There were a lot of fascinating winners over the last few days, some for their stakes potential and some for their pedigree and this mare combines both- can she add to the legend of a great blue hen?
It's been 22 years since the Thoroughbred world was rocked by the passing of Danehill. The nine times champion sire of Australia was a particularly potent force in our part of the world, though his influence reached to every corner of the globe.
The great son of Danzig commenced shuttle duties here in 1990 and returned ten times before his untimely death in a freakish accident, arguably when at the height of his powers.
It's staggering to reflect now on Danehill's slow beginnings as a sire in Europe, where trainers and breeders had formed the opinion his progeny needed soft tracks and wouldn't stand up to hard work!
After Danehill sired three Golden Slipper winners from his first three Australian crops the NH connections were on board with what they had to work with, and success began to flow with their Danehills in a stream which soon became a torrent! It's true to say however, that it was Australia which provided Danehill with the stage on which he was able to announce his greatness.
Recently Shayne O'Cass wrote a fascinating story about the last breeding daughter of Danehill in Australia, the Blue Hen Starspangled – read the story here.
And with a nice sense of timing her lightly raced four year old daughter Starphistocated (Churchill) posted win number three from just eleven starts yesterday at Rosehill.
While she is off to a far slower start than her famous G1 winning half-sisters Youngstar and Funstar, her master trainer John Thompson believes that she has a major stakes win within her scope, and it's all due to the horse management he learned in his long tenure as stable foreman to the legend Bart Cummings.
Fittingly, Starphistocated's Rosehill Midway Hcp win yesterday at 1800m came on the 10th anniversary of his mentor's passing.
"It's great to win on this day," said Thompson after the race.
"Bart taught me almost all I know about training and there is a lot of Bart in this horse, Starphistocated – the way she settles, the way we feed her."
Starphistocated moved into the Thompson stables earlier this year, and the gifted trainer believes he's found the key to conditioning the four year old.
"I feel she has a few more wins in store and I think she can get over further, too. Something like the Matriarch Stakes (G2) down the track, I think she could get to that level."
Starphistocated races for her owner breeders Karen and John Sheather, family and friends.
Her dam Starspangled has been the apple of the Sheather eye for many years, is treated like the queen she is, and has rewarded them with success few breeders will ever achieve. The last of the Danehills hasn't bowed out of breeding yet - her 12th foal is a two year old filly by Yes Yes Yes named Rising Queen with Chris Waller. She has a 2024 colt by Adelaide and is awaiting an exciting Ghaiyyath (Dubawi x Galileo) baby this spring!
No matter how far she progresses in her racing career, Starphistocated will be a prize in any breeding program - doing her part to advance the great family of Starspangled well into the future.
So what made Starspangled so special?
Born from her sire's final Irish crop and bred by Tower Bloodstock from the champion mare User Friendly (five G1 wins), Starspangled was imported to Australia in 2008.
Though a winner, she was not to reproduce her dam's extraordinary ability on the track. At stud it's been an entirely different story for Starspangled, who is still breeding and turned 23 at the start of this month.
The venerable matriarch is a Blue Hen, one of the rare breed able to produce multiple G1 winners. These came in the form of two champion daughters.
Youngstar (2014, by High Chaparral) was the foal Starspangled was carrying when owner John Sheather purchased her for $30,000 at the 2014 Inglis Broodmare.
She was an imperious Classic filly who won the Doomben Roses /QLD Oaks double and placed in the QLD Derby before returning with a vengeance at four. Only the mighty Winx was better in the 2018 G1 Turnbull Stakes at WFA, where Youngstar ran a length second to the champion before running bravely in both the Caulfield and Melbourne Cups, just out of the placings each time.
Youngstar continued to race at the top level in her fifth year. Unlike sons of High Chaparral who proved to be peerless stayers, it was a little unusual for a daughter of the great sire to stay as well as Youngstar did as an older mare, and showed the enormous depth of Classic stamina within her pedigree.
In 2016 came Funstar by Galileo's Cox Plate winner Adelaide. More brilliant than her half sister, she won the G2 Tea Rose before becoming one of the most impressive G1 Flight Stakes winners seen in many a year when she trounced future 4 x G1 winner and champion Probabeel by more than three lengths. Later in the season she beat that filly again in the G2 Phar Lap Stakes and was second in the G1 Coolmore Legacy to high class import Con Te Partiro.
At four Funstar was second in the G1 Epsom (as Probabeel avenged those earlier defeats) then just out of the placings in a thrilling finish to the G1 Chipping Norton won by Verry Elleegant, but lost form thereafter and was soon retired.
Funstar and Youngstar are both now at stud in Japan having sold for $1.4million and $2.7million respectively.
They were purchased by Katsumi Yoshida for the famed Northern Farm, who already had mares in the stud related to User Friendly and have obviously identified this family as one to be pursued at all costs.
Youngstar has already produced a stakes winner in Eri King, who won the Group III Kyoto Radio Nikkei Hai Kyoto Nisai Stakes.
It will be no surprise at all if and when we see a descendant of one of these fine half sisters flying the flag for Japan in our own great Cups, an Arc, or in another iconic race on the world stage!
Starspangled has had four daughters to race, and the first of them was her very first foal - her 2008 filly Baggy Green by Galileo himself. A mare of modest racing ability, Baggy Green like her dam, became an absolute revelation at stud when she commenced her breeding career in NZ.
She is a Blue Hen herself, producing to the cover of Waikato Stud's great sire Pins the G1 Metropolitan Hcp hero and winner of more than $1.3 million No Compromise - and his sharper full brother Bradman, still racing with zest as an 8Y0 in NZ where he has clocked up 61 starts, won a stakes race and placed in five more.
