SATURDAY, 15 DECEMBER 2018 crop produced 14 runners that achieved RPRs in excess of 95, STARSPANGLEDBANNER with five of those reaching in excess of 110. It's hard not to view this as a sensational performance given the low numbers of READY TO FLY HIGH foals produced from a i15,000 covering fee. However, his subfertility put paid to his prospects of producing bigger crops in the years that followed, with his efforts in 2012 prior to being returned to training yielding just 11 foals in 2013. That would prove to be his last season covering mares in Ireland until 2016, with small crops of foals from mostly moderate mares in Australia in the meantime. Despite these restricted opportunities, Starspangledbanner still showed what he could do as a sire, with his 2015 crop in Australia producing the listed winner and Group 2-placed performer Thrillster (Aus) as well as the exciting Hong Kong-based sprinter Styling City (Aus), who has won four of his first six starts. Cont. p2 Starspangledbanner | Coolmore IN TDN AMERICA TODAY By Kevin Blake Over two years ago, the tale of Starspangledbanner (Aus) WINSTAR JUSTIFIES LOOKING TO THE FUTURE (Choisir {Aus}) was recounted on these pages. His WinStar’s Elliott Walden takes a look ahead after a dream year in dual-hemisphere racing career saw him become one of the top 2018. Chris McGrath has the story. Click or tap here to go sprinters on the planet and an unusual complication with his straight to TDN America. ownership saw a 5% share in him being sold on an Australian bloodstock trading website. The surprise and disappointment of Starspangledbanner's subfertility in his second career led to him being returned to racing and almost gelded, but then the phenomenal performance of his first small crop brought him back into people's minds. Then, defying all veterinary logic, his return to fertility gave him a second chance at stud. It was quite a story. Now, the passage of time has led us to the beginning of the next chapter of this tale, with the first of Starspangledbanner's big crops being just months away from reaching the racecourse. Based on the evidence of Starspangledbanner's small crops to date, there is understandably a great amount of anticipation and indeed expectation that he can prove to be the real deal. From his first Northern Hemisphere crop of just 33 foals in 2012, Starspangledbanner produced a Group 1 winner in The Wow Signal (Ire), two Group 2 winners in Home Of The Brave (Ire) and Anthem Alexander (Ire), the Group 3 winner Spangled (GB), the listed winners Silver Rainbow (Ire), Meliora (Ire) and Last Gift (Ire), as well as three other stakes performers including the Grade 1-placed Great Wide Open (Ire). All told, that first Dubai World Cup Free Nominations Close 2019 Wednesday, January 9 The 24th running of the Dubai World Cup at Meydan Racecourse headlines a nine-race programme worth a world-record US$35 million, including six Group 1 and three Group 2 races. A global showcase of the world’s richest race day you don’t want to miss! Race Group Age Distance Surface Value (US$) Dubai World Cup 1 SH 3YO+ & NH 4YO+ 2,000m Dirt 12,000,000 Longines Dubai Sheema Classic 1 SH 3YO+ & NH 4YO+ 2,410m Turf 6,000,000 Dubai Turf 1 SH 3YO+ & NH 4YO+ 1,800m Turf 6,000,000 Dubai Golden Shaheen 1 3YO+ 1,200m Dirt 2,500,000 Al Quoz Sprint 1 3YO+ 1,200m Turf 2,000,000 UAE Derby 2 3YO ONLY 1,900m Dirt 2,500,000 Dubai Gold Cup 2 SH 3YO+ & NH 4YO+ 3,200m Turf 1,500,000 Godolphin Mile 2 SH 3YO+ & NH 4YO+ 1,600m Dirt 1,500,000 Dubai Kahayla Classic (Purebred Arabian) 1 5YO+ 2,000m Dirt 1,000,000 #DubaiWorldCup DubaiRacingClub.com Dubai Racing Club contacts: Frank Gabriel Jr. – Executive Director - Racing | Aimee Grieve – International Racing Liaison For full details and a complete brochure, please contact the International Department of Dubai Racing Club at [email protected] or +971 4 316 8654 TDN EUROPE • PAGE 2 OF 7 • THETDN.COM SATURDAY • 15 DECEMBER 2018 From the returns that have been made to this point, there are at least 72 foals by Starspangledbanner on the ground. Of the 21 of them that went through the sale rings in recent weeks, five of them realised i100,000 or more. Among those that were not offered for sale as foals include a half-sister to the Group 2 winner Endowing (GB) and a half-brother to the Group 2 winner Raven's Lady (GB). Looking even further ahead, Starspangledbanner has reportedly got a career-high 114 mares scanned in foal in Ireland this year, with 75 of them having either earned black- type, bred a black-type horse or being a sibling to a stakes winner. These include the Group 3 winners Flowers Of