Starspangledbanner Sparkles in Defeat on UK Debut

Barry Hill’s Prime Defender put in an impressive display to land the Group Two Duke of York Stakes at York’s May fixture, but it was the performance of the fifth horse home, Starspangledbanner, that really caught the eye of horse racing Ireland as a potential sprinting star of the season, writes Elliot Slater.

Making his debut for Ballydoyle handler Aidan O’Brien having arrived only recently from Australia, where the son of Choisir was twice successful in Group One company, the four-year-old showed tremendous pace and was still traveling well at the furlong pole before patently blowing up and fading in the last 100 yards to finish fifth.

In a way it was a shade surprising that O’Brien gave his new charge just nine weeks to acclimatise, but the imposing chestnut colt is clearly a hardy sort who will doubtless come on a ton for this, his debut performance in the UK.

A horse whose wins in the highest class in his native land came at six and at eight (!) furlongs, the Golden Jubilee Stakes on the final day of Royal Ascot has already been nominated as Starspangledbanner’s prime target for the season, and, if he makes the anticipated progress following his first run for Ballydoyle, he could pose a formidable challenge for the locally bred and trained horses.

O’Brien expressed his pleasure at the performance and assured the betting public that he should “come on a lot for the run.” Jockey Johnny Murtagh also said he was impressed with the power shown by the Aussie sprint star.

Various Irish racing experts offer 16/1 for the Golden Jubilee Stakes looks a very fair price with no outstanding candidate having come to the fore in the spring division so far this term, and, with improvement to come, that price could well look over-generous when they go to post for the Group One event on the Saturday of the Royal fixture.