Hill 'n' Dale Sets Charlatan's 2022 Stud Fee at $50,000

Multiple grade 1 winner Charlatan   will stand the 2022 breeding season for a fee of $50,000 live foal stands and nurses, Hill 'n' Dale at Xalapa announced Aug. 11.

The 4-year-old son of Speightstown   was retired to Hill 'n' Dale in June following a racing career that was topped by wins in a division of the Arkansas Derby (G1) and the Runhappy Malibu Stakes (G1) in 2020. 

"I have been looking forward to having this horse," said John Sikura, owner of Hill 'n' Dale at Xalapa, which purchased breeding rights to Charlatan shortly after his Arkansas Derby victory. "He is a brilliant physical specimen. He is by the right horse in Speightstown, and he has all the right horses in his pedigree. I think this is the most highly credentialed horse we've brought to the farm in terms of performance, pedigree, and speed; all those elements we feel are requisites of very important horses.

"Curlin   was a very important horse—a great racehorse and Horse of the Year—but this brilliance is hard to find. Succinctly, Charlatan has everything I value in a stallion in spades."

Charlatan quickly garnered attention when he debuted at Santa Anita Park in February of his 3-year-old year with trainer Bob Baffert. He won at first asking by 5 3/4 lengths, stopping the clock in 1:08.85 for six furlongs. In his next start, less than 30 days later, he stretched out to a mile and romped by 10 1/4 lengths in an allowance optional claiming race. His third start resulted in a tour-de-force six-length win in the 1 1/8-mile Arkansas Derby at Oaklawn Park, run the first Saturday in May last year as the COVID-19 pandemic shuffled the 3-year-old classic schedule.

In July 2020 Oaklawn stewards disqualified the Baffert-trained Charlatan from his Arkansas Derby score, as well as stablemate Gamine  from an allowance optional claiming score on the same card, due to post-race tests that were positive for lidocaine. In April of this year, the Arkansas Racing Commission modified the stewards' rulings, restoring those wins and issuing Baffert fines rather than a suspension.

After the Arkansas Derby, Charlatan reemerged in late December with a brilliant performance in the seven-furlong Malibu at Santa Anita, where he won by 4 1/2 lengths. The chestnut's final career start came in the $20 million Saudi Cup (G1), in which he made all the pace and locked horns with recent Whitney Stakes (G1) winner Knicks Go , only to be caught a length by winner Mishriff .

Charlatan retires to stud with a record of four wins and a second from five starts. He earned more than $4 million for SF Racing, Starlight Racing, Madaket Stables, Stonestreet Stables, Fred Hertrich III, John Fielding, and Golconda Stables. 

Stonestreet Thoroughbred Holdings bred Charlatan in Kentucky out of the multiple graded stakes-winning, multiple grade 1-placed Quiet American mare Authenticity, who is also the dam of stakes winner Hanalei Moon  (Malibu Moon). SF Bloodstock and Starlight West paid $700,000 to secure the colt at the 2018 Keeneland September Yearling Sale, where he was consigned by Denali Stud, agent for Stonestreet Bred and Raised.