'He commands attention throughout the world' - Starspangledbanner set for return to Coolmore Australia

Aussie fan favourite and sire revelation Starspangledbanner, a stallion who is also building an imposing record in Hong Kong, will make an unexpected return to his home country.

Coolmore confirmed that the champion sprinter-miler, who was given a break from southern hemisphere stud duties in 2022, will return to the Magniers’ Hunter Valley farm later this year.

“Starspangledbanner has developed into a sire that commands attention throughout the world,” Coolmore Australia’s Tom Moore told ANZ Bloodstock News.

He spent the 2013, 2014 and 2015 breeding season at Rosemont Stud in Victoria before returning to major shareholder Coolmore in 2016. The Victorian favourite returned to Rosemont in 2019 and served his last season there in 2021, before going back to Coolmore Ireland. Coolmore has elected to resume shuttling him in 2023 but he will instead stand at their own property in NSW. He will stand for A$33,000 (all fees inc GST), having stood for $16,500 in 2021, his most recent Australian season.

“[Rosemont] did a great job with him. We see a gap in the market for a proven sire with global appeal at a value fee of A$30,000 (plus GST),” Moore said. 

“We are confident breeders throughout Australasia will be quick to show their support to such a stallion.”

The sire of Group 1 winner California Spangle and star four-year-old Beauty Eternal in Hong Kong, Starspangledbanner also had a Rosemont-bred and raised colt by the stallion sell for A$540,000 at this year’s Inglis Melbourne Premier Yearling Sale.

“He has shown the ability to produce elite performers in all jurisdictions around the world, highlighted by Hong Kong where he is currently second to Deep Field in the sires’ premiership,” Moore said. 

“We just felt that it was time to bring Starspangledbanner back to the Hunter Valley when his yearlings averaged the most that they have ever averaged in Australia.”

Starspangledbanner’s Cox Plate-winning son State Of Rest, a dual hemisphere Group 1 winner and now shuttling sire, will begin his maiden southern hemisphere season at Newgate Farm later this year at a fee of A$44,000.

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