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When he thrashed a high class field to win the Group One MRC Caulfield Guineas last spring, many believed MAKYBE bred colt Starspangledbanner was the best three year-old sprinter miler in the country and at Royal Ascot last night he proved he was also probably the best in the world.
Saturday's Group One Golden Jubilee Stakes at Royal Ascot was billed beforehand as one of the most-competitive sprints ever run in Europe with contenders trained in six different countries among the 24 runners.
But there was only going to be one winner as Choisir's Australian-bred and now Irish-trained son Starspangledbanner stormed a length and three-quarters clear of Rock of Gibraltar colt Society Rock in the six-furlong contest.
A dual Group One winner in Australia, the well-backed Starspangledbanner (pictured courtesy Aushorse) was emulating the performance of his charismatic sire Choisir, who won the King Stand and Golden Jubilee Stakes in 2003.
Trainer Aidan O'Brien said: "It's a privilege to have him, if only for a few races, but the lads will decide whether they want to stand him at stud this season or next.
"He's very quick, but he was like that before we got him. He came from Australia with a massive reputation and we were lucky to get him.
"I was hoping a horse was going to lead him today, but when you've got a horse that can do his sort of fractions, who's going to lead?
"What's so incredible is this horse got a mile in Australia and we knew if he hit the gate today nothing was going to lead him - and having won over a mile he wasn't going to be stopping either. He's a great horse."
Starspangledbanner was only fifth in the Duke Of York Stakes on his first run for O'Brien, who said: "He had a break after he first came to us so we could get a feel for him.
"He needed the run at York, but since then the fractions he's been doing have been so incredible. His reflexes are so fast.
"Colm O'Donoghue rides him every day and he would go by me when I'm sitting in my Jeep in the morning and I've never seen anything so fast.
"We've never had anything like this fellow. He works like a quarter horse. You saw today what we see at home - and I don't want to be accused of hyping him."
Timing Starspangledbanner on Ballydoyle's gallops raised a few question marks said O'Brien, adding: "Tom Curtis, who does the times, had to go back and check them to see if the GPS system was correct.
"When a horse can do that kind of work, we've never seen it, and he is without doubt the fastest sprinter I have trained. To go that fast, furlong by furlong, you don't record those kinds of time - we have never recorded them, anyway."
Jockey Johnny Murtagh added: "Aidan was very confident coming into this race. He told me to just jump him out, let him use that stride, and not to be anxious when I got to the two, wait until I got to furlong and a half out and when I went for him, Aidan thought that when I went for him, he should respond.
"Everything just worked perfectly. I had a lovely draw - he jumped well, travelled really well. There was a good strong gallop all of the way and I sensed them coming at the two but when I let him go, he really ran straight up the rail and responded.
"He responded very well and went right to the line - I couldn't pull him up after the race. I think that he is a great horse.
"He's very similar to Choisir. They are both big, strong but when I rode Starspangledbanner today, he was different - he was in a different zone and there was about 20 lengths improvement in him from his last run York."
Now raced by a syndicate of Coolmore partners including Michael Tabor in whose blue and orange colours he races, Starspangledbanner was originally a $120,000 purchase at the 2008 Inglis Premier Yearling Sale in Melbourne.
Bred and offered for sale by Makybe, Starspangledbanner is the third foal of stakes-placed Gold Anthem, whose dam National Song is a half-sister to Group One AJC Australian Oaks winner Circles of Gold, renowned as the dam of champion racehorses Elvstroem and Haradasun, so he certainly has a stallion's pedigree.
Gold Anthem has a two year-old filly by Royal Academy (USA), a yearling filly by Rock of Gibraltar (IRE) (passed in shy of her $400,00 reserve at Inglis Easter) , a weanling colt from the first crop of Makybe's young sire Purrealist (pictured) and was covered by Redoute's Choice last spring.
By Tara Madgwick (Breednet)