Coincidentally, Kenzai Warrior, like Sole Volante, was a $6,000 Keeneland September yearling, and he was pinhooked as a 2-year-old in Europe at Goffs for approximately $58,000. The latter was a $22,000 Keeneland November weanling, a $30,000 Keeneland September RNA, and a $365,000 OBS March 2-year-old. The stallion is represented by two other black-type winners, European Group 3 winner Kenzai Warrior and Tyro S. He was sent to stud at Gainesway in 2016 for a $15,000 fee and Sole Volante is from his first crop. Like Miesque and Kingmambo, Karakontie won a G1 French Guineas, and like Miesque, he also won the Gl Breeders' Cup Mile.

Prospector) and lately through various branches of her daughters, who've been responsible for recent Flaxman homebred Classic winners like G1 Irish 1000 Guineas winner Alpha Centauri (Ire) (Mastercraftsman, and her third dam is Miesque) and G1 Prix du Jockey-Club (French Derby) winner Study of Man (Ire) (Deep Impact and second dam Miesque).

Karakontie is by the Storm Cat horse Bernstein and his third dam is the iconic Flaxman homebred Miesque (Nureyev), who has become an influential name in pedigrees, first through her high-class stallion son Kingmambo (Mr. Sole Volante's sire was bred and raced by Flaxman and was foaled in Japan because his dam Sun Is Up (Jpn) (Sunday Silence) was returned to the land of her birth carrying him, so that she could be bred to the Japanese-based Niarchos-bred-and-raced G1 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe winner Bago (Fr) (Nashwan). Today Flaxman is run by Niarchos's daughter Maria Niarchos-Gouaze, and the family's interest in racing extends another generation to her brother Philippe's daughter Electra, who is a frequent presence on the racecourse. Many of the mares in the Flaxman band trace to fillies that Stavros Niarchos, who died in 1996, purchased or bred in the 1970s and 1980s when he based his operation at Haras de Fresnay-le-Buffard, the farm developed and owned by Marcel Boussac for 60 years. Sole Volante was bred by the Niarchos family's Flaxman Holdings Ltd., which is based in Kentucky at Lane's End's Oak Tree division and in Europe mostly at Coolmore in Ireland, but Flaxman also sends mares to Japan, where the entity has bred to Sunday Silence and Deep Impact (Jpn), among others. His buyers have been vindicated, as has the breeder that planned the mating. Some of these factors may have been in play with Sole Volante, but end-users by and large whiffed with him, and he was left as a scrap for a pinhooker who saw enough potential to take a shot. Usually, a low price can be attributed to lack of pedigree and physical failing the vet a sire who isn't commercial an old or unproductive family or placement too far back in the sale–a result of some or all of the above. And he was bred by an outfit that has an excellent reputation.

Of course, Biancone trained the great All Along (Fr), who parlayed wins in the 1983 G1 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe in France, the Gl Rothman's International in Canada, and the GI Turf Classic Aqueduct to a Horse of the Year title as a premier mile-and-a-half filly.įor whatever reasons, end-user yearling buyers missed Sole Volante at Keeneland, but it wasn't for a lack of pedigree, because he has that in spades. He was resold by New Hope AB LLC for $20,000 at the OBS April sale as a 2-year-old to trainer Patrick Biancone, who knows a quality staying pedigree when he sees one. at Tampa Bay Downs on Saturday, but sold for only $6,000 at the Keeneland September Yearling sale. Sole Volante ( Karakontie ) wasn't an expensive yearling, but he announced his Classic aspirations impressively last weekend in an early Gl Kentucky Derby prep.

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