To Reliable Man, Baggy Green produced the popular grey stayer Benaud who placed in the ATC Derby and went on to win the Listed Wyong Gold Cup, twice placed in the G3 Kingston Town and was far from disgraced in Anamoe's G1 Might And Power Stakes.
The above show the incredible durability and honest character of the Starspangled family to make the most of all the ability they possess, but the jewel in Baggy Green's crown was to be her brilliant sprinter-miler daughter Tofane (Ocean Park).
Retiring with four G1 wins to her name - all at 1400m - the All Aged, Orr and Tatt's Tiara Stakes, and the Stradbroke Hcp, Tofane was also multiple G1 placed from 1100m to a mile.
Tofane and her dam Baggy Green are now owned by Yulong, and both have youngsters by Written Tycoon on the ground. Tofane’s colt by the champion sire was withdrawn from the 2025 Inglis Premier. She is expecting a precious foal by Extreme Choice this spring.
Baggy Green missed to Treasurethe Moment's sire Alabama Express after foaling her 2024 Written Tycoon filly.
Her 2023 filly by Ocean Park, a full sister to Tofane was a $700,000 2024 Inglis Easter purchase for Glentree Thoroughbreds / Badgers Bloodstock
Named First Appearance and a winner in a brief racetrack career, she is now also in the Yulong broodmare band.
Why are the good race fillies from this family so spectacularly good?
It all goes back to the 1813 Chelmsford Gold Cup winning mare Web. The daughter of Derby victor Waxy became one of the greatest of all foundation mares.
The entirety of familes 1-s, 1-x and 1-w descend from her, and it is the first two that are key to the greatness of Starspangled's damline and the nicks that work with it.
Starspangled traces to Red Poppy by Rockefella, a full sister to champion filly West Side Story who won the G1 Yorkshire Oaks and was second at Epsom. Her line shot to fame in NZ, producing the legend Our Waverley Star who famously went to war with Bonecrusher in one of the greatest Cox Plates of all time. The top stayers Albany Bay and Kaapstaad Way also descended from her, as did multiple G1 winning mare Moonshine. In more recent times NZ Oaks heroine Tapildo, G1 sprinter Japonisme and Silver Slipper winning filly Plagiarize have represented West Side Story's line, which produces stakes winners in both hemispheres to this day.
Her sister Red Poppy also met with success and hit the heights with granddaughter User Friendly, by the legendary Slip Anchor.
Winner of the Epsom, Irish and Yorkshire Oaks, the GB St Leger and a brave second in the Arc at three, the freakish filly travelled to Japan to run a mighty sixth in the Japan Cup.
That would be the end of it for most and understandably so, but User Friendly was back for more G1 honours at four, taking the Grand Prix de St- Cloud before another Arc, where her toils caught up with her and she faded badly in the race won by the great Urban Sea.
Off to the broodmare barn then? Nope, connections sent her to the USA. She won an allowance race on turf and then fronted up for the G1 Beverley D Stakes at Arlington. User Friendly finished last, and finally was retired. No wonder the Japanese buyers were circling for this gallant mare who embodied all the qualities they prize. She sold in foal to Mr Prospector for $2.5 million to Kazuo Nakamura.
In Japan she left descendants some of whom now share a home with Youngstar and Fungirl, but was resold to Ireland. Starspangled and her G3 winning sister Downtown were User Friendly's only foals by Danehill.
This branch of Web descends from Picture Play, also the ancestress of Royal Palace, Fairy Footsteps, Welsh Pageant, Crystal Music, All Alight and Doyen among many others.
Picture Play descended from Web's unbeaten Oaks/1000 Guineas winning granddaughter Cobweb, also ancestress of the greatest North American Blue Hen La Troienne (1-x)
La Troienne and Picture Play share a closer affinity - they descend from full sisters Doxa and Absurdity respectively.
When Starspangled visited Galileo, La Troienne was duplicated in male line through Buckpasser and her son Bimelech, damsire of Blue Hen Lalun.
When she visited Adelaide, he provided the line of his ancestress Hillbrook - by the stallion I Will, who descends from Cobweb’s half sister Joanna - and bred x 5 to the family within 5 generations.
Starspangled's mating with High Chaparral gave two lines of Lalun via sons Never Bend and Bold Reason.
Starphistocated is bred
Northern Dancer 4m,5m x 4m
Blue Hen Natalma 5m x 5m,5f
She is of course bred on a variation of the famed Galileo / Danehill nick which produced the superhorse and supersire Frankel.
What of Starphistocated's sire Churchill?
His fourth dam Thorner Lane was sired by Tina’s Pet - whose dam was by Will Somers, a stallion tracing tail female to Jest, a three quarter sister to Starspangled's ancestress Amuse, the dam of Picture Play. Additionally, she also carried the stallion Hook Money, a La Troienne grandson by our very own Aussie turf legend Bernborough!
Churchill's family19 is also that of Galileo's influential son New Approach. The latter descended directly from the female line of Lalun, nevertheless the two sires trace to the same taproot mare.
New Approach continued an unbroken line of three Derby winners by siring the 2018 winner Masar. That was last achieved by Mill Reef, Shirley Heights and Starspangled's second damsire Slip Anchor in the 1980s.
New Approach has unsurprisingly sired Classic winners of both sexes.
Four x G1 and dual Guineas winner Churchill is a horse of a different cut - a sprinter miler out of elite Storm Cat daughter Meow, a daughter of the champion sprinting filly Airwave.
Churchill's full sister Clemmie is Galileo's only G1 winner over 6 furlongs.
Nevertheless - Churchill has sired the French fillies Triple Crown winner Blue Rose Cen from a daughter of Danehill son Jeremy, and G1 winner Vadeni (second in an Arc) among his 28 stakes winners.
