, Marc Detampel and Madaket Stables' Caravel  had her final tuneup April 1 for her 2023 debut in the April 8 Shakertown Stakes (G2T) with a half-mile in :48 1/5 on Keeneland's all-weather training track with exercise rider Edgar Quinteros aboard. 

"You can't do it any better than that," said Tessa Walden, assistant to trainer Brad Cox. 

"We called an audible Friday and just galloped on the all-weather and pushed the work back a day," Cox said March 31 before heading to Oaklawn Park for the Arkansas Derby (G1). 

Caravel, a daughter of Mizzen Mast  who was last seen defeating males in the Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint (G1T) at Keeneland in November, is scheduled to face the boys again in the Shakertown, a $350,000 turf sprint at 5 1/2 furlongs.

"(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 mare, who had previously breezed at Turfway Park this winter and spring. 

A 10-time stakes winner with four victories in graded races, Caravel is undefeated in two Keeneland starts. She took the Franklin Stakes (G3T) at the Lexington track during the 2022 fall meet before her victory in the Breeders' Cup. A $500,000 purchase from the ELiTE Sales consignment at The November Sale at Fasig-Tipton in 2021, Caravel has captured five of eight starts for her current connections.