Starlust enters quarantine ahead of move to Riverstone Lodge
Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint (Gr 1, 5f) winner Starlust (Zoustar) has been retired from racing and will enter quarantine this week in preparation for travelling to Australia where he will take up stallion duties at Nick Taylor’s Riverstone Lodge at an opening fee of $27,500 (inc GST).
The four-year-old, who was trained by Ralph Beckett for former owners Jim and Fitri Hay, is the highest-rated son of Zoustar (Northern Meteor) in the northern hemisphere and will be the foundation stallion for the New South Wales-based stud.
A tilt at the July Cup (Gr 1, 6f) had been mooted as Starlust’s final race following his fourth placing in the King Charles III Stakes (Gr 1, 5f) at Royal Ascot, but it was decided to forego that engagement and instead prepare him for the journey to New South Wales.
Beckett said: “Starlust was a joy to train all his days. I managed to get him beaten in two nurseries before going on the run he did. He was particularly effective on a flat track and around a bend and we wish his connections well with him in his new career as a stallion.”
Bred by Steve Parkin’s Branton Court Stud, Starlust hails from Zoustar’s second northern hemisphere-bred crop who were conceived at Tweenhills Farm. Widden Stud’s star stallion shuttled to David Redvers’ Gloucestershire operation for six seasons from 2019 until 2024.
The sire of 11 top-level winners, Zoustar is on the cusp of being crowned Australia’s champion sire for the first time and is set to stand in 2025 for an unchanged fee of $275,000 (inc GST).
In addition to his Del Mar triumph, Starlust was twice-placed at the highest level, having finished third in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint (Gr 1, 5f) and the Nunthorpe Stakes (Gr 1, 5f) prior to his Grade 1 breakthrough.
The winner of six of his 21 starts, Starlust was also successful in the Sirenia Stakes (Gr 3, 6f) at two and both of his wins in Britain at three were at York where he won the City Walls Stakes (Listed, 5f).
Starlust was sold by Barton Stud at Book 2 of the 2022 Tattersalls October Yearling Sale and made 55,000gns to Dermot Farrington. He is a half-brother to the Listed winner Queen Of Desire (Dubawi) being out of the Group 3-winning mare Beyond Desire (Invincible Spirit).
Beyond Desire produced a two-year-old full-sister to Starlust named Stargazed and she was retained by Parkin. Sent into training with Karl Burke, Stargazed was sixth on debut at York last month and holds an entry in a Beverley maiden on Friday.