Casa Creed squares off with Caravel, going for third straight Jaipur victory
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Casa Creed has been aimed at a third straight edition of the Grade 1, $400,000 Jaipur Stakes on Saturday at Belmont Park. Then Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint winner Caravel joined the fray, rerouted from Royal Ascot. But that compelling match-up has scared no one away. Casa Creed and Caravel are among a half-dozen graded stakes winners in the main body of an overflow field for the six-furlong turf tilt; there are 14 with preference to start, plus two also-eligibles.
Casa Creed has won three of four starts at Belmont, including the 2021 and 2022 editions of the Jaipur for Bill Mott. In his first start this season, he was second by a head to Bathrat Leon in the Group 3 1351 Turf Sprint in late February in Saudi Arabia.
While preparing for his first start in more than three months, Casa Creed has been on a steady work pattern with elite company.
“He and Elite Power have been breezing together, and they seem to be doing well,” Mott said, referring to his champion sprinter who will run in Saturday’s Grade 2 True North at Belmont. “I’m just hoping he can hold his form.”
Casa Creed, who drew post 11 under Luis Saez, should find plenty of speed ahead of him to help stage his customary late rally. Caravel, with Tyler Gaffalione in the irons, will have to last after likely being part of that early pace – and, as she drew post 12, will have avoid being hung wide around the turn. But while the race shape may favor Casa Creed, recent form unquestionably favors Caravel, who has won four straight races for Brad Cox.
Caravel took last fall’s Grade 3 Franklin County at Keeneland before winning the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint – a race in which she bested fellow Jaipur entrants Arrest Me Red (eighth), Casa Creed (ninth), and Go Bears Go (12th).
Caravel opened this season with another win against males in the Grade 2 Shakertown at Keeneland, then won the Unbridled Sidney against fillies and mares on May 5 at Churchill Downs, a race that was designed as a slightly softer spot to prime her for a massive effort in the Group 1 King’s Stand at Royal Ascot. But the mare’s ownership group and Cox ultimately opted to forgo that trip, citing logistics.
Instead, Caravel will run in the Jaipur – 10 days earlier than the race Cox had been planning backward from. The trainer doesn’t feel she lacks preparation or fitness.
“She’s fit, she’s a filly that doesn’t carry a ton of [weight], she’s not super-heavy or anything,” Cox said. “She puts a lot into her gallops, and a lot into her works. I feel like she’s fit and ready to roll.”
Caravel’s four straight wins have come at 5 1/2 furlongs, but she won the Grade 3 Intercontinental at six furlongs at Belmont last year.
Like Casa Creed and Caravel, Arrest Me Red is also a graded stakes winner at Belmont, taking the Grade 3 Belmont Turf Sprint invitational in fall 2021. He was second to Casa Creed in last year’s Jaipur. He opened this year finishing third behind Caravel in the Shakertown, and most recently was fifth in the Grade 2 Twin Spires Turf Sprint May 6 at Churchill Downs.
“He’s been doing really well, and I’m excited for the extra time,” trainer Wesley Ward said. “That really seems to help this guy. He’ll have five weeks between starts.”
Ward will also saddle Go Bears Go, a multiple group stakes winner overseas who moved to his barn to remain in the U.S. in his care after the Breeders’ Cup. He finished third in the Twin Spires Turf Sprint in his first start for Ward.
Also emerging from that race is Big Invasion, winner of six stakes, including last year’s Paradise Creek at Belmont. He had a troubled trip at Churchill, having checked off heels in the stretch.
Anaconda bested Yes and Yes by a nose in the Elusive Quality at Belmont; Thin White Duke and Surprise Boss were fourth and fifth, respectively. Completing the field are graded/group winners Air Force Red, and Dr Zempf; Nothing Better, second in the Jim McKay Turf Sprint last out; graded-placed Ice Chocolat; and last-out allowance-level winners Front Run the Fed and Mid Day Image. Coppola and Our Shot are the also-eligibles, in that order.
The winner of the Jaipur earns a fees-paid berth into the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint on Nov. 4 at Santa Anita as part of the Win and You’re In program.
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