History-making New Zealand bred galloper Starcraft has passed away aged 22.
A five-time winner at the elite level and a member of New Zealand’s Racing Hall of Fame, the chestnut was bred by Waikato Stud and sold by the Matamata nursery at Karaka in 2002 for $80,000 to the bid of Robt Dawe.
He was a son of Soviet Star and three-time Broodmare of the Year Flying Floozie and was raced by the late Paul Makin.
During the mid-2000s, Starcraft gained fame in both Hemispheres, first as the champion Australian three-year-old of 2003-04 and the following year as champion sprinter in New Zealand.
His defining achievement came in 2006 as the first New Zealand-bred horse to win at Group One level in Europe when he claimed the Prix du Moulin de Longchamp (1600m) in Paris for trainer Luca Cumani and subsequently the Gr.1 Queen Elizabeth ll Stakes (1600m) at Newmarket, comfortably defeating Dubawi.
Starcraft was initially prepared by Gary Newham and posted Group One victories in the Australian Derby (2400m) and Chipping Norton Stakes (1600m).
He made his mark in his homeland and was narrowly denied a clean sweep of the Hawke’s Bay spring carnival features. He was successful in the Gr.1 Hawke’s Bay Mudgway Partsworld Stakes (1400m) and the Gr.2 Stoney Bridge Stakes (1600m) before finishing a close second in the Gr.1 Kelt Capital Stakes (2040m).
Starcraft began the second phase of his career at Arrowfield Stud before relocating to Rosemont Stud where he passed away this week.
He sired Group One winners We Can Say It Now and Star Witness, currently at stud, as are grandsons Graff and Star Turn. To date, Starcraft has produced 350 winners with 20 of those at stakes level.
