BREEDING HOPE

Beverly Lewis was in the stands at the Belmont Stakes, craning her neck, and trying desperately to find out what had just happened as spectators in front of her looked on in horror, blocking her view of the scene unfolding just beyond the finish line.

“We didn’t realize anything was wrong at first because we couldn’t see,” she said. “I asked my daughter what was wrong, and who broke down, and she said, ‘Charismatic.’ ”

The former owner of the 1999 Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes winner got an eerily familiar reminder of that grim day at Belmont Park seven years ago when she watched on television as 2006 Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro broke down in the Preakness nearly three weeks ago.

“It all came back, very vividly,” she said. “It’s a tragedy to have happen to any horse.”

As the last case of a catastrophic injury occurring in a Triple Crown race before Barbaro was injured at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Charismatic’s recovery from a broken left foreleg and his ensuing retirement to stud offer both hope for the injured colt’s long-term survival, and a glimpse into what could still be an uncertain future as a sire.

It remains to be seen whether Barbaro’s injured right hind leg will ever be strong enough to support him in performing as a sire, but even if it is, there are no guarantees of success at stud.

“If you mate Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, you expect the kid to act,” said Wayne Lukas, Charismatic’s trainer during the horse’s racing career. “But it doesn’t always work out like that. It isn’t black and white, or an exact science.”

Charismatic could serve as Exhibit A.

So far, the two-time claimer who nearly became a Triple Crown winner, the great-grandson of 1973 Triple Crown winner Secretariat, has had mixed results as a sire, first in the United States and now in Japan.

“You have great anticipation anytime a horse wins the Triple Crown, or comes close to winning the Triple Crown,” said Will Farish, who owns and runs Lane’s End Farm in Versailles, Ky., where Charismatic was bred and first retired to stud. “But it’s not certain. It’s never a sure thing.”

Surgery saved Charismatic after a third-place finish in the 1999 Belmont ended the colt’s bid to become the 12th Triple Crown champion and the first since 1978.

“There’s so much that’s great about horse racing, but sometimes, bad things happen too, and you just have to accept it,” Lewis said. “No one was happy, but we still celebrated. We didn’t win the Triple Crown, but the horse was alive.”

Charismatic commanded a stud fee of $35,000 for his first three seasons as a sire, but his stud career in the U.S. ended when he was tagged as a capable sire, but not an exceptional one, and was sold in October 2002 to the Japan Bloodhorse Breeders’ Assn. Shizunai Stallion Station in Hokkaido for a sum that a Shizunai official said was $8 million to $10 million.

“You have this very delicate balance if you’re looking at it as a business, and not as a hobby,” said Jeff Lewis, Beverly’s son and business advisor since the death of her husband, Bob, in February. “The decision was made that Charismatic didn’t look that good from his first couple of crops. My dad got an offer that reflected full value, and I don’t think we have any regrets.”

Charismatic has sired 217 foals in the U.S. and 126 in Japan, the stallion’s progeny having gained moderate success.

He was not in high demand as a sire in Japan last year, however, and is now being watched over by Old Friends, a retirement facility for thoroughbreds in Midway, Ky. It opened in 2003, six weeks before news broke that 1986 Kentucky Derby winner Ferdinand had died under mysterious circumstances in 2002, believed to have been sent to slaughter in Japan.

Michael Blowen, president of Old Friends, works to see that a similar fate doesn’t befall Charismatic, or any other notable horse.

“These stallions are the stars,” Blowen said. “To me, it’s like people going and getting a chance to meet Larry Bird or Magic Johnson.”

There are 15 horses at Old Friends, including eight stallions. Among them is 1992 Breeders’ Cup Turf winner Fraise, multiple graded-race winner Ogygian, and Sunshine Forever, a 1988 Eclipse Award winner. All three were bought and shipped back to the U.S. from Japan.

“It’s a worldwide problem when they’re not making money anymore,” Blowen said. “As long as they’re breeding and generating money, there’s no problem and they’re treated very well. It’s when they’re not generating money anymore that they’re in trouble.”

Megumi Igarashi, an Old Friends representative in Japan, inquired last week about Charismatic’s status and made known the group’s interest in obtaining him, should he be retired.

“When he’s done breeding, and when he’s ready to come back here, I’m fully confident we’ll be able to bring him back to the U.S.,” Blowen said.

So is Dan Rosenberg, president of Three Chimneys Farm in Midway, where Barbaro’s sire, Dynaformer, stands at stud and where Silver Charm lived before he, like Charismatic, was sold to Japan.

“Ever since Ferdinand, there is this perception now that the Japanese slaughter all their horses,” Rosenberg said. “Anytime a horse goes to Japan, that’s the first thing people think of, and it’s not a fair perception.”

Charismatic’s desirability as a sire, however, will depend on the performances of his offspring.

Most notable among his progeny has been Sun King, a Grade II stakes winner with more than $1.6 million in earnings. The 4-year-old colt won four races in 2005 and finished fourth in last year’s Preakness. Another colt, 5-year-old Gouldings Green, won the Grade III Hanshin Cup Handicap last week.

Such showings fuel hope for more and give reason for patience with Charismatic, who, at 10, is still relatively young.

In the U.S., he sired five graded-stakes winners and eight other offspring that have placed in stakes races, according to equiline.com.

Primarily because of Sun King, Charismatic is 40th among 2006 leading U.S. sires in bloodhorse.com rankings.

“He was a wonderful horse, he had great talent but has not turned out to be a great stallion,” Farish, of Lane’s End, said. “He’s been a useful stallion, but that story still may not be completed.”

Charismatic was among 291 race horses exported from the U.S. to Japan in 2002, but his performance cannot yet be fully gauged because his first foal crops there are just emerging. Initial Japan-bred foals, born in 2004, are competing as 2-year-olds.

Charismatic’s current stud fee is 1.5 million Japanese yen, which translates to $13,636, and ranks as the third-lowest among eight stallions at Shizunai Stallion Station. That’s a drop, after he was booked for nearly twice as much last year, and after starting out at 3.3 million yen, or nearly $30,000, in 2003 and 2004.

More important than the stud-fee rate, breeders say, is the number of times a horse is bred, a measure indicating interest. A prolific year is considered to be 90 to 110 coverings.

“Once they go to stud, they’ve got to sire runners,” said Arthur Hancock III of Stone Farm in Paris, Ky., the home of Charismatic’s Triple Crown series rival Menifee, who finished second in the Derby and Preakness in 1999.

Bred 98 times in 2003, Charismatic produced 68 registered foals in 2004. Two have raced, and one -- a filly named A T Charisma -- broke her maiden May 18.

Charismatic was bred 73 times in 2004, producing 56 foals, but there were only 18 matings in 2005, according to Japan Bloodhorse Information System statistics.

Shigeki Yusa, the Shizunai section chief, said Charismatic is in good health. The drop in service demands, he said, is typical of breeders assessing a sire’s early crops.

“People’s attitude for Charismatic now is to wait and see,” said Hidiharu Yano, director of the Japan Bloodhorse Breeders Assn. in Tokyo. “His progenies in the U.S. haven’t done so well. Now it’s time to watch his progenies in Japan.”

In the meantime, U.S. breeders are tantalized by the prospect of someday seeing Barbaro’s progeny.

“You might breed a Triple Crown winner,” Hancock said. “You never know, and that’s what keeps you coming back.”

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Naoko Nishiwaki of The Times’ Tokyo bureau contributed to this report.