The winner of the Bashford Manor Stakes at Churchill Saturday carries an interesting name: Kantharos.
A kantharos is a classical cup or vessel for holding a liquid (somehow, I doubt they put porridge in these things). Typically,the kantharos is an open-faced vessel with handles on each side. Sometimes it is decorated with figures or with carvings on the surface.
Breeder Lena Hedberg is the daughter of an archaeologist and spent part of the summer in 2008 helping her mother catalog pottery shards from an ancient Etruscan site, where her mother and other archaeologists found many pieces of these ancient objects.
That led Hedberg to name the charming chestnut colt she bred in 2008 for the classical cup.
Kantharos is the fourth foal from Hedberg’s mare Contessa Halo (by Southern Halo).
The others are 2005 Ikigai (G3 Mr Prospector Stakes), Boniface (5th in Culver City Handicap last Friday), and Halos in the Hall (sixth in the Vooter Lopning at Jagersro in Sweden on Saturday).
The mare had an empty year after Kantharos, then produced a filly by Speightstown this year and is back in foal to Flower Alley. The mare lives at Hedberg Hall near Mount Sterling, Ky.
bloodstock in the bluegrass 