Startantes Turns the corner for Vinery’s Star with Tiara victory
Young stallion lands first Group 1 winner courtesy of stunning win from the Rob Heathcote-trained filly at Eagle Farm
Startantes banished memories of an agonising bob-of-the-head defeat in the Surround Stakes (Gr 1, 1400m) in the autumn, when she produced a magical last-to-first burst to win yesterday’s Tattersall’s Tiara Stakes (Gr 1, 1400m) at Eagle Farm.
The victory for the Robert Heathcote-trained filly in the final Group 1 race of the season provided a milestone first elite-level winner for Vinery Stud’s young, up-and-coming stallion Star Turn (Star Witness).
Jockey Jason Collett settled Startantes in the final pairing in the 17-runner race, as the favourite Annavisto (Reliable Man) set the early fractions at the head of proceedings.
That was a position in which the filly remained until entering the straight, spotting the leaders some ten lengths ahead of her.
As the escape avenues appeared down the centre of the Eagle Farm track, Collett and Startantes took full advantage, soaring their way through the field to overhaul Robert Sangster Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) winner Snapdancer (Choisir) in the closing stages to record a half-length victory. The three-year-old became the first of her age since Cosmic Endeavour (Northern Meteor) in 2014 to win the mares’ weight-for-age contest.
Palaisipan (So You Think) finished third, with defeat for the daughter of So You Think (High Chaparral) in the season’s Group 1 finale all but handing the sire premiership to rival I Am Invincible (Invincible Spirit), who takes a lead of $561,338 into the final month of the season.
A maiden Group 1 success for Startantes, who was foaled and raised at Vinery, was heralded as a significant turning point for her sire Star Turn by the stud’s bloodstock manager Adam White, with the stallion translating a prolific winning strike-rate for his progeny to elite-level success.
“She really deserved to win a race at that level. She’s been so close earlier in the year,” White told ANZ Bloodstock News.
“What [Star Turn] did with his first crop of two-year-olds was tremendous. He finished that season with the highest [two-year-old] winners-to-runners ratio of all stallions in Australia. He demonstrated that he could get them into the track and into the winner’s circle.
“But you’ve got to go on and prove that his stock is up to stakes and Group 1 level – and he’s done that in the last few weeks.”
Star Turn recorded 19 winners from 41 runners, with his first-crop juveniles last season for a winners-to-runners ratio of 46.3 per cent, some way clear of Snitzel (Redoute’s Choice) who was his nearest rival by that metric, who produced a winners-to-runners ratio with his two-year-olds of 35 per cent.
However, following on from the solitary Listed win at stakes level of Miss Hipstar for the stallion last season, Star Turn has added a further four stakes winners this campaign, including notable successes in Hong Kong and Singapore, with Cordyceps Six winning the Sha Tin Vase (Gr 3, 1200m) last month, adding to last week’s victory for Golden Monkey in the Singapore 3YO Sprint (Listed, 1200m).
In Australia, the victory for Startantes sends Star Turn upwards on the second season sire list, his $3,477,533 in prize-money earnings this season seeing the stallion jump ahead of Shalaa (Invincible Spirit) into fourth.
“He’s going to another level, the stallion, there’s no doubt,” White said.
“It’s really important for our marketplace for stallions to get those stakes horses in the Asian jurisdictions. It makes a massive difference in the sale ring.
“He had success over there early and when we did see the Hong Kong connections really come for his progeny in the sale ring here, you can tell that it’s going to go to another level there as well.”
Startantes made her debut at Ipswich in February last year, going on to win twice at two. She began her three-year-old year with three consecutive victories, before finishing sixth in the Golden Rose (Gr 1, 1400m) and third in the Flight Stakes (Gr 1, 1600m) behind Never Been Kissed (Tivaci).
Despite being winless in 2022 prior to yesterday, Startantes followed her narrow defeat to Hinged (Worthy Cause) in the Surround Stakes in February with a campaign back in Queensland, finishing a running-on fifth in the Stradbroke Handicap (Gr 1, 1400m) on her last start.
Heathcote reflected on a meaningful victory for a filly he bred himself out of the mare Funtantes (Easy Rocking), who won for the trainer during his first year holding a licence.
“The very special little pumpkin. We’ve known she was special, and she went close in the Surround in Sydney, she had no luck,” Heathcote said.
“We made a big call taking Taylor [Marshall] off and putting Jason on, but he was last coming into the straight, kept his cool and ran right through them.
“She’s probably worth a few bob now.
“She’ll go to the paddock for sure. I was going to take her to Melbourne for the spring, but I’ll need to re-evaluate that now because she hasn’t had a break now for literally two preparations – only little band aid breaks but jeez, there are some nice fillies and mares races at Flemington, isn’t there?”
Startantes follows a line line of recent success stories to have been raised at Vinery, including Magic Millions 2YO Classic (RL, 1200m) winner Exhilerates (Snitzel), Golden Slipper Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) winner Farnan (Not A Single Doubt) and Blue Diamond Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) winner Artorius (Flying Artie).
“We raised Startantes right to the point that she went to the breakers,” White said.
“I remember her well. She wasn’t a very big foal from the time she was born, even right through as a weanling. But she was always compact and had the quality. She’s got the heart of a lion and a great determination to win.
“She’s come from near last at the turn today and showed a lot of determination to run straight through the field and get up like she did.
“It’s always been a tremendous farm for producing racehorses for well over 100 years. It’s got a great history.”
Funtantes has a winning two-year-old filly by Russian Revolution (Snitzel), a yearling colt by Spirit Of Boom (Sequalo) and a weanling filly by Rothesay (Fastnet Rock). She returned to Star Turn last spring.
The stallion was raised to $27,500 (inc GST) for the upcoming breeding season from $16,500, a fee that was set in 2021, prio.r to Star Turn recording a run of individual first crop winners.
Star Turn covered 176 mares last year, and White believes the sire will have a full book in the coming weeks.
“He’s going really well for numbers. Last year we set his fee at $15,000 [plus GST] and the week after we set his fee he scored six winners in seven days and he filled extremely quickly,” White said.
“He certainly warranted that increase this year and the numbers, which were good already, are going to go up again with the phone no doubt running hot this week coming off a Group 1 winner.
“Proven horses below the $50,000 mark are really hard to find, and he really comes into the bracket now.”