Breeders' Cup winner returns to training with Ralph Beckett after stallion career abandoned

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Breeders’ Cup winner Starlust has returned to training with Ralph Beckett following the decision to abort his stallion career in Australia after covering a single book of mares.

Explaining the decision, Alex Cole, racing manager to Starlust’s owners Jim and Fitri Hay, said: “He got about 70 mares in foal, but his fertility wasn’t the greatest. We thought he might struggle for support in his second season, so we brought him back into training.”

The son of Zoustar was retired to stand at Riverstone Lodge in New South Wales following his solid fourth in last year’s Group 1 King Charles III Stakes at Royal Ascot. He is entered for that race again, as well as the Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stakes on the final day of the royal meeting. 

Cole said the five-year-old is likely to make his seasonal reappearance in the Group 2 Temple Stakes at Haydock on May 23.

“According to the trainer, it’s like he never left the yard,” he said. “The plan is to run in the Temple Stakes.”

Alex Cole: "According to the trainer, it’s like he never left the yard"Credit: Laura Green

Despite shelving the stallion career, Cole said Starlust has been kept entire and a return to the breeding barn is a possibility.

He said: “He’s certainly not infertile and he’s been left entire. A stallion career is not off the table and, if he gets a good one in his first crop in Australia, we can revisit the situation.

“He’s by Zoustar, so it'll probably be Australia and that is, of course, where his offspring will be running.”

According to the Australian Stud Book, Starlust covered 102 mares at a fee of A$27,500 (£14,610/€16,900) in his first year at stud.

The six-time winner landed the 2024 Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint and the Group 3 Sirenia Stakes. He was also third in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint. At three, he added a third-place finish in the Group 1 Nunthorpe Stakes before his Grade 1 success at Del Mar.

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