Starcraft’s Star On The Rise

There were a few raised eyebrows when John Messara announced Arrowfield would stand the Soviet Star (USA) stallion Starcraft (NZ) in 2006.

Not that the imposing chestnut was not worthy of commanding a place at a leading farm, he was after all a world class thoroughbred, it was more he seemed an unusual fit at a stud that put a premium on 2yo speed.

His barn-mates included Blue Diamond hero Redoute’s Choice, Golden Slipper winners Flying Spur and Danzero, multiple stakes-winning 2yo Not A Single Doubt, Galaxy Stakes (G1) winner and Golden Slipper runner-up Charge Forward and Oakleigh Plate (G1) and multiple stakes winning 2yo Snitzel.

No prizes for guessing the winning formula there.

So what of Starcraft?

The best he could manage in three starts at two was a second in a maiden over 1350 metres at Ipswich. At his only taste of stakes company at two, Starcraft beat just three of the 14 starters home in the Listed Australia Post Stakes.

The improvement of Starcraft at three was dramatic. Following a first-up fourth in a maiden, the son of Soviet Star reeled off four straight wins including the Group 3 Debonair Stakes before being beaten less than half a length by Reset in the Australian Guineas (G1).

Sent to Sydney, Starcraft earned his first Group 1 in the Chipping Norton Stakes then showed his fighting spirit to land the AJC Derby (G1). It is a sign of the times that this victory in one of the great races of the Australian turf barely rated a mention when the time came to retire him to stud. Behind Starcraft that day was the VRC Derby winner Elvstroem, who has made a most encouraging start to his stud career.

When Starcraft resumed from a spell it was in NZ where he defeated Miss Potential over 1400 metres in the Hawkes Bay Challenge Stakes (G1) then added the Horlicks Challenge Stakes (G2). A week after a Group 1 second in NZ, Starcraft finished third to Mummify and Grand Armee in the Caulfield Stakes (G1) then filled the same spot on what as to be his Australian swansong in the W.S Cox Plate.

Sent to Luca Cumani in England, Starcraft finished third behind the shuttlers Valixir and Rakti in the Queen Anne Stakes before disappointing in the Eclipse Stakes at Sandown. Sent to France, Starcraft broke through in the Prix du Moulin de Longchamp (G1) then added the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes (G1) at Newmarket at the expense of Dubawi. His race career came to a close with a more than respectable seventh in the Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1) on the dirt at Belmont.

Starcraft began his stud career at Cheveley Park Stud in what proved to be his only northern hemisphere season. His first starter Don’t Tell Mary was a stakes-winner at two.

At Caulfield on Saturday, Starcraft replaced Snitzel as the leading first crop sire when Star Witness kept his unbeaten record intact and credited his sire with his first Group 1 winner in the $1 million Group 1 Arrowfield Stud Stakes.

That’s great news for the vendors of the 16 yearlings by Starcraft heading to the Inglis Premier Yearling sale beginning on March 1.

Source: Mark Smith, Breedne