Charlatan Sent to Margaux Farm After Setback

Dual grade 1 winner Charlatan  is sidelined due to a physical setback and will undergo reevaluation next month, co-owner Jack Wolf of Starlight Racing said May 20.

One of the top horses in the country, Charlatan had long been pointed for the $1 million Metropolitan Handicap (G1), a race commonly referred to as the Met Mile, at Belmont Park June 5. But the Speightstown   colt did not maintain a steady work pattern in April, and after twice breezing at Churchill Downs this month, now heads to Margaux Farm in Midway, Ky., for his initial recovery, Wolf said.

Wolf did not specify the nature of Charlatan's injury. News of the colt's setback was first reported by Daily Racing Form.

Charlatan, owned by SF Racing, Starlight Racing, Madaket Stables, Stonestreet Stables, Fred Hertrich III, John Fielding, and Golconda Stables, is trained by Hall of Famer Bob Baffert, who is currently under an entry and stabling ban by the New York Racing Association, which operates Belmont and other major tracks in the state. That ban, following another entry ban instituted by Churchill Downs, came after an initial post-race positive test from the Baffert-trained Medina Spirit  in the Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (G1) for the corticosteroid betamethasone.

Regarding Charlatan, "I don't think it has anything to do with the NYRA stuff. I guess that's what everybody is going to infer," Wolf said. 

Charlatan would have needed to start for another trainer if he had raced next month at Belmont Park.

Wolf said Baffert and Tom Ryan of SF Bloodstock, the managing partner for the ownership group, concurred that they "don't want to run a horse that isn't sound at this point."

Wolf noted Charlatan also had already missed a scheduled start in the May 1 Churchill Downs Stakes Presented by Ford (G1) on the Kentucky Derby undercard while Baffert gave him a break from workouts.

"That's where he had been pointing him. He obviously had some issues there," Wolf said. "(Bob) came back and breezed the horse, and he breezed fantastic, but that led to where he is right now." 

Charlatan, a winner of four of five starts and more than $4 million, won the Runhappy Malibu Stakes (G1) and a division of the Arkansas Derby (G1) last year at 3. He was second in the $20 million Saudi Cup (G1) Feb. 20 at King Abdulaziz Racetrack in his only start at 4.

The colt was initially disqualified in the Arkansas Derby last summer after post-race tests showed the presence of lidocaine, but his win was restored by the Arkansas Racing Commission this spring after an appeal. 

Charlatan last breezed May 15 at Churchill Downs, covering five furlongs in a bullet :59.

Bred in Kentucky by Stonestreet Thoroughbred Holdings, Charlatan is out of the grade 2-winning Quiet American  mare Authenticity . The mare also produced stakes winner Hanalei Moon  (Malibu Moon  ) and a placed 3-year-old Tapit colt named Bennyfromthebronx. Her other foal of racing age is an unraced 2-year-old named Marceline  (Into Mischief  ).

SF Racing/Starlight West purchased Charlatan for $700,000 from the Denali Stud consignment at the 2018 Keeneland September Yearling Sale.

Last May, Hill 'n' Dale Farms announced it had secured his breeding rights.