Charlatan retired to Hill 'n' Dale

Charlatan, a two-time Grade 1 winner at 3 who lost his only start this year when second in the $20 million Saudi Cup in February, has been retired to Hill ‘n’ Dale Farm in Kentucky, according to farm president John Sikura.

Charlatan is scheduled to arrive at the farm on Friday and will begin his stallion career in 2022.

A 4-year-old colt by Speightstown, Charlatan was taken out of training in mid-May after concern arose about the condition of an ankle following a fast five-furlong breeze in 59 seconds at Churchill Downs.

“The horse worked brilliantly at Churchill,” Sikura said on Thursday evening. “He was a touch off on that ankle and it was evident he would need too much time off. It was unlikely he would make the Breeders’ Cup Classic.”

The BC Classic will be run at Del Mar on Nov. 6. Sikura said the ankle in question had troubled Charlatan in the past.

“It wasn’t going to respond well enough and fast enough,” he said.

The retirement, Sikura said, “was the right decision at the right time.”

Trained by Bob Baffert, Charlatan won 4 of 5 starts and earned $4,047,200. Charlatan won his stakes debut by six lengths in a division of the Grade 1 Arkansas Derby at Oaklawn Park in May 2020, but later tested positive for lidocaine. Charlatan was disqualified from the win in the Arkansas Derby by track stewards for the medication violation, a decision overturned by the Arkansas Racing Commission earlier this year.

Charlatan was sidelined after the 2020 Arkansas Derby because of an ankle injury and returned to record an attractive win by 4 1/4 lengths in the Grade 1 Malibu Stakes at seven furlongs for 3-year-olds at Santa Anita on Dec. 26.

In the Saudi Cup at about 1 1/8 miles in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Charlatan set the pace before being caught in the final sixteenth by Mishriff. Charlatan was beaten a length. Mishriff followed with a win in the Group 1 Sheema Classic at 1 1/2 miles on turf in Dubai on March 27.

Charlatan raced for the partnership of SF Racing, Starlet Racing, Madaket Stables, Stonestreet Stables, Frederick Hertrich III, John Fielding, and Golconda Stables.

Charlatan was purchased for $700,000 as a yearling and is out of Authenticity, a two-time graded stakes winner who was third in the 2013 Breeders’ Cup Distaff at Santa Anita.

Sikura said a stud fee for Charlatan will be announced in coming weeks.