When a 2YO with a pedigree wins a trial by 12 lengths running more than a second faster than every other heat you just have to take a closer look.
The Blake Ryan trained Starspangledbanner filly Starspangledancer was in a different post code when winning an 800m trial at Hawkesbury on Tuesday morning.
She finished seventh of seven at her only previous trial back in January at Rosehill behind a subsequent stakes-winner on debut in Cythera, but there was merit in that effort as she jumped well and was then asked to settle before her condition gave out and she was ridden quietly to the line.
This time around, some six months later, she jumped fast again and kept going for James Innes Jr to win as she pleased, clocking 46.63 seconds for the 800m heat and 32.63 seconds for her last 600m.
Starspangledancer was passed in by Cornerstone Stud shy of her modest $20,000 reserve at the Magic Millions Adelaide Yearling Sale and found her way to Blake Ryan.
Starspangledancer was bred by Rosemont Stud and purchased as a weanling by her owner Warwick Doughty for $5,000 from the Magic Millions Rosemont Exclusive Online Sale in 2021. She is a half-sister to a winner from one of Gooree Stud’s best families with her dam Karalli, a half-sister to stakes-winner Actress and to the dam of Group I winners Desert War and Laser Hawk with another Group I winner Romantic Touch also on the page.
Can’t wait to see this one again to find out if this trial was a fluke or the beginning of something special!
