The successful stallion Kantharos , represented this year by a pair of multi-race grade 2 winners, is returning to Ocala Stud to stand the 2027 breeding season, the farm announced Sept. 30. A stud fee will be announced at a later date.
Kantharos initially stood in Florida before relocating to Hill 'n' Dale Farms at Xalapa in Kentucky in 2016. Fittingly, that same transition year saw him dominate the Florida sire ranks—leading the Sunshine State in graded stakes winners (2), black-type horses (17), and black-type winners (9)—while finishing the year as Florida's No. 2 general sire behind Wildcat Heir and the No. 1 Florida sire of 2-year-olds.
"Kantharos is a special horse that we know well and have been privileged to be associated with," said Ocala Stud's David O'Farrell. "He continues to pass on his superior looks and precocity, and he has proven himself as a prolific sire. We see nothing but upside for him going forward, making him an exceptional fit for Florida breeders, who ultimately helped establish him as a major sire."
With a proven reputation for siring precocious, fast horses like grade 1 winners X Y Jet, an earner of more than $3 million, and World of Trouble ($1,263,300), as well as multiple graded stakes winner and leading young sire Bucchero ($947,936), Kantharos is represented this year by multiple graded stakes winner Lagynos, winner of the Wise Dan Stakes (G2T) at Churchill Downs and the Muniz Memorial Classic Stakes (G2T) at Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots, and Somerset West, victorious in the $1.5 million Music City Stakes (G2T) at Kentucky Downs and winner of the San Clemente Stakes (G2T) at Del Mar.
Currently ranked No. 32 on the general sire list with progeny earnings in 2026 of more than $6.1 million, Kantharos boasts lifetime average earnings per starter of $100,437, with 120 stakes horses and 13 graded stakes winners.
Purchased by Stonestreet Stables for $250,000 at the 2010 Ocala Breeders' Sale's March 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale, Kantharos was an exceptionally promising racehorse and a top juvenile of his crop. Undefeated in three races as a 2-year-old, Kantharos won the Saratoga Special Stakes (G2) by 7 1/4 lengths at Saratoga Race Course and the Bashford Manor Stakes (G3) by 9 1/2 lengths at Churchill Downs.
By the late multiple grade 1 winner Lion Heart, sire of Canadian Horse of the Year and that country's champion 2-year-old male Uncaptured, Arkansas Derby (G1) winner Line of David, and Breeders' Cup Turf (G1T) winner Dangerous Midge, Kantharos is produced from the winning Southern Halo mare Contessa Halo, making him a half brother to graded stakes winner Ikigai and stakes winner and graded stakes-placed Bonifacio.
