By Frances J. Karon Over the weekend, Karakontie got his third SW from his first crop (88 named 2yos of 2019) when Sole Volante (dam by Kingmambo) won the Pulpit S. at Gulfstream Park. Sole Volante is the second SW bred on the Karakontie/Kingmambo cross, after G3SW Kenzai Warrior (Lemon Drop Kid), following a no-brainer pedigree … Continue reading Karakontie: A family affair
By Frances J. Karon I heard from a friend asking if it could really be true that a stallion in his mid-to-late teens, a top sire of G1SWs, only has a handful of SWs as a broodmare sire. Because the stallion is into the latter half of his stud career and is already a successful sire-of-sires, it seemed … Continue reading How soon is too soon to judge a broodmare sire?
By Sid Fernando North American Grade 2 winner and multiple Grade 1-placed La Force (Ger), who sells with Lane’s End in November at Fasig-Tipton, will be a sought-after broodmare prospect for a number of reasons, not the least of which is her race record of 16 wins or placings from 28 starts and $599,151 in … Continue reading La Force has German class
By Frances J. Karon This year is looking like an excellent one for North American-based first-crop sires, with five stallions already registering at least one GSW in North America and/or Europe*. Ashford’s American Pharoah (Pioneerof the Nile), who narrowly heads the TDN Leading First Crop Sire list by earnings (as well as overall SWs, with four, tied with … Continue reading Freshman sires at the head of the class
By Frances J. Karon Sires of winners of last weekend’s 18 Graded stakes races in N.A. include horses whose names we’re accustomed to seeing in this type of race…Curlin and his sire Smart Strike, Uncle Mo, More Than Ready, Empire Maker and his son Pioneerof the Nile, Giant’s Causeway, Harlan’s Holiday, and Union Rags. Not … Continue reading Big winners for unheralded branches of the A.P. Indy line
By Frances J. Karon It was a blow to the industry when the “Iron Horse” Giant’s Causeway passed away at Ashford Stud in April of 2018, and I was reminded of that when scrolling through the black-type stakes results from the past week, when Giant’s Causeway’s sire- and broodmare sire-lines were represented by stakes horses in … Continue reading Giant in stature
By Frances J. Karon In June, I used this space to write about Stormy Atlantic, of whom I’ve long been an admirer. I’ve become an admirer of his son Get Stormy, too, with more to like all the time, it seems. Get Stormy is a $6,500 Crestwood Farm stallion whose 4yo daughter Got Stormy (dam by Malabar … Continue reading Got Stormy?
By Sid Fernando Prince Khalid Abdullah’s Juddmonte Farms has a racing and breeding presence on both sides of the Atlantic and an embarrassment of riches in its barns at the moment. Scratching the surface, Abdullah is represented in North America this year by the Gll winner Tacitus (Tapit), a leading 3-year-old colt and a potentially … Continue reading Kingman versus Frankel