Caravel runs to her backing with easy score in Unbridled Sidney Stakes
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LOUISVILLE, Ky. – She figured to win comfortably, and she did.
Caravel, winner of the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint last fall versus males, made quick work of her own kind Friday at Churchill Downs with a 1 1/2-length triumph in the $300,000 Unbridled Sidney.
Caravel returned $3.48 as the heavy favorite after finishing 5 1/2 furlongs in 1:02.47 over firm turf. Tyler Gaffalione was aboard the 6-year-old mare for trainer Brad Cox and the ownership group of Qatar Racing, Marc Detampel, and Madaket Stables. Caravel earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 99.
“Big run from this filly,” Cox said afterward. “She’s become very consistent. You can tell when she’s ready to run and she’s been on ‘go’ for a while since the month of March training up at Turfway and continuing on through April.”
Bay Storm, the 4-1 second choice in the field of 10 fillies and mares, was along in the final jumps to get second by a head over Sarah Harper, but neither presented a threat to Caravel, who never really had a straw in her path. Miner’s Queen led for maybe a furlong, but Caravel, who broke from the outside post, poked a head in front approaching the half-mile pole and just kept going. Ahead by about a length at the quarter pole, she suddenly spurted clear after straightening away, with Gaffalione giving the gray mare one good right-handed smack after passing the eighth pole. He had his stick turned down under the wire and rode her out.
“She gets comfortable and it’s all easy for her,” said Gaffalione. “She’s just a very fast filly. The second you ask her, she turns on the jets. She finishes the job well.”
Bred in Pennsylvania by her former trainer Elizabeth Merryman, Caravel now has won 14 of 22 starts. This was her fourth straight victory, following three straight over the Keeneland turf – the Franklin County, the BC Turf Sprint, and the April 8 Shakertown, also when facing males.
Cox said a stakes at the Royal Ascot meet in mid-June most likely is next for Caravel, who now has earned $1,677,577. “Royal Ascot has been the goal since we took her out of the sale last November,” he said.
The $2 exacta (11-1) paid $13.16, the $1 trifecta (11-1-4) returned $190.60, and the 10-cent superfecta (11-1-4-6) was worth $1,804.85.
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