By Adam Houghton
Alex Cole, racing manager for owners Jim and Fitri Hay, has paid tribute to their “superstar” Starlust (GB), who has reportedly attracted plenty of interest from Australia with a view to a stallion career following his victory in Saturday's GI Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint at Del Mar.
Trained by Ralph Beckett, Starlust is now the winner of six of his 18 career starts, having thrived on his racing in 2024, notably winning at the Breeders' Cup on his tenth run of a three-year-old campaign which began at Meydan back in January.
Though his biggest success before Saturday had come at just Group 3 level when winning last year's Sirenia Stakes at Kempton, he'd since finished third in a pair of top-level races–last year's Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint at Santa Anita and the latest edition of the Nunthorpe Stakes at York–giving his connections the belief that local odds of 33-1 were not an accurate reflection of his chance when he lined up at Del Mar in a race featuring old rivals Big Evs (Ire) (Blue Point {Ire}) and Bradsell (GB) (Tasleet {GB}), plus home favourite Cogburn (Not This Time).
“We knew he'd outrun his odds, because between the favourite [Cogburn] and Bradsell they were going to go hell for leather,” Cole summed up. “He's been placed in a Nunthorpe, he's a multiple stakes winner, and he was Group 1-placed at the Breeders' Cup last year. He didn't deserve to be the price he was–we wouldn't have sent him all that way and he wouldn't have been Ralph's only runner if we didn't fancy him a little bit.
“This horse has never really let us down,” he added. “We started off the year at Meydan, he's run 10 times in four countries, and he's only a three-year-old. He's a superstar.”
Neither the Hays nor Cole were in attendance at Del Mar, instead forced to suffer from afar in the anxious moments afterwards when Starlust had to survive a stewards' inquiry before his success, by a neck from Motorious (GB) (Muhaarar {GB}), was made official.
“No!” was Cole's emphatic response when asked whether he was confident that the result would stick. “You never know what the stewards are going to do, do you? But he was the best horse in the race at the end of the day.
“We watched it for the first time in multiple different locations. They [the Hays] had business commitments which meant they couldn't make it and I'm in Dubai, organising our horses out here. But that was a very special moment–they're all great [Group 1 wins], but that was very special.
“For me there is no better owner in racing than Fitri Hay. She supports a lot of people, feeds a lot of mouths, and deserves everything she gets.”
How the Hays got their hands on Starlust is a story that goes back to 2022 when the son of Zoustar (Aus) was the final lot through the ring on the second day of Book 2 of the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale. Bred by Steve Parkin's Branton Court Stud, he is out of the G3 Prix de Saint Georges winner and G2 Lowther Stakes runner-up Beyond Desire (GB) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}), the dam of four winners from seven runners, with the others including the Listed scorer Queen Of Desire (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}).
“I remember him well,” Cole said of the colt he bought with Dermot Farrington for 55,000gns. “He was the last lot in the ring. It was around a quarter past nine at night and there were about five people left at Tattersalls–Dermot and I were two of them.
“The stallion was quite cold at the time, at least in the Northern Hemisphere, but he's very well-bred–the mare was brilliant. I think at the time Ralph had Lezoo [winner of the G1 Cheveley Park Stakes] and one other by Zoustar, so that's why he got him.”
Beckett might have a monopoly on Zoustar's top-level winners in the Northern Hemisphere through Lezoo (GB) and Starlust, both conceived during the stallion's time in Britain when shuttling to Tweenhills Stud, but his influence has been felt much more widely at home in Australia where his tally of individual Group 1 winners now stands at seven.
This year his fee at Widden Stud was increased to A$275,000 (around €167,000), making him the joint most expensive stallion standing in Australia, while in June a 1/60th share in the sire went for A$1,300,000 (€787,000), breaking the record for the most expensive stallion share ever sold at public auction.
Little wonder, then, that Starlust has caught the imagination of stallion bosses in Australia following such a significant success on the global stage at the Breeders' Cup. Not only did that triumph more than double Starlust's career earnings, now standing at over £700,000, but it also has his connections minded to tread a bit more carefully with him in 2025, even if the horse himself might resent it.
“If only you could see my phone!” Cole said of the interest the colt has received, “Mainly from down under.”
He continued, “The horse changed his entire profile on Saturday night. He's gone from being a horse you run 10 times a year to one you've actually got to think about a bit, but then he loves racing. [Next year] I'd have to work back from the King Charles III and he loves York. He's won twice and been placed in a Nunthorpe there, so the Nunthorpe would have to be very much on the agenda.
“He's going to have to be managed, but as I say, he's a three-year-old who has raced in four countries this year–it's an incredible feat, both from the horse and the trainer.”
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