Spring (Ire) and Ponty Acclaim (Ire), the dam of the multiple Grade I winner Obviously (Ire) and the dam of the Group 3 winner Hamza (Ire). Starspangledbanner=s Group 1-winning son All of the above suggests that Starspangledbanner's story The Wow Signal | Racing Post should yet have some successful chapters to come. Stories such as this don't come around very often. If his progeny deliver as Most recently, he was responsible for a 2-year-old filly called hoped on the racecourse in the coming years, it will be one that Brooklyn Hustle (Aus) who made an eye-catching winning debut will rival any that has emerged from the bloodstock world in at Moonee Valley in Australia last month. recent decades. It is the crop of foals that Starspangledbanner sired after returning to Ireland in 2016 that is now the focus of attention. While he was still considered a risky proposition as a sire when first arriving back to Ireland, word gradually spread of his encouraging return to fertility and the quantity and quality of his mares increased as the 2016 season progressed. Those exploits GIMME FIVE resulted in 72 foals that are currently yearlings and have been with Middlelane Farm lighting up the yearling sales in recent months. The 37 yearlings sold at public auction registered an average of over 75,000gns. The highlight amongst them was the half-sister to the smart sprinter Mrs Gallagher who realised 750,000gns at TDN: Favourite racing moment of the year? Tattersalls October Book 1. She was bought by Stroud Coleman Bloodstock on behalf of Godolphin. Other highlights came at the MLF: Mab's Cross (GB) (Dutch Art {GB}) winning the G1 Prix de Goffs Orby Sale where a colt sold for i300,000 to Ric Wylie L'Abbaye. The Armstrongs are fantastic contributors to the sport Bloodstock and another colt was bought by Form Bloodstock for and it was a well-deserved Group 1 win after her near miss in i180,000. He had five other yearlings that realised at least the Nunthorpe S. i100,000. Of his yearlings that didn't go through the sales ring, pedigrees TDN: A horse that really stood out for you in 2018? that catch the eye are a half-sister to the listed winner Salateen (Ire), a half-brother to the listed winner Arya Tara (Ire) that will MLF: Sea Of Class (Ire) (Sea The Stars {Ire}), from a >who horse= go into training with Joseph O'Brien and a half-brother to the in April to winning the G1 Irish and G1 Yorkshire Oaks, then highly-regarded juvenile trained by Aidan O'Brien called Old almost beating the great Enable (GB) (Nathaniel {Ire}) in the G1 Glory (Ire). Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe. As interesting as it will be to see Starspangledbanner's first big crop on the track in 2019, the prospect of his 2018 crop hitting TDN: An outstanding achievement by a breeder, owner or the track in 2020 is arguably even more exciting. As could have trainer? been anticipated, with his exploits in 2016 having re-established him as a viable option for breeders, the quality of mares sent to MLF: Skitter Scatter (Scat Daddy), starting out in a March him in 2017 was stronger than he received in 2016. Dundalk maiden to finish winning the G1 Moyglare at The TDN EUROPE • PAGE 3 OF 7 • THETDN.COM SATURDAY • 15 DECEMBER 2018 Curragh in September; an outstanding breeder, owner and trainer achievement. TDN: Big hope for 2019? MLF: Iridessa (Ire) to win the G1 Oaks, we are fans of her sire, Ruler of the World (Ire). TDN: Your new year's resolution? MLF: To breed a horse as good as any of those listed above. Vice President, International Operations Gary King Twitter: @garykingTDN [email protected] + 1.732.320.0975 International Editor Kelsey Riley Twitter: @kelseynrileyTDN [email protected] European Editor Emma Berry Twitter: @collingsberry [email protected] Associate International Editor Heather Anderson Twitter: @HLAndersonTDN Marketing Manager Alayna Cullen TDN Marketing Manager Alayna Cullen (centre) celebrates with Evelyn Twitter: @AlaynaCullen and Jennifer Cullen after the family=s Middlelane Farm sold a daughter [email protected] of Australia (lot 960) for 140,000gns at Tattersalls on Nov. 30. Emma Berry Contributing Editor Alan Carasso Twitter: @EquinealTDN Cafe Racing OBSERVATIONS on the European racing scene Sean Cronin Tom Frary [email protected] 12.50 Deauville, Mdn, i27,000, unraced 2yo, c/g, 9 1/2f (AWT) Irish Correspondent George Strawbridge=s homebred firster DEACON (GB) (Dansili Daithi Harvey {GB}), a Freddy Head trainee, is a sibling of MSW G1 Racing Post Trophy third Fencing (Street Cry {Ire}) out of G1 Prix de Diane Regular Columnists heroine Latice (Ire) (Inchinor {GB}).