Following a spectacular year in 2022 with four winners at the highest level around the globe, four-time Group 1-winning sprinter/miler Starspangledbanner will return to Coolmore Australia for 2023 at a fee of $30,000+GST.
Having lowered the colours of reigning Hong Kong Champion Golden Sixty in the Group 1 Hong Kong Mile in December, his son California Spangle proved himself one of the very best horses seen in the region in recent times. In addition to amassing total earnings of almost Aus$10 million, California Spangle holds the course records for a griffin at Sha Tin over both 1000m and 1200m. Starspangledbanner’s ten winners in Hong Kong since the beginning of the 2022 season also include Beauty Eternal who was beaten just a pair of short heads in the Hong Kong Derby.
Also in December Rhea Moon, out of the Fastnet Rock mare Callisto Star, landed the Grade 1 American Oaks at Santa Anita while at Deauville in August, Aristia proved herself one of Europe’s leading milers when landing the Group 1 Prix Jean Romanet.
Earlier in the season at Royal Ascot, Joseph O’Brien’s 2021 Cox Plate hero State Of Rest notched up his fourth Group or Grade 1 success in the Prince Of Wales’s Stakes. State Of Rest’s international exploits will see him command a fee of $40,000+GST in his first season at stud in Australia.
“With Starspangledbanner’s international appeal, particularly in Hong Kong, allied to his excellent yearling sales this year, we think he will prove a very attractive option for breeders looking for a proven value sire,” said Coolmore’s Tom Moore.
“He had the second top-priced colt at the Inglis Premier Yearling Sale at $560,000 while his $160,000 average this year betters the likes of Shamus Award, Street Boss, Hellbent, All Too Hard, Spirit Of Boom, Proisir and Trapeze Artist."
