TDN Weekend December 2016 Issue 9
Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/1045316
Indeed, Karakontie was bred by the Niarchos family out of a Sunday Silence mare whose mother, as a daughter of a Breeders' Cup legend in Miesque, is a half-sister to Kingmambo and company. "And his sire Bernstein has seriously outperformed expectations," notes Beck. "He was a very well-bred horse himself, as a son of Storm Cat from an incredible female family. So I'm tremendously excited about Karakontie. In my opinion, he has absolutely everything. And it was interesting that someone as dirt-focused—in terms of knowing what a dirt athlete should look like—as Bill Graves, who passed away this year, should have liked Karakontie as much as he did. It would be very difficult not to: he's a really superior-looking horse. I'm hoping he's going to surprise a lot of people." The rookie's market reception, so far, has been polite enough—but both Gainesway and Karakontie's breeders, Flaxman Holdings, have supported him with mares eligible to put his name in lights where it counts, on the track. Certainly it remains very early days. One of the perennial dilemmas for a stud- master, however, is deciding how far to persist once a stallion has been unable to vindicate your faith with his first crops. "I think one has to be very mindful of the market and, frankly, respect it," Beck shrugs. "Respect the opinions of breeders. They're right more often than I am, definitely. But I do enjoy the challenge of sticking one's neck out a little bit. And try something fresh, try something new, like Karakontie. Time will tell." As it did, of course, with Tapit himself. At one stage, his fee slipped to $12,500. Now he is the multiple champion sire of 24 Grade I winners and 26 $1 million yearlings. Really, it is an incredible tale: the denouement you dream of, every time you bring a new stallion aboard. Beck casts his mind back to Tapit's recruitment, as author of two important wins from just six starts: the GIII Laurel Futurity and the GI Wood Memorial. Though he started as one of t h e favourites for the GI Kentucky Derby, he finished midfield b e hind Smarty Jones i n t h e s l o p a n d h i s o v e r a l l f u l f i l m e n t r e m a i n e d t hw a r t e d by a p e r sistent lung infection.