Caravel gets up in tight The Very One photo

BALTIMORE – The race looked extremely close on paper, and it was.

The first three finishers Friday at Pimlico in the $100,000 The Very One took several minutes for the photo-finish camera to separate before it was finally determined that Caravel had poked her nose in front of dueling leaders Gotta Go Mo and Victory Kingdom in the desperate final inches of the five-furlong turf race.

Elizabeth Merryman is the breeder, owner, and trainer of Caravel, the 2-1 favorite in a field of 12 fillies and mares. Florent Geroux was aboard the winner, who returned $6.60 after finishing in 56.21 seconds over firm going.

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Geroux “kind of worked it out at the very last minute,” said Merryman. “None of us knew till the number came up on the board if she’d been first or third, it was so close.”

Yes, it was that tight. Victory Kingdom and Gotta Go Mo had taken over for front-running Queen of Shades inside the furlong pole, but then Caravel, after extricating herself from a couple of spots of traffic, came rolling along the inside, just in the nick of time. There also was only a nose difference for the place, with Gotta Go Mo edging Victory Kingdom. It was another 1 1/4 lengths back to Dixieincandyland in fourth.

Caravel, a 4-year-old gray Pennsylvania-bred, now has won five of seven career starts, with this being her second victory in an open stakes. She also owns one statebred stakes win.

The $2 exacta (3-12) paid $42.60, the $1 trifecta (3-12-5) returned $101.90, and the 10-cent superfecta (3-12-5-11) was worth $38.48.