Racing

Defending Champion Caravel Tops Nominations for Franklin

Qatar Racing, Marc Detampel and Madaket Stables’ Caravel, who began a five-race win streak with a victory in the 2022 running of the Franklin (now Grade 2), tops a list of 36 fillies and mares nominated to the 27th running of the $350,000 race to be run Sunday, Oct. 15. 

Entries for the 5½-furlong grass test will be taken next Sunday, Oct. 8. 

Trained by Brad Cox, Caravel used the Franklin as a springboard to victory against males in the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint (G1) run here three weeks after her Franklin victory. She has won three of four races in 2023, including defeating males in the Shakertown (G2) here in the spring and the Jaipur (G1) at Belmont Park in June. 

Caravel and her dam, Zeezee Zoomzoom, in foal to Justify, are cataloged to the Nov. 8 Book 1 of the Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale.