Karakontie’s Gainesway Stud Fee At $15,000

Gainesway stallion and GI Breeders' Cup Mile hero Karakontie (Jpn) (Bernstein) will stand for $15,000 LFSN, the farm said in a release Friday morning.

Bred and raced by the Niarchos Family, Karakontie campaigned in France, where he won a pair of group races at 2-year-old, including the G1 Qatar Prix Jean Luc Lagardere Grand Criterium. The future sire trained on as a 3-year-old to capture the classic G1 Poule d'Essai des Poulains-French 2000 Guineas before traveling to Santa Anita for that Breeders' Cup win.

Karakontie continues to serve as one of the best value sires in Kentucky with runners like She Feels Pretty, who won the GI Natalma S. and placed in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf; Foreign Relations, winner of the GIII Louisville S. at Churchill; and Princess Grace, a multiple Grade II winner and multiple Grade I performer of over $1.8 million.

Also of note, Spendarella, winner of last year's GI Del Mar Oaks, GII Appalachian S., GIII Herecomesthebride S., and runner-up in the G1 Coronation S. at Royal Ascot, was runner-up in this year's GI Just A Game S. and GII Churchill Distaff Turf Mile S.

In the sales ring this year, yearlings by Karakontie hammered down for upwards of $525,000.

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Magnifica! In Italian Wires Just a Game

ELMONT, NY — Peter Brant's 'TDN Rising Star' In Italian (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}) took her customary spot on the front end and never looked back en route to a dominating 3 3/4-length wire-to-wire tally as the 1-5 favorite in Friday's GI Just a Game S. at Belmont Park. Last year's GI Del Mar Oaks heroine and G1 Coronation S. runner-up Spendarella (Karakontie {Jpn}) was second; Wakanaka (Ire) (Power {GB}) was third.

In Italian left the gate from her rail draw running beneath Irad Ortiz, Jr. and led through an opening quarter in a hard-to-believe :24.47 while kept well off the inside. Under a snug hold heading into the far turn, the chestnut was still going easy as the five-horse field bunched up approaching the top of the stretch. In Italian switched over to her right lead right on cue after a couple of taps on her right shoulder from Ortiz and she put on a show from there to collect her fourth career Grade I victory in style.

Third in this race last year behind her former stablemate and the commonly owned champion Regal Glory (Animal Kingdom), In Italian concluded her 2022 season with wins in the GI Diana S. at Saratoga, the GI First Lady S. at Keeneland and a game second-place finish in the GI Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf in Lexington. In Italian kicked off her 5-year-old campaign with a front-running victory in Keeneland's GI Jenny Wiley S. Apr. 15.

“She got a nice, easy quarter and then she was off the rail and in control,” winning trainer Chad Brown said after saddling his sixth Just a Game winner in seven years. “I think that was the end of it there.”

Brant added, “She's probably as good as anyone we've ever had, and that's saying something.”

Brown and Brant both added that a title defense in the July 15 Diana could be next.

Pedigree Notes:

In Italian is one of 166 graded/group winners worldwide for leading sire Dubawi. In Italian's group-winning dam Florentina has an unraced 4-year-old gelding named Spanish Empire (GB) (Kingman {GB}) in Great Britain and an unraced filly named Fiorenza (Aus) by that same sire foaled in 2020. Spanish Empire was purchased by Tom Magnier for A$1.8m at the Magic Millions Gold Coast yearling sale in 2021. Fiorenza brought A$650,000 at the 2020 Inglis Chairman's Sale. The 15-year-old mare Florentina, a half-sister to Australian Group 1 winner Gathering (Aus) (Tale of the Cat), was barren to Pierro (Aus) in 2021 and 2022.

Friday, Belmont Park
JUST A GAME S.-GI, $485,000, Belmont, 6-9, 4yo/up, f/m, 1mT, 1:34.00, fm.
1–IN ITALIAN (GB), 124, m, 5, by Dubawi (Ire)
                1st Dam: Florentina (Aus) (GSW-Aus, $250,958),
                                by Redoute's Choice (Aus)
                2nd Dam: Celebria (Aus), by Peintre Celebre
                3rd Dam: Twyla (Aus), by Danehill
'TDN Rising Star'. (475,000gns Ylg '19 TATOCT). O-Peter M.
Brant; B-Fairway Thoroughbreds (GB); T-Chad C. Brown; J-Irad
Ortiz, Jr. $275,000. Lifetime Record: 11-7-3-1, $1,910,308.
Werk Nick Rating: B+.
Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
Click for the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–Spendarella, 124, f, 4, by Karakontie (Jpn)
1st Dam: Spanish Bunny, by Unusual Heat
2nd Dam: Spanish Beam, by El Gran Senor
3rd Dam: Solar Beam, by Majestic Light
($220,000 Ylg '20 KEESEP). O/B-Gainesway Thoroughbreds Ltd.
(NY); T-H. Graham Motion. $100,000.
3–Wakanaka (Ire), 122, m, 5, by Power (GB)
1st Dam: Storyline (Ire), by Kodiac (GB)
2nd Dam: Petite Histoire (Ire), by Desert Story (Ire)
3rd Dam: Danccini (Ire), by Dancing Dissident
(£3,500 Ylg '19 GOFFPR; $975,000 RNA 4yo '22 KEENOV).
O-Team Valor International and Gary Barber; B-Mrs Jean
Brennan (Ire); T-William I. Mott. $60,000.
Margins: 3 3/4, 1, NK. Odds: 0.20, 4.20, 12.70.
Also Ran: New Year's Eve, Speak of the Devil (Fr).
Click for the Equibase.com chart and the TJCIS.com PPs. VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.

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APB: Spendarella Targeting Keeneland’s Jenny Wiley

In this continuing series, TDN's Senior Editor Steve Sherack tracks down top horses on the sidelines.

Gainesway homebred Spendarella (f, 3, Karakontie {Jpn}–Spanish Bunny, by Unusual Heat)–sidelined since posting a dominating 4 1/2-length victory for trainer Graham Motion in the GI Del Mar Oaks in August–will return for a 4-year-old campaign with an early-season target of the GI Jenny Wiley S. at Keeneland.

“She came out of that last race with a couple of little issues and we gave her some time,” said Alex Solis II, Gainesway's Director of Bloodstock and Racing.

“She actually just got back to Graham about two weeks ago at Fair Hill. He'll get her back going and the goal I'm sure is going to be to try to run her in that Grade I at Keeneland during the spring meet. It will be up to Graham if he wants to prep her or if she'll just go straight into that.”

After beginning her career with two wins over the Gulfstream lawn, including a front-running tally in the GIII Herecomesthebride S. Mar. 5, Spendarella made it a perfect three-for-three in Keeneland's GII Appalachian S. Apr. 9. She lost very little if anything while suffering the lone defeat of her brilliant career thus far, finishing a respectable second behind three-time Group 1 heroine Inspiral (GB) (Frankel {GB}) in the G1 Coronation S. at Royal Ascot June 17. Spendarella returned two months later and posted a career-best 91 Beyer Speed Figure in her aforementioned win at Del Mar.

“From the beginning, we had high hopes,” Solis said. “She's such an important filly for [Gainesway CEO] Antony [Beck]–she's a homebred and she's by his sire. He's enjoyed it the whole way through.”

Already responsible for GI American Oaks heroine Spanish Queen (Tribal Rule), the winning California-bred mare Spanish Bunny brought $130,000 from Gainesway at the 2015 Keeneland November Sale.

Currently in foal and carrying a full-brother to Spendarella, Spanish Bunny has also produced the MSW & MGSP 4-year-old filly Spanish Loveaffair (Karakontie {Jpn}), who brought $600,000 from Shadai Farm at last month's KEENOV sale. Spanish Bunny had a colt by Uncle Mo in 2022.

As for Spendarella, Solis concluded, “The Breeders' Cup is in California [at Santa Anita] next year and we know she'll handle firm ground. She proved it in the Del Mar Oaks that she really likes it. There's a lot of options out there on the table for next year and the whole team is really looking forward to it.”

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Beck Spending Wisely on Grass

Turf breeding in Kentucky stands at critical crossroads, being lately bereft of both its most accomplished stallions in Kitten's Joy and English Channel. The small, quixotic community that remains willing to persevere with grass influences, against a vicious commercial tide, is also grieving another recent loss in Get Stormy. That's why a breakout for Karakontie (Jpn), entering his prime at 11 and standing at no more than $10,000, feels so very timely.

After recently fielding three stakes winners in 48 hours, either side of the Atlantic, his first millionaire Princess Grace came close to adding a Grade I success when narrowly denied the Beverly D. on Aug, 13. But Antony Beck and his team at Gainesway only had to wait until the following weekend to redeem that frustration, with the homebred Spendarella winning the GI Del Mar Oaks in emphatic style.

Spendarella was actually put through the 2020 Keeneland September Sale as a $220,000 yearling, but fortunately for Beck ended up being restored to his racetrack division. If that sounds a fine price for Book 5, then it's worth remembering that this was the same session that Karakontie topped with a colt that made no less than $500,000. He also sold one at the same auction last year for $310,000. This is a stallion, then, that has shone in all departments from limited opportunity.

Among fourth-crop sires, indeed, only Constitution (a freakish 7.8 percent) can beat his strike-rate of stakes winners. From just 122 career starters to date, Karakontie already has nine (five at graded/group level) at bang on five percent of named foals. That's the same as American Pharoah, and clear of Liam's Map (3.8 percent) and Daredevil (3.6 percent): comparisons, in each case, intended only to elevate Karakontie, rather than demean their right to stand at much higher fees.

But you could tell something was brewing right from the outset, with two members of his debut crop making the gate respectively in the GI Kentucky Derby and G1 2,000 Guineas–despite each having changed hands for as little as $6,000.

“Yes, we allowed ourselves some delusions of grandeur that weekend!” jokes Beck. “That was phenomenal, absolutely. And he has continued to do really, really well from the chances he has had. He gets a very high percentage of high-class runners, unfortunately without ever being given sufficient chance. So many of his matings have either been Niarchos family or Gainesway mares. Of course, we've both been very well rewarded. But what a fantastic opportunity he does present, with those good [grass] sires no longer around–especially as he can get very good runners on dirt as well.”

It was specifically with the imminent launch of Karakontie in mind that Beck went to look at an Unusual Heat mare named Spanish Bunny at the 2015 Keeneland November Sale. She had needed 14 starts to break her maiden, finally doing so over a mile of turf at Del Mar, but her first foal by Tribal Rule had proved highly talented out at Santa Anita earlier that year: Spanish Queen won three of her first four, including the GII Honeymoon S. and GI American Oaks, before unfortunately derailing on her next start.

Spanish Bunny arrived in Lexington after a couple of coverings by Sundarban, a son of A.P. Indy standing in California. It is safe to record that this boon was not what had spiked Beck's interest. What did resonate was the fourth dam.

“I believe the mare was literally discovered in someone's backyard, somewhere in Los Angeles,” Beck says. “They tracked her down after the American Oaks and brought her to the sale as the dam of a Grade I winner. She did have several blank dams but did then trace to Sunday Purchase (T.V. Lark), the dam of Bates Motel (Sir Ivor)–who had been a stallion at Gainesway, a horse I knew very well. And I also liked that she was inbred 3 x 3 to Northern Dancer, which I felt sure had contributed to her success with that first foal.”

Indeed, her sire Unusual Heat was by one son of Northern Dancer, Nureyev; and her dam was by another, El Gran Senor, highly esteemed by Beck not least as a broodmare sire. In terms of his sire-line, of course, Karakontie would reinforce that Northern Dancer branding.

Spanish Bunny has since been given serial trysts with the son of Bernstein. The first could not be counted a success, but the second produced Spanish Loveaffair, picked up for $35,000 by Delray Investments at the 2019 September Sale before achieving a spectacular yield when sold to Lael Stable in the same ring last November for $775,000. In between she had won a couple of stakes and placed in multiple graded stakes.

And in the meantime here was Spendarella–remembered by Beck as “an absolutely beautiful yearling, with the most beautiful hind leg and an incredible action.” After a debut success at Gulfstream, Graham Motion saddled her to win the GIII Herecomesthebride S. and GII Appalachian S. before rolling the dice at Royal Ascot. There she beat all bar Inspiral (GB) (Frankel {GB}), who has since beaten the colts at Deauville, in the G1 Coronation S. That was Beck's first visit to the royal meeting since he was a teenager, and he was rightly proud of her effort.

“She has this phenomenal fight,” Beck observes. “She was only beaten by a marvel of a filly that day, and had three Guineas winners behind her plus another Group 1 winner who came third. And Graham's being quite smart, not squeezing the lemon dry but really thinking about the future and all the Grade 1s she might be able to go for next year.

“She was right there while they went a half in :47 flat at Del Mar, but was still accelerating right away from them at the end. She ran the last furlong in 12 seconds: pretty impressive, for any horse, let alone in a Grade I. So she's super-talented, with a lot of smarts to her, and mentally strong.”

That's a valid claim about a filly that didn't even run before February but has already shipped to Europe and California to finish second and first at the highest level. It would be intriguing to see her also try dirt at some stage–one of Karakontie's other graded stakes winners has scored on turf, dirt and synthetics–though Beck stresses he would never interfere with whatever his trainer might have in mind.

Certainly the genes are in place for Karakontie to prove the kind of crossover influence that has historically been so crucial to the mutual regeneration of the transatlantic gene pools. With the legend Miesque (Nureyev) as third dam, in his second generation Karakontie places a Woodman three-parts sister to one profound international influence, Kingmambo, right against another in grandsire Storm Cat. Karakontie's dam is by Japan's game-changer Sunday Silence, while his sire Bernstein results from the Busanda (dam of Buckpasser etc.) branch of the La Troienne (Fr) dynasty.

“Though an extremely well-bred horse, I always thought of Bernstein as a horse who had come up the hard way,” Beck reasons of Tepin's sire. “He had great talent but could never really demonstrate it on the track. But from humble beginnings [stood at Buck Pond for just $7,500] he showed himself to be a very good stallion before his untimely demise.

“So to have his own, excellent blood coupled with that outstanding Niarchos family, with Miesque as the gift that just keeps on giving, makes for just an extraordinary global pedigree. And of course, Karakontie showed his talent against global competition. For me, I've always liked a 3-year-old that performs at the Breeders' Cup–and he had the highest rating of any turf race run that year in the U.S. He ran the mile in 1:32, and you see that very seldom. Don't forget he was a Group 1 winner at two, and then a Classic winner as well.”

Spendarella's rise is particularly helpful to Karakontie in that she belongs to much his smallest book, following the customary slide from a three-figure debut to one of just 43 mares in his third season. He has since consolidated in heartening fashion, however, with his latest yearlings graduating from a book of 88.

Beck first wagered on Gainesway's champion Tapit because he seeks prospects from families that have already produced stallions. And while Miesque's family has been notably prolific in top-class fillies, it could offer no better model than Kingmambo as an international influence, capable of transcending different environments.

“He was probably the last really great one like that,” Beck says. “Every surface, every country. Even in Japan, where he had King Kamehameha. And it's fascinating that some of Karakontie's best runners have been inbred to Miesque, being out of mares by Kingmambo or [his son] Lemon Drop Kid.”

That's true of both the Classic protagonists in his first crop, for instance, and also of recent Irish stakes winner Cigamia. Incidentally Beck also notes a close duplication in Karakontie's leading earner Princess Grace, who carries Sunday Silence 3 x 3.

At the helm of a farm like Gainesway, an equally powerful force in different dimensions of the industry, Beck is never short of action and right now the whole team is abuzz, ahead of the September Sale and an exciting fall on the track. The sales division has already consigned the $2.3 million sale-topper at Saratoga and, while sensational Spa maiden winner Prank (Into Mischief) has required a minor surgery, she is confidently expected to add fresh distinction to her page (half-sister to Mo Donegal {Uncle Mo}) on her return.

“She got a 91 Beyer for her debut so we're really excited,” Beck says. “As we are about the September Sale. We've got some really lovely stock going there so we're hoping things will go pretty well.”

He also hopes that the extra furlong in the GI Breeders' Cup Classic will play to the strengths of Hot Rod Charlie (Oxbow), who ran his usual no-quit race when just missing second in the GI Whitney S. Such an animal can hardly fail to transmit his pluck at stud, and will hopefully contribute to Gainesway's next chapter as a long-term heir is sought for Tapit–whose books are being managed with due consideration as he enters the evening of his career.

In the meantime, with Spendarella's dam having delivered a colt by Uncle Mo this spring and now carrying her latest foal by Karakontie, Beck feels fully invested in the reinvigoration of grass blood in Kentucky. He has been prepared, for instance, to go to market with Raging Bull (Fr), a son of one of Europe's most remarkable success stories of recent years in Dark Angel (Ire).     But that's just one measure of a heartfelt optimism that American grass racing is embarking on fresh growth.

“We've been very lucky with Spanish Bunny,” Beck admits. “When I bought her, I thought she might breed a nice foal but little did I know that Spendarella would end up the way she has. But just look at how many graded races in the U.S. are getting upgraded on turf, and downgraded on dirt. Look at how these grass races are filling. There were 13 runners in the Del Mar Oaks, and it's seldom that you see a field like that in California these days. I think turf racing is going to catch on here, more and more. It has definite legs.”

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