THE love affair between the Gaffney brothers, Tom and Michael, and Starspangledbanner (Choisir) has finally yielded what it has always promised, a Group 1 winner. Senorita Bonita slammed the opposition to win the Sumbe Prix Morny at Deauville by four lengths, and she has provided a most timely update for her yearling half-sister by Modern Games (Dubawi) who will surely be one of the stars in Book 1 of the Goffs Orby Sale.

Incredibly, Senorita Bonita did not find favour with buyers on the first two occasions she went to the sales, failing to sell at 75,000gns both as a foal and a yearling. Tom and Michael did not lose faith in her. Instead they sent her to Mark Flannery at Egmont Stud when she returned from Book 2 and she was prepared for this year’s Tattersalls Craven Breeze Up Sale. After posting a good time, she went on to top the sale at 900,000gns (almost €1.1 million), selling to Anthony Stroud.

Victorious Forever

The agent signed in the name of Stroud Coleman Bloodstock, as he bought her for Victorious Forever, the racing name for Bahraini royal brothers, Shaikh Nasser bin Hamed Al Khalifa and Shaikh Khalid. Stroud pointed out that the latter picked the filly out himself, adding that she fitted their criteria, vetted perfectly, and her subsequent performances have certainly justified the decision to purchase. Not surprisingly, Mark Flannery said she had been the most straightforward of fillies to deal with.

Michael Gaffney revealed more about Senorita Bonita’s background on Monday. He and his wife Anne had just landed back in Ireland after going to France to see the filly run. He was blown away by Senorita Bonita’s performance, and he takes up the story.

“We bought the grandam Amazing Krisken (Kris S) from some Italians, and sent her to Ruler Of The World as we wanted to get a three-parts sister to her Galileo sisters, and his half-brother Duke Of Marmalade (Danehill) has been very good as a broodmare sire to us at Churchtown. Belicious didn’t race and we decided to cover her as a three-year-old. We will keep her Sioux Nation (Scat Daddy) foal to sell next year, and she is in foal to Camille Pissarro (Wootton Bassett). Belicious is definitely going back to Starspangledbanner next year – no two ways about it.” Quelle surprise!

Unbelievably good

He added: “Starspangledbanner has been unbelievably good to us. Senorita Bonita’s half-sister going to Goffs is very like her in that everything comes easy to her. You do something once with them and that’s it. We were surprised that we couldn’t sell Senorita Bonita, especially as a yearling. At the breeze up she clocked a great time and had a phenomenal stride pattern.”

In summary, Senorita Bonita is the first foal from the unraced Belicious, an unraced daughter of Ruler Of The World (Galileo). She has two stakes-winning siblings, both by Galileo (Sadler’s Wells). Sub Rose won the Group 3 Prix de Royaumont and bred two group winners, the best of them being Subway Dancer (Shamardal) who was a Group 2 winner and placed in the Group 1 Champion Stakes. The other stakes-winning sibling to Belicious, Astonishing, bred the 2025 Italian Group 3 juvenile winner Dr Omran (Palace Pier).

Senorita Bonita’s third dam Magic Gleam (Danzig) was born 40 years ago. This half-sister to a Group 1 winner in South Africa was trained by Alec Scott for Sheikh Maktoum Al Maktoum, and won the Group 2 Child Stakes at Newmarket’s July meeting in 1989. That was her first run after being beaten by Golden Opinion in the Group 1 Coronation Stakes at Royal Ascot.

What a difference a head makes

IT was by a head that Starspangledbanner’s daughter Spicy Marg was beaten by Venetian Sun in the Group 1 Commonwealth Cup at Royal Ascot, thus denying her sire a fifth Group or Grade 1 winner in 2026. What a red-letter year it has been for the Castlehyde-based sire, and one of those in whose care he has been is Senorita Bonita’s breeder Tom Gaffney.

Starspangledbanner was one of the racing stars in the summer of 2010. He ran five times for Aidan O’Brien, winning the Group 1 Golden Jubilee Stakes and Group 1 July Cup before chasing Sole Power home in the Group 1 Nunthorpe Stakes. He had been a dual Group 1 star in Australia, taking the Caulfield Guineas over a mile and the Oakleigh Plate over five and a half furlongs. Being a Group 1 winner from the family of Elvstroem (Danehill) and Haradasun (Fusaichi Pegasus), he was bound to be a popular addition to the Coolmore stallion roster.

However, Starspangledbanner’s fertility was such an issue that he returned to training in the summer of 2012. That was not a success, and he was retired from racing. Thankfully he was not gelded, as his small first crop contained the Group 1 Prix Morny and Group 2 Coventry Stakes winner The Wow Signal (died at the age of six, and a Group 1 sire from two small crops), dual Group 1-placed and Group 2 Queen Mary Stakes heroine Anthem Alexander, and the Group 3 Sceptre Stakes winner Spangled.

Starspangledbanner’s fertility improved considerably over time. It would appear that he is getting better with age, having turned 20 this year, and he has sired more than 100 stakes performers, and 63 blacktype winners. More than a quarter of his pattern winners have won at the highest level, done so around the world, and his son State Of Rest has made a good start with his runners this season.

Worthwhile move

After his return to Ireland, Starspangledbanner demonstrated that the move was worthwhile, as he quickly got the Jessica Harrington-trained Group 1 Cheveley Park Stakes heroine Millisle, the European champion two-year-old filly of 2019. The Grade 1 American Oaks winner Rhea Moon was in the same crop.

Foaled in 2018 were State Of Rest (four top-level wins in four countries), California Spangle, a three-time Group 1 winner, and the Group 1 Prix Jean Romanet winner Aristia.

Interestingly, his southern hemisphere crops have yielded just a single Group 1 winner. His son Puchkine, winner of the Group 1 Prix Jean Prat, has his first foals on the ground, and covered more than 200 mares in his first two season at stud in France.

Fast forward to the 2023 crop, and what a group that is, with seven members being group winners at two. Precise takes pride of place among that cohort with four Group 1 wins, two each in her first two seasons racing. She and her paternal half-brother Gstaad are both classic winners, while Kensington Lane travelled to the USA and captured the Grade 1 Belmont Oaks this year. Starspangledbanner’s story, and that of his rise from the ashes, is far from over.