Riverstone bound – Grade 1 winner Starlust has run his last race
Zoustar’s Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint winner Starlust has been retired with connections bypassing a July Cup swansong for the soon-to-be Hunter Valley-based stallion.
Rather than being readied for the 1200m sprint at Newmarket on Saturday week, the Grade 1-winning Starlust will instead enter quarantine this week ahead of a flight to Australia where he will be Riverstone Stallions’ foundation sire.
Starlust ran an eye-catching fourth in the King Charles III Stakes at Royal Ascot last month (Australian sprinter Asfoora ran fifth), with his trainer Ralph Beckett and owner Fitri Hay contemplating a tilt at the Group 1 July Cup.
Riverstone Stallions’ Nick Taylor, however, confirmed to The Straight on Tuesday that Starlust would not race again.
A winner of three races at two and another three as a three-year-old, Starlust will stand for an introductory fee of $27,500 (inc GST).
At the time of Starlust’s acquisition by Riverstone, which was confirmed in early May, Taylor said: “This is a genuine game-changer for us. To have a stallion of Starlust’s calibre, one who has conquered the world’s fastest horses on the biggest stage, as our foundation stallion is beyond exciting.”
A 55,000 guineas (A$120,569) purchase at the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale in 2022 by agent Dermot Farrington, Starlust is a half-brother to the stakes-winning Dubawi sprinter Queen Of Desire and a son of French Group 3 winner Beyond Desire, a daughter of Invincible Spirit.
Starlust’s sire, the Widden-based Zoustar, will be crowned Australia’s champion stallion for the first time when the racing season concludes on July 31.
Zoustar will stand for a fee of $275,000 (inc GST) this year.
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