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With a young broodmare and an owner open to the possibility of breeding-to-race, going with a more proven stallion is always the best bet. For the Lemon Drop Kid daughter Sophie Antoinette, she looks a perfect fit with the solid Gainesway stallion Karakontie for her second foal.
Karakontie has 13 black-type winners to his credit so far, good for 5% of his foals of racing age, with another 11 black-type placed runners, too. His average earnings index (AEI) is higher than his (CI), meaning that he’s moving his mares up, and he’s gotten graded winners on both turf and dirt, so he brings lots of versatility to the table.
Given that his third dam is the legendary racemare Miesque, who is also the dam of classic winner and leading sire Kingmambo, it is not shocking that Karakontie has gotten tries with mares by Kingmambo’s son Lemon Drop Kid, which results in 3×3 Rasmussen Factor inbreeding to Miesque (sex-balanced through both a son and a daughter). Karakontie has taken full advantage of these chances to the tune of an “A++” TrueNicks rating on the basis of seven winners from eight starters, including a Grade 3 winner, another black-type winner, and a Grade 2-placed runner.
That stat alone would be enough to send more Lemon Drop Kid mares his way, but we also like him for Sophie Antoinette because she is a half-sister to a black-type winner by the Storm Cat-line Kantharos, and Karakontie is also from this sire-line (both Kantharos and Karakontie also have dams by sons of Halo). Under Sophie Antoinette’s second dam are the black-type winner Crimson China, the six-figure earner Hilarious Affair, and three more winners by additional Storm Cat-line stallions Giant’s Causeway, Practical Joke and Mendelssohn — so the sire-line clearly clicks with this female family in addition to the strong nick.
As a big, strongly-made mare, Sophie Antoinette is just the type of physical that Karakontie needs, and we’re excited to see the foal that they produce together in 2025.