Starspangled Juvenile Winner

Tara Madgwick - Wednesday February 14
The juvenile event at Sandown on Wednesday was won by progressive filly Melveen, a daughter of Starspangledbanner.

Sixth on debut to Kinky Boom in the $250,000 Inglis Premier, the Henry Dwyer trained filly improved sharply at her second run with the addition of blinkers.

StarspangledbannerRidden patiently by Damien Thornton from back in the field, she accelerated hard when angled into the clear on turning for home and charged to the line out wide to score a nose win in a blanket finish to the 1200 metre dash.

Connections announced the fill was likely to head to the paddock after breaking the ice and would return a stronger filly after her spell.

An $80,000 Inglis Premier purchase from the Millford Thoroughbreds draft, Melveen is the third winner from Hawaiian Melody, a half-sister to the dam of Group III winner Vivacious Spirit, the dam of Group I New Zealand One Thousand Guineas winner Costa Viva.

Starspangledbanner has lacked for numbers in the past due to his well-documented fertility problems earlier in his career, but has overcome those issues and has some 42 two year-olds to run for him this season.

The world champion sprinter of his time, Starspangledbanner has 15 entries for Inglis Premier next month.


Advertisment
More Reading...
Starspangled Surge
The resurgent stud career of Starspangledbanner is building momentum in the Northern Hemisphere where he posted yet another two year-old winner overnight in Ireland at Navan with a debut victory for Royal Ascot bound Back to Brussells.
Cosmic Vega Breaks Through in Kilmore Cup
A rapidly deteriorating track at Kilmore proved the winning formula for the Irish import Cosmic Vega (IRE) and visiting English rider Saffie Osborne to open their Australian accounts in Sunday’s $200,000 Listed Bet365 Kilmore Cup (1600m).
G1 Pedigree Watch - Plus Up and Comers
The spring carnival might be over, but the G1 action is now in Perth and a Queenslander took the top prize and we are also looking at a few other stakes-winners that hold the promise of more to come.
One to Watch – Canberra
At the 2023 Magic Millions Yearling Sale on the Gold Coast US investors Richard and Tammy Rigney of Rigney Racing purchased two yearling fillies by I Am Invincible for $2million and $1.2million and got a result with one of them in Canberra on Sunday.
New Starspangled 2YO SW
The Listed Curragh Stakes for two year-olds in Ireland overnight was dominated by sires standing in Victoria this spring with first and third by Starspangledbanner and the second place-getter by Cable Bay (IRE).
International Purchase Produces a Star Foal for Rosemont
One of international racing's highlights of the year came last week in the thrilling win of superstar mare Enable in the G1 Yorkshire Oaks.
Aussie Mare Youngstar Produces Exciting Japanese G3 Winner
Australian Group I winning half-sisters Youngstar and Funstar are both at stud in Japan and the former has a very smart two year-old colt in Eri King, who made it three wins from three starts when taking out the Group III Radio Nikkei Hai Kyoto Nissai Stakes (2000m) on Saturday.
Expensive Xtravagant Wins $1million Meteorite
The highest priced yearling by Xtravagant sold in 2022, progressive sprinter Nadal (Xtravagant) produced an explosive turn of foot to come from near last to win the inaugural running of today’s $1m The Ladbrokes Meteorite at Cranbourne.
$2000 Mare Wins Winton Cup
Exciting southern mare The Grey Goose continued her faultless preparation with an impressive performance to win Sunday’s Hyde Landscaping and Wash Rite Winton Cup (1400m) at Ascot Park.
New French Stakes-Winner for Churchill
Currently finishing his seventh season of shuttling to Coolmore Australia, Churchill has had a productive year and sired his 16th stakes-winner of 2024 when progressive three year-old filly Some Skye landed the Listed Grand Prix de Fontainebleau (1900m) at Chantilly.