Rosemont Stud are unlikely to welcome Starspangledbanner back to Victoria this spring, but the champion sprinter and Group I sire produced the most impressive winner of the day at Flemington on Monday.
Three year-old gelding Star Patrol has not been an easy horse to train and after passing through the hands of Kacy Fogden and Mark Newnham seems to have at last come to peace with himself in the hands of Clinton McDonald.
Placed in three of his previous six starts when he was always in the steward’s report for something, Star Patrol recorded an easy win at Pakenham at his first run for McDonald and backed it up with a slashing seven length win up the straight today.
“He’s a really progressive horse going forward… with a few kinks in his armour that need to be ironed out, but when they have ability like that it’s worth putting up with,” Prebble said.
A $78,000 Inglis Classic purchase from the Lustre Lodge draft for his owner P Ma, Star Patrol is the first winner from It’s One, a handy Melbourne metro winning daughter of champion sire O’Reillly from the family of speed machines like Hips Don’t Lie, Splintex and recently retired to stud Acrobat.
It’s One has missed in her past three seasons, but was covered last spring by Widden Stud’s young gun Doubtland.
Starspangledbanner hit a new high as a sire this year after producing reigning Cox Plate winner State of Rest (IRE), who will race this year in the Northern Hemisphere for a partnership that includes Newgate Farm.
He holds entries for several upcoming Group I races in the UK and the Group II Mooresbridge Stakes on May 2, a race won by dual Cox Plate winner So You Think at his first run for Aidan O’Brien. State of Rest is trained by his son Joseph O’Brien.
