Starspangledbanner a golden opportunity for Coolmore
The introductions were quick and the farewell might not be much slower.
Hail the new sprinting star who may already be lined up for his page in the next Coolmore stallion brochure. Starspangledbanner arrived from Australia in the spring with a big reputation and he more than lived up to that when the muscular chestnut unfurled that ground-devouring stride to win the Group One Golden Jubilee Stakes at Royal Ascot on Saturday.
The slightly bemused grin on Aidan O’Brien’s face after the race – along the lines of “did I really just see that?” – suggests that this colt can be filed under “special talent”. O’Brien is sometimes decried for describing so many of his horses as “very special”. But when you have trained the winners of more than 160 Group One races it is fair to say that you should know what’s what and O’Brien had no doubts that he was dealing with the genuine article in Starspangledbanner.
O’Brien uses sophisticated timing equipment to monitor work on his gallops at Ballydoyle and after this horse galloped he had everything checked just to make sure the clock really was not lying. “Tom Curtis, who does the times, had to go back and check them to see if the GPS system was correct,” he explained.
“His work has been incredible. His second-last furlong was just under nine- and-a-half seconds. We’ve never seen that at home. When a horse is able to do that... ” he said, his voice trailing off at the thought of such speed and power.
“We’ve never had a horse go that quick before. He’s the fastest we’ve had, no doubt. You don’t record those kind of times – we hadn’t anyway.”
How much time Starspangledbanner has left on the racetrack is open to speculation. Ballydoyle may be the home of champions but its raison d’être is to fuel the stallion juggernaut of the Coolmore Stud and, with precious few of the O’Brien’s three-year-old colts yet justifying themselves for such assignments, Starspangledbanner has jumped the queue and could even be retired to stud in Australia following next month’s Darley July Cup at Newmarket.
John Magnier, the head of Coolmore, and his main partners, Derrick Smith and Michael Tabor, have options but the business imperative may hold sway. After all, these were the men who decided to retire Holy Roman Emperor to stud before he had raced as a three-year-old to replace the infertile George Washington.
“It was the plan for him to go to stud down there this summer [before the Coolmore team bought into the horse], but obviously we’ll now have to see what Derrick and Michael want to do with him,” Magnier said. “They can earn some money back from him [at stud] or race him - it’s up to them.
“If he is to go to stud he would pretty well have to give up racing now, although he could probably run in the July Cup and go then. Derrick and Michael are interested in the racing side rather than the breeding side, so I’d say if Aidan recommended he should stay in training the probability is they would do that. It’s not all about the money for Michael and Derrick, it’s about the racing.”
It is also about money – a lot of it. Already a dual Group One winner in his native Australia, Starspangledbanner enhanced his breeding appeal internationally by winning the Golden Jubilee Stakes the colt has made himself into a highly marketable shuttle stallion for Coolmore operations in both Australia and Ireland next year. And there is a need to balance the books on their investment when they bought Starspangledbanner in January, at a cost reported to have been Aus$10million (about £5.8million).
Starspangledbanner’s stud fee at Coolmore Australia, where he would stand alongside his sire Choisir, has apparently already been set at Aus$33,000 (about £20,090). Sea The Stars has just completed his first season at stud and has covered 140 mares so the maths may override any sporting instincts.
In terms of sporting competition, Starspangledbanner cleaned up on that score but could face some new opposition from another Australian import, Denman, who was acquired by Godolphin earlier this year and could be seen out in the July Cup, not that the prospect had O’Brien unduly worried. “We’re delighted if he comes over,” he said “but we’ve never had anything like this fellow. He works like a quarter horse. You saw what we see at home - and I don’t want to be accused of hyping him.”
Another performance like that, and it might be hard to come up with any hype.
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