The beautifully-bred Justin Snaith trained Acrostar is a serious broodmare in the making and could make a welcome return to winning today.
Acrostar has a devastating turn of foot
Snaith fancies his runner and with the going tagged as ‘good to soft’ and with more showers forecast during the day, the stage is well set.Racing in the famous Plattner silks, she was a $340,000 Inglis Easter purchase for James Bester Bloodstock from the Coolmore draft.
The stakes winning Acrostar is from the last crop of the pensioned 23 year old champion sire and multiple champion 2yo sire, Danehill Dancer, who retired from stud duties earlier this year.
The son of Danehill’s fertility had been declining steadily over the past number of years.
Danehill Dancer was Irish-bred and British-trained and won two Gr1 races in 1995 and later became a leading sire in Great Britain, Ireland and Australia.
He was trained by Neville Callaghan and owned by Michael Tabor.
Danehill Dancer
As a two-year-old, Danehill Dancer won the Phoenix Stakes and National Stakes, before finishing second in the Dewhurst Stakes on his last start of the season.
As a three-year-old he won the Greenham Stakes before finishing sixth in the 2000 Guineas, and then followed a sprinting campaign, which included a third place in the Prix Maurice de Gheest.
He remained in training as a four-year-old, but only raced once, finishing seventh in the Duke of York Stakes.
He is considered the best sire son of Danehill and his Gr1 winners include Dancing Rain, Planteur, Lillie Langtry, Choisir, Mastercraftsman, Alfred Nobel, Ave, Again, Speciosa, Miss Beatrix, Where Or When, Alexander Tango etc
Danehill Dancer was Champion Sire in Britain and Ireland in 2009 and Champion Sire of 2-Year-Olds on three occasions.
His best sons were undoubtedly Mastercraftsman and Choisir who have both carved out their own successful stud careers.
Acrostar was the first winner of the Iglesia mare Nova Star the winner of the $500,000 Gr1 Queensland Breeders Winter Stakes run over 1400m.
She won a total of 7 races from 1000m to a mile.
Nova Star’s sire, the outstanding young Last Tycoon stallion Iglesia (ex Yodells, by Marscay) was euthanised in 2006 at the age of just 11.
Iglesia was Queensland’s Champion First Season Sire in 2004-05 and he had made a rapid impact on the Australian breeding scene.
A half-brother to dual Gr1 winner Yippyio, Iglesia was the most expensive stallion standing in Queensland that season, with his fee set at $22,000.
