Karakontie Out of Ispahan

The Niarchos Family’s Karakontie (Jpn) (Bernstein), a winner of the GI Breeders’ Cup Mile last fall, will miss this weekend’s G1 Prix d’Ispahan and is unlikely to make the trip to Royal Ascot as he continues to recover from a foot injury. The Jonathan Pease-trained colt also won the G1 French 2000 Guineas during a tremendous 3-year-old campaign and connections had hoped to see him make his seasonal reappearance in last weekend’s G1 Al Shaqab Lockinge S. at Newbury. However, he was ruled out of the Newbury Group 1 after suffering a setback and may not return until the G1 Prix Jacques le Marois at Deauville Aug. 16.

Alan Cooper, racing manager for the Niarchos Family, said, “He won’t be going in the d’Ispahan. His entry was just a back-up for the Lockinge, which unfortunately he had to miss after a setback with a foot issue. He is very well and in good form, but we are just biding our time with him to make sure he fully recovers from the foot problem. I would say Royal Ascot is probably a long shot. It’s unlikely he’ll run there. I think it is more likely he’ll be given plenty of time ahead of a summer objective, possibly the Prix Jacques le Marois, but we’ll wait and see.”