Caravel to get Breeders' Cup tune-up in Franklin

Reigning Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint (G1) winner Caravel will aim to bounce back from an increasingly rare misfire in her most recent start in Sunday’s $350,000 Franklin (G2) at Keeneland.

Caravel last competed in the Aug. 5 Troy (G3) at Saratoga, in which she started as the odds-on favorite. Unaccustomed to running on soft ground and bumped leaving the gate, Caravel fell farther off the pace than normal and failed to fire in the stretch. She finished fourth, beaten three lengths by Cogburn.

Caravel had won five straight beforehand, including the Franklin (then Grade 3), Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint, and Shakertown over the Keeneland sod. She also notched a second Grade 1, the Jaipur at Belmont Park, in June.