Australian bred stallion Starspangledbanner has a very strong crop of 2YO’s running in the Northern Hemisphere this year and they showed their worth in Ireland overnight at The Curragh with his filly Precise winning the Group I Moyglare Stud Stakes (7f) and his colt Gstaad beaten a head in the Group I National Stakes (7f).
Previously unbeaten filly Venetian Sun was favourite for the Moyglare, but was run down late by the Aidan O’Brien trained fillies Precise and Beautify, a daughter of Wootton Bassett.
A last start winner of the Group III Prestige Stakes at Goodwood> Prestige took a three-quarter length win under Ronan Whelan over Beautify with Venetian Sun a game third.
“Precise is a lovely filly. She's growing and maturing all of the time. You don't know when she'll stop improving and she's very classy. She travelled very strongly and galloped right through the line,” said Aidan O’Brien.
“That was a win and you're in for the Breeders' Cup and she'd love that fast ground, she's a slick mover. Now she's a Group 1 winner we can go gentle with her.”
A homebred for the Coolmore partners, Precise has three wins and a second from four starts and is the first stakes-winner among three winners from placed Galileo mare Way to My Heart, a sister to stakes-winner Kingfisher from stakes-winner Mystical Lady.
Precise is the ninth Group I winner for Starspangledbanner, who remained at Coolmore Ireland this year where he stood for €45,000 this year.
He nearly added a tenth when Gstaad was beaten a head by Zavateri, who became the first Group I winner for his young Frankel sire Without Parole.
Trained by Eve Johnson Houghton and ridden by Charles Bishop, Zavateri kept his record at a perfect four wins from four starts when downing an army of Aidan O’Brien trained colts with Gstaad second ahead of Wootton Bassett colts Italy and Dorset.
Purchased for a modest 35,000 guineas from the Newsells Park Stud draft at the Tattersalls October Book 2 Yearling Sale by Highflyer Bloodstock / Eve Johnson Houghton, Zavateri is the first foal of unraced Aga Khan bred Siyouni mare Zeroua, a half-sister to imported Australian Group III winner Zeyrek and importantly a grand-daughter of 2008 European Horse of the Year Zarkava.
Zavateri is the first stakes-winner for his sire Without Parole, a Group I winning son of Frankel, whose oldest progeny are three year-olds. Without Parole stands at Newsells Park Stud at a fee of £8,000.
