Halis Karataş, who was born in Gürün district of Sivas on October 2, 1972, grew up in a family with six children who grew up in equestrianism. While his father and uncle were horseback riders, his older brother was also a jockey; This environment brought the family to Istanbul in 1980. Karataş left school at the age of 14 and started his horse riding career, and attracted attention by winning the race in 1987 with the colt named Benhur. He reached 50 wins in a short time and became an official jockey.
In 1996, he broke the track record with Bold Pilot in the Gazi Race with a time of 2.26.22; This performance is still valid until 2025. In the same year, on September 28, he broke the Turkish record by equalizing the world record of Frankie Dettori, who won 7 races on the same day at England's Ascot festival. This success was crowned with the Outstanding Achievement Award by the Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock.
According to the statistics of the Turkish Jockey Club, as of June 28, 2026, Karataş has ridden 26,678 horses and won 7,236 first places; In this process, he also received the nickname "Wizard".
Karataş, who married race horse breeder Begüm Atman in 2003, has two children named Azra and Özdemir. Begum passed away due to breast cancer in 2014. The story of Bold Pilot was the subject of the 2018 movie "A Champion for Us". In 2016, Karataş also appeared in pop music singer Soner Turan's music video "Yorgundum" and was frequently mentioned among the public with the saying "arataş in okey, Karataş in jockey".
He received a huge reaction on social media for punching his horse hard before the race on August 27, 2020, and was banned from riding for 60 days. On June 28, 2026, he added a new victory to his career by winning the 100th Gazi Race with the colt named Bay Nalçakan.
