Racing: Fortune rejected so Starcraft can race

By PAUL GUEORGIEFF

An offer of A$12 million ($13 million) for star Australian galