Oppenheim selects Karakontie as 2019 value sire

Young stallion’s first crop will race in 2019

Karakontie’s first crop will be 2-year-olds in 2019
Crawford Ifland

Young Gainesway stallion Karakontie was named a 2019 value sire by bloodstock writer and pedigree consultant Bill Oppenheim in his annual feature that was released Dec. 3.

Oppenheim wrote that Karakontie, who stands for a $10,000 LFSN fee, is poised to take advantage of North America’s “turf surge” and noted the stallion’s progeny will have opportunities to race internationally and on different surfaces when they hit the racetrack in 2019.

“(Karakontie) was the champion 2-year-old colt in France after winning the G1 Prix Jean-Luc Lagardère, and went on to win the G1 French 2000 Guineas and G1 Breeders’ Cup Mile (defeating 2018 leading French freshman sire Anodin) as a 3-year-old in 2014,” Oppenheim wrote.

“He had the class and he certainly has the pedigree, his second dam being a three-quarter sister to Kingmambo, and at $10,000 it’s not an expensive bet that he, like Lane’s End’s Noble Mission (1st 3-year-olds 2019) and Lea, could be poised to succeed the likes of Kitten’s Joy and English Channel in American turf racing.

“Karakontie will be well known to European breeders and buyers as well, and just could be a shrewd bet as he will have nearly maximum opportunity to make a good impression in almost every racing context (dirt, grass, America, Europe, etc.).”

Karakontie’s first weanlings sold for up to $250,000 in 2017, and seven of his first-crop yearlings brought six figures at auction in 2018, including a $220,000 colt to Gatewood Bell’s Cromwell Bloodstock at Keeneland September.