I was thrilled to see this- I still remember Chris Antley holding the horses leg up, at the Belmont. Such an amazing horse, and of course, Chris was an awesome talent, gone too soon. Lukas apparently has some fond memories of the horse, as well.
What is the story with Charismatic- not a great sire? Fertility issues? Or, was it just “time”?
In any event, thrilled to see he is home on US soil.
http://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-racing/articles/218166/lukas-drops-by-to-see-old-friend-charismatic
Just looking quickly on Japan’s database, he has 133 winners from 200 starters (I think that may just be Japanese runners) and he had some stakes winners so he was decent enough.
It isn’t updated with 2016 mares bred yet on the English site but he dropped from 31 to 17 mares from 2013 to 2014 and had 11 mares last year (it shows no foals from those but that doesn’t look updated on any stallions from 2015 coverings yet). I’m guessing they decided he was winding down on his career and Michael/Old Friends has been working on getting him for a long time so it worked well for everyone.
I’m excited to see him when he gets out of quarantine, Silver Charm may not appreciate all the attention Charismatic will be taking/sharing with him though.
So happy to see him back and looking so terrific.
Barbara Livingstone posted some wonderful photos of him on FB. He looks fabulous.
Sounds like D Wayne drove out to Old Friends the day after Charismatic arrived and though he looked fantastic. Great news to hear that these lovely stallions are well cared for.
Awesome!
He’s a lovely stallion. I met him in person before he was sent over to Japan, the stud farm was amazing to a bunch of teenage girls and brought him out of his stall so we could have pictures with him!
Is this THE Charismatic from many many moons ago? I used to love him!
So happy to hear about his return! My sister and I became avid racing fans as young teens because of him.
It is so great to have him back. He was just ready to retire from stud duty and his former connections worked with Old Friends to repatriate him.
Old Friends is so wonderful, I hope they get lots of support for their mission.
And, I will never forget the image of Chris Antley holding up Charismatic’s leg after the Belmont. RIP Chris.
He was clearly well-loved and cared for in Japan, he looks amazing 
I’m so glad he’s home; and here’s another reason I need to get myself to Old Friends sometime in the near future!
On another note: he sure is a fancy mover for a 20-year-old with cannon and sesamoid fractures, isn’t he?
Now I have to make the trip to KY to Old Friends. I have been hoping that he would get to come back once he retired from the breeding shed. It is also great to see that he looks amazing!
How did I miss this?! He’s one of my all-time favorites, can’t believe he’s here! I cried with happiness when I saw this thread haha, he looks magnificent and I can’t believe we can actually go see him now. Was his return announced beforehand or was it kept pretty hush-hush or something? I’m just truly shocked, I never saw anything about him coming back so soon. Nice surprise! I’ve been wanting to go to Old Friends, now I really have to get out there!
Edit button’s not working for me to add to my previous post but gee whiz, I’m reading the Bloodhorse article now and it looks like they had an article on it in October. I totally missed it. Wow…it’s kinda cool this way, I am so excited right now haha. Welcome back Charismatic!
Good! One less TB not going to the Japanese dinner table.
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