Karp's Hunch Leads to First Grade 1 Winner

Owner/breeder Larry Karp bought his first broodmare at auction in 2011 on a hunch that paid off well beyond his boldest expectations. From the chestnut French Deputy mare Di's Delight, whom he bought for $55,000, he's bred his first grade 1 stakes winner and will watch her Nov. 2 become his first Breeders' Cup World Championship starter.

The pride of Karp's nine-broodmare breeding program known as Barlar is Mirth, a 4-year-old daughter of Colonel John who races for Billy Koch's Little Red Feather Racing syndicate. She is one of 11 expected to start in the $2 million Maker's Mark Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf (G1), coming into the race off a 1 1/4-length win in the Sept. 28 Rodeo Drive Stakes (G1T) at Santa Anita Park.

"I've had horses I raced win graded races, but I bought those horses at auction. This is really special," said Karp, a Texas resident who has been involved in Thoroughbred racing for 35 years but didn't start breeding his own runners until 2010. 

"I stopped buying horses 12-14 years ago," he continued. "Now I just breed to race myself or breed to sell. I've never bred even a graded horse, so to breed a grade 1 winner is like winning the Kentucky Derby (G1) or winning the Breeders' Cup."

Karp bought Di's Delight out of Hill 'n' Dale Sales Agency's consignment to the Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale. She began racing as a homebred for Asiel Stable and at the end of her career was owned by Carrie Brogden and Michelle Mullikin. She won five times during four years of racing, placed in a minor stakes at Hawthorne Race Course, and earned $166,825. What Karp found intriguing about the mare was her half sister Copper State, a multiple grade 1-placed stakes winner by the Pennsylvania stallion Jump Start , in whom Karp owned some shares.

"It seemed like a cross that was working," Karp said.

Di's Delight proved early to be a good investment. The first three foals she produced for Karp all became winners, and the third foal, a Jump Start gelding named Heat Dome, was runner-up in the Pennsylvania Nursery Stakes. 

In 2014, Karp had been doing business with Darby Dan Farm, and the farm's general manager had a season to Colonel John, a grade 1-winning son of Tiznow  and the third-leading freshman sire of 2013. They bred the mare together and put her into the 2014 Keeneland November sale. Fortunately, the mare didn't generate enough interest, and Karp bought her back on a final bid of $23,000.

The blessing of that unanswered prayer at Keeneland was Mirth. The filly went into training with mid-Atlantic trainer Bernie Houghton, who was boarding the owner's mares on his farm near Lancaster, Pa., where Mirth was born.

At 2, Mirth showed only glimmers of ability early on. She placed twice in her first four starts on dirt, once second—nine lengths back—and once third—7 3/4 lengths behind the winner. Houghton said she was such a beautiful mover he'd expected more, so they tried her on grass in a $16,000 maiden claimer at Delaware Park. Mirth won by 8 3/4 lengths.

"I thought she was a nice horse, and the one time I ran for a price, I was taking a shot and saying my prayers that no one would take her. I was trying to win as many races with her as I could. She just had a beautiful stride, especially on the grass," Houghton said.

The filly got the winter off and returned to racing in a turf starter allowance at Laurel Park that she won with a driving finish by a neck. She came back in another Laurel allowance turf race about a month later and won by 3 1/2 lengths. Her consecutive wins caught Koch's attention. Koch and Karp quickly settled on a price.

"I have been in the business for 35 years now, so when someone makes you a good enough offer, you sell. Otherwise, you don't survive," Karp said of his decision to sell Mirth. He never lost his enthusiasm for watching her run, however.

"I am the biggest fan and the biggest rooter for that horse and for Little Red Feather, even before she won the grade 1," he said. "I was delighted that she was winning at Santa Anita and was second in a stakes race. I could not have been prouder. Then she wins the grade 1, and I thought, 'Oh my God.'"

Looking ahead to the Filly & Mare Turf, Karp said he would be thrilled if Mirth just hit the board.

"There is a horse in that race who is so many pounds better than the rest of them, and that is Sistercharlie. But Sistercharlie doesn't have her rabbit, plus Mirth has the best rider in the United States on her back, and that can't hurt," he said, referring to Hall of Fame jockey Mike Smith, who already owns the most Breeders' Cup victories with 26. 

"If Mirth hits the board, I'll be over the moon," he said.

The "rabbit" is Peter Brant's Thais, a frontrunner who was entered in Sistercharlie's previous three races to help set up the race for the favorite's closing style. California state veterinarians scratched Thais Oct. 31 for indications of unsoundness, which trainer Chad Brown disputed. 

Though Karp's high expectations of the cross of Di's Delight with Jump Start was not responsible for Mirth, his faith in that mating may yet produce more reasons to celebrate. Karp is racing a 3-year-old Jump Start—Di's Delight filly named Vault, who has won or placed eight times out of 11 starts and just won an allowance race at Hollywood Casino at Penn National Race Course by 10 lengths.

"I don't know what it is about Larry's horses, but the older they get, the better they get," Houghton said. "His homebred Imply broke her maiden as a 2-year-old, and then she got better every year." The 6-year-old daughter of E Dubai won four consecutive races this year, three of them in stakes.

Though decades in racing have tempered Karp's expectations, he allowed himself some exuberance when talking about Vault's future.

"I have to be careful and not say too much," he began. "But she may be more talented than Mirth. She has not won a stakes yet, but she has the numbers that tell me it is a likely possibility that she could fall into the same category."

Di's Delight also has a yearling colt by Jump Start and produced a Maryland-bred colt by Karp's stallion Alliance this year. A long devotee of the Pennsylvania-bred program, Karp sent most of his mares to Maryland for a couple of years to take advantage of the rapidly growing breeders program there.

Karp stands Alliance at Bill Boniface's Bonita Farm, which is also managing his mares for now. Alliance is an unraced son of Harlan's Holiday and a half brother to multiple champion and six-time grade 1 winner Tepin (Bernstein) and multiple grade 1-placed grade 2 winner Vyjack (Into Mischief ).

Di's Delight was bred back to Alliance this year, but Karp has not decided who he'll breed her to in 2020.

"I'll be back in the commercial market next year," he said. "I'm not going to sell her, though. No one wants a 20-year-old mare anyway, and that's OK.

"At this point in my life, another dollar or two in my pocket won't make a difference," Karp said. "From here on out, I'm going to try to breed a grade 1 winner … another grade 1 winner. I absolutely love it."