Starcraft sires first stakes winner

Five time G1 winning stallion Starcraft recorded his first stakes winner when his Irish bred daughter Don’t Tell Mary blitzed her rivals by four lengths in the Listed Hilary Needler Trophy (1000m) at Beverly overnight.

Don’t Tell Mary (2f Starcraft-Only In Dreams by Polar Falcon) fetched 32,000 (A$65,000) pounds at a Doncaster Yearling Sale last year and is the first runner from Starcraft’s sole Northern Hemisphere crop, which also includes half-brothers to juvenile G1 winners Dazzle and Donativum.  Bred by Mascalls Stud, Don’t Tell Mary is a half-sister to the G2-placed Cape Fear out of the winning Polar Falcon.

Starcraft was crowned champion 3YO colt in Australia and was a superstar in both the Northern and Southern Hemisphere.  He won the G1 AJC Derby and Chipping Norton Stakes as well as the G1 Challenge Stakes in New Zealand.

Following his second placing in the G1 Cox Plate, he was transferred to the care of astute European horseman Luca Cumani. Under Cumani’s care he won the G1 Queen Elizabeth II Stakes at Newmarket and G1 Prix du Moulin at Longchamp. He was also a runner up in the G1 Queen Anne Stakes at York.

His oldest progeny are yearlings and his top seller to date has been a filly out of the champion mare Private Steer, who fetched a bid of $450,000.

Starcraft will begin his fourth season at Arrowfield this spring at a reduced service fee of $22,000.