Charlatan caught the eye of Hill 'n' Dale Farms at Xalapa president John Sikura when he won his debut by an easy 5 3/4 lengths in a sharp 1:08.85 back in February 2020. When the son of Speightstown came back to win again, this time by 10 1/4 lengths, Sikura knew he had to add him to his stallion roster.
"We were able to do a high-end, risky deal on the belief he was the kind of racehorse with brilliance that had not had the opportunity to compete in a grade 1 race," Sikura said after Charlatan walked unruffled off a trailer and strolled without a nicker to his new home in stall 15 in the farm's stallion barn.
Charlatan, bred by Stonestreet Thoroughbred Holdings out of the grade 1-placed, grade 2 winner Authenticity (by Quiet American), did prove to be grade 1 quality, taking one division of the 2020 Arkansas Derby (G1) and bounced back from an eight-month layoff to recover from surgery to remove a chip to win the Runhappy Malibu Stakes (G1). At 4, Charlatan was sent overseas for the $20 million Saudi Cup (G1), where he finished second to Mishriff. The Saudi Cup would be Charlatan's only defeat.
"After one seven-eighths-mile race and after eight months off, he made all the pace, and was just beaten at a mile and an eighth. I'm convinced if he'd had another start (prior) and seasoning that he would have remained undefeated," Sikura said.
"I have been looking forward to having this horse," Sikura continued. "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."
Hill 'n' Dale is the co-largest shareholder in Charlatan along with Barbara Banke's Stonestreet, which is part of the ownership group that campaigned the colt along with SF Racing, Starlight Racing, Madaket Stables, Fred Hertrich III, John Fielding, and Golconda Stables.
The first new stallion venture Hill 'n' Dale did with Stonestreet was with Maclean's Music followed by Stonestreet homebred champion Good Magic and Kantharos .
"Charlatan is the epitome of class and style, everything you'd want to see in a horse, so he's a great representation of their program. This is another important horse for our relationship," Sikura said.
