There was no stopping KARAKONTIE’S Princess Grace on Saturday when the filly romped in the Mrs. Revere Stakes (G2) over 1 1/16 miles on the dirt to become her sire’s newest stakes winner.
Princess Grace tracked Positive Danger for the first half of the race but down the backstretch, jockey Florent Geroux decided it was time to make a challenge and drew up to the outside of Positive Danger. Half-way through the turn, Princess Grace had the lead and when they reached the top of the stretch she ended the race. Pulling away under urging from Geroux with just a few taps, Princess Grace never felt any pressure as she pulled away for an easy 2 ¾ length victory.
The sixth stakes winner and one of 10 stakes horses for Karakontie, Princess Grace is also stakes placed in the Pin Oak Valley View Stakes (G3) on turf as a dual-surface stakes performer. Making her first start on dirt, trainer Michael Stidham was concerned the filly wouldn’t take to the surface in the race but that proved to be no worry at all in the race.
“You’re always concerned about a horse that didn’t race on dirt yet,” Stidham said. “She had pretty consistent works over the Tapeta surface at Fair Hill. We didn’t necessarily have a great line how she would take to the dirt but her early works were on the dirt. We thought she handled it very well then so we were cautiously optimistic. We knew that her dam Masquerade was game on both dirt and turf so we felt good trying it. Down the backside you saw Florent was in a great spot just off the leader. When he let out a notch she just opened up impressively.”
A homebred for John and Susan Moore, Princess Grace’s lone loss in four starts came in the Valley View Stakes.
Siring graded stakes winners on both dirt and turf, KARAKONTIE has an outstanding 7.5% stakes winners to starters in 2020. Among the leading Kentucky sires in that category, he sits above horses such as leading second crop sires American Pharoah (6.2%), Constitution (4.7%), and Daredevil (4%) and top general sires Into Mischief (6.6%), Tapit (4.3%), and Uncle Mo (7.3%).
Princess Grace is the first runner out of stakes placed Masquerade, a half-sister to Grade 3 winner Svea Dahl. By Silent Name, Masquerade gives Princess Grace 3 x 3 inbreeding to the great Sunday Silence.