Despite finishing second as a heavy favorite on Sunday in the Franklin Stakes at Keeneland, Caravel will ship to Santa Anita late this month with designs on a repeat victory in the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint.

Caravel’s intended participation brings to eight the number of trainer Brad Cox’s expected Breeders’ Cup starters, just one fewer than the number of Breeders’ Cup winners he has sent out from a mere 31 starters, an exceptional strike rate in races as competitive as these.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Jockeys Jose Lezcano and Joel Rosario will be serving three-day careless riding suspensions Thursday through Saturday while jockey Javier Castellano has appealed a three-day suspension handed him by the track stewards.

Rosario was handed his suspension for his ride aboard Spirit Prince in the Grade 2 Pilgrim Stakes on Oct. 4. Spirit Prince came in and bumped Fulmineo, who finished second while Spirit Prince was declared to be in a dead heat for third with Liam’s Journey.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Jody’s Pride, winner of the off-the-turf Matron Stakes, is being pointed to the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies on Nov. 3 at Santa Anita, trainer Jorge Abreu said Monday.

Abreu has twice tried to run Jody’s Pride on turf, but both races were rained off to the main track and Jody’s Pride won both handily. A daughter of American Pharoah, Jody’s Pride has only run 5 1/2 furlongs and six furlongs. The Juvenile Fillies is run at 1 1/16 miles.

“It’s a concern,” Abreu said of the distance, “but I think she’ll be able to handle it.”

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Clapton, winner of the Grade 2 Lukas Classic at Churchill Downs on Sept. 30, is being trained toward a start in the $6 million Breeders’ Cup Classic on Nov. 4 at Santa Anita.

Trainer Chad Summers was planning to work Clapton Tuesday at Belmont Park and then ship to Southern California on Saturday so that he can get a work over Santa Anita’s main track the last weekend of October.

Summers has gone as far as to secure a jockey, Tyler Gaffalione, for the Classic.

Del Mar has cut overnight purses for its 13-day autumn meeting from Nov. 10 to Dec. 3.

The reductions were expected. The track announced earlier this month that stakes purses for the season would drop $400,000, to $2.05 million. The purses of six stakes were cut.

For overnight purses, some categories have been affected more than others. A maiden special weight will be worth $61,000, down 12.8 percent from $70,000 at the 2022 autumn meeting. A first-condition allowance race will be worth $63,000, a decline of 12.5 percent from last fall’s purse of $72,000.

Led by Arabian Knight, the winner of the Grade 1 Pacific Classic at Del Mar on Sept. 2, trainer Bob Baffert gave several prominent horses workouts at Santa Anita on Monday, less than three weeks before the Breeders’ Cup.

“We started picking up the tempo a little bit,” Baffert said.

Arabian Knight, unraced since the Pacific Classic, worked seven furlongs in 1:24. A winner of 3 of 4 starts, Arabian Knight is rated as a leading contender for the $6 million BC Classic at 1 1/4 miles on Nov. 4. Arabian Knight won his first try at 1 1/4 miles in the Pacific Classic.

After stepping away from the sport of Thoroughbred racing for more than a year, Wayne Potts returned to training horses this summer. Still in the “starting-over” mode, Potts is hoping to work his way back to the success he enjoyed at Aqueduct in the winter of 2021-22.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – The New York jockey colony will go through a transition over the next few months and one who hopes to make an impact is Lane Luzzi, who will plans to ride full-time at Aqueduct’s winter meet.

Luzzi, the son of veteran rider Mike Luzzi, rode in the Mid-Atlantic region this summer, and rode one race Thursday at Aqueduct, finishing second aboard the 9-year-old Hammerin Aamer in a $12,500 claimer.

“I’m getting my feet wet these next few weeks,” Luzzi, 26, said after that race. “The goal is eventually the winter meet.”