Tony Ann outruns Caravel in Franklin Stakes

Tony Ann, a 7-1 shot, outran 7-10 favorite Caravel and won the Grade 2, $350,000 Franklin Stakes on Sunday at Keeneland.

Caravel won the 2022 Franklin, followed that with a victory in the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint - a mare beating males - and this past June made it five straight wins when she captured the Grade 1 Jaipur in June.

Caravel had soft turf as an excuse when a fourth-place finish on June 5 in the Troy Stakes ended her winning streak, but she had a good trip Sunday over a course where she’d been 3 for 3, and still Tony Ann beat her by a neck.

Tony Ann and Flavien Prat raced from fifth in this female-restricted grass sprint, a few lengths behind third-place Caravel going around the turn, rallied outside the odds-on favorite and simply outfinished her. Tony Ann took the lead at about the sixteenth pole and Caravel immediately responded, but she couldn’t wrest the lead back and was second-best on the day, though she did give the winner four pounds.

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Train to Artemus took advantage of a fast pace, 21.09 for the first quarter-mile and 43.93 for the half, to rally late for third, a half-length behind Caravel. Twilight Gleaming, done in by battling on the lead, finished fourth.

Tony Ann was timed in 1:02.42 for 5 1/2 furlongs over a firm course and paid $17.60. Phil D’Amato trains Tony Ann, a daughter of Cairo Prince and Never Ever, by In Excess, for A. Venneri Racing and Anthony Fanticola.

Five-year-old Tony Ann didn’t debut until late in her 3-year-old season of 2021, raced only three times in 2022, and was making only her 10th start.

In late August, after a second-place finish in the Daisycutter at Del Mar, D’Amato sent Tony Ann from his main California base to join his smaller Kentucky string. Tony Ann was third, beaten a neck, in the Ladies Turf Sprint on Sept. 9 going nearly seven furlongs at Kentucky Downs. This shorter trip probably better suits her, and it helped Tony Ann notch her first stakes win. To get it, she beat the best turf sprinter in North America over the last year on the square.

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