Starspangledbanner

The successful dual-hemisphere stallion Starspangledbanner (Aus), the sire of recent G1 Queen's Silver Jubilee Cup winner and G1 Al Quoz Sprint aspirant California Spangle (Ire), supplied the HK$5.4 million (£541,837/US$690,352) top price as the last of 14 horses through the ring during Friday's Hong Kong International Sale in the parade ring at Sha Tin Racecourse. Lot 20 was purchased by the Hong Kong Jockey Club from the draft of Chasemore Farm for 550,000gns during Book 2 at Tattersalls October in 2022. The British-bred 3-year-old is a full-brother to the treble...

Top breeze-up handlers Antonio Da Silva and Nikki Scallan of A&N Bloodstock had a lucky escape on Friday evening when, the horse box that they were driving on the way home from Dundalk races caught fire with the Jenny Lynch-trained Late Night Talking (Ire) (Starspangledbanner {Aus}) inside it.  But for their quick thinking, the couple's Late Night Talking, who had finished third in the mile maiden just a few hours earlier, could have met a horrific end when the vehicle burst into flames on the M50 motorway in Dublin.  Sharing...

Kelly Thomas enjoyed a banner year with Vandeek (GB) (Havana Grey {GB}), who she bred at her Maywood Stud, going unbeaten in a spellbinding two-year-old campaign that featured Group 1 wins in the Prix Morny and Middle Park S.  In this week's Q&A, Thomas revealed how some people in the industry have shared with her that she has become an inspiration for smaller breeders. She also lifted the lid on her own hopes and dreams for Vandeek this season and explained her philosophy to breeding.  You have had lots to...

Friday marked a breakout result for five-time Group 1-winner St Mark's Basilica (Fr) as a filly by Coolmore's freshman sire out of the Oaks winner Talent (GB) (New Approach {Ire}) topped the December Foal Sale at Tattersalls on 575,000gns. The aggregate fell 11% compared to this day 12 months ago to 17,943,000gns while the clearance rate climbed 7% to 87%. The average fell 13% to 95,952gns and the median dipped 9% to 62,000gns. It was bloodstock agent Jill Lamb, bidding on behalf of Newsells Park Stud, who came out on...

A decade on from selling Designs On Rome (Ire) (Holy Roman Emperor {Ire}) to Hong Kong, where he became a Group 1-winning machine and recorded over €5 million in prize-money in that jurisdiction, Pat Flynn is predicting his latest Far East export Starspangledwaves (Ire) (Starspangledbanner {Aus}) to be destined for a similarly bright future. Flynn has been training for over 40 years and is perhaps best known for sending out Supreme Novices' Hurdle winners Montelado (GB) and French Ballerina (Ire) in the nineties.  The 66-year-old revealed that the sale of...

Continuing our series on the profitability of stallions, this week we are looking at those who stood between £20,000 and £49,999 in 2020. Three of the top four in this table have subsequently graduated to the higher-fee bracket outlined in Part I of this series last Thursday.  As previously stated, we will be examining sires in four key price brackets according to their yearling sales returns of 2022 set against their fees at the time of covering. The average profit has been determined by the stallion's fee plus a figure...

Small-time breeder Kevin Molloy was provided with the best possible Christmas present late on Monday night when Rhea Moon (Ire), the first produce out of homebred Callisto Star (Ire), became Starspangledbanner's fourth top-flight winner of 2022 when battling to Grade I American Oaks glory at Santa Anita. Rhea Moon began her career for Ken Condon in Ireland, for whom she showed bundles of potential when placing in six-furlong maidens at Dundalk and the Curragh before being purchased privately by BBA Ireland's Michael Donohoe and international bloodstock agent Niall Dalton to...

Rhea Moon (Ire) (Starspangledbanner {Aus}) was produced by the hot-riding Juan Hernandez approaching the final furlong and fought her way past pace-pressing stablemate School Dance (Animal Kingdom) in the final couple of jumps to win Monday's GI American Oaks at Santa Anita. A 6-1 gamble exiting a 1 1/4-length success in the GIII Autumn Miss S. going a mile over this course Oct. 29, Rhea Moon was one of the last away, but improved along the inside while tugging a bit for her head and raced fourth-last with a circuit...

Off the back of a star-studded season, No Nay Never will stand for €175,000 in 2023, which represents a €50,000 rise, while his dual Group 1-winning son Blackbeard (Ire) will join him on the Coolmore roster next year at a price of €25,000. No Nay Never has had an exceptional year. Older filly Alcohol Free (Ire) landed the G1 July Cup at Newmarket, but it has been his Coolmore-owned and Aidan O'Brien-trained juveniles that have set tongues wagging this term. Like his father, Blackbeard landed the G1 Prix Morny in...

What did you get up to during the lockdown? Did you finally build that patio that you promised you'd complete years ago? Maybe you took up exercising? Or did you go searching for a broodmare after one of her sons put up an eye-catching performance on the track only to find her pulling carts in Belgium and, after initially being told that she's not for sale, did you finally strike a deal for the price of a small second-hand car? Thought not. Kevin Blake, the popular ITV racing pundit and...

A deal has been struck for globetrotting star State Of Rest (Ire) (Starspangledbanner {Aus}--Repose by Quiet American), who added to his truly unique record of Group 1 triumphs when battling to Prix Ganay glory at ParisLongchamp on Sunday, to stand at Rathbarry Stud once his racing days are finished. Trained by Joseph O'Brien, State Of Rest won the GI Saratoga Derby Invitational S. before beating the best of the Australians in the G1 Cox Plate at Moonee Valley last season. His reappearance win at ParisLongchamp hardened his reputation as one...

Ellie Whitaker and Tegan Clark clearly remember the empty silence that followed an email blast out to the industry upon the launch of WC Equine. "We had a list of trainers' emails," recalls Clark. "And we put together an email saying we're here, this is what we're doing, along with background of what we've done before, and emailed 93 of them." Whitaker takes up the story. "We got three responses, all saying good luck! It's about selling a product at the end of the day and we didn't have a...