Australia's Affinity With Royal Ascot
Sunday, 20 June 2010: He joins Scenic Blast, Haradasun, Miss Andretti and Takeover Target as Aussie winners at the carnival since Choisir blazed a trail for the colonial breds with his memorable double in 2003.
Starspangledbanner was a fitting winner of the Golden Jubilee, as he is a son of Choisir.
While the King's Stand Stakes had been a race bountiful with Australian success, the Golden Jubilee has been a tougher nut to crack, with Choisir being the lone previous winner.
Starspangledbanner was a $120,000 graduate of the 2008 Inglis Melbourne Premier Sale, having been bred and sold by Tony Santic's Makybe operation.
He was secured as a yearling by Newmarc Bloodstock and under the guidance of trainer Leon Corstens and his son Troy, Starspangledbanner became a dual Group 1 winner of the Caulfield Guineas and Oakleigh Plate this season.
Coolmore Stud moved to secure Starspangledbanner for stud duties this year and at the conclusion of his autumn campaign, he was transferred to the Ballydoyle stables of Aidan O'Brien.
Coolmore has done this with success in 2008, when Haradasun won the Group 1 Queen Anne Stakes at Royal Ascot and history repeated itself last night.
Starspangledbanner's ability to run a strong mile, combined with his brilliant speed proved to be the perfect ingredients for success up the tough Ascot 1200m straight.
He simply proved too fast and further underlined the brilliance and toughness of sprinters bred in Australia.
He is expected to train on to the July Cup next month, attempting to go one better than his sire Choisir, who ran second at his final race start in 2003.
Starspangledbanner will begin stud duties at Coolmore Australia later this year.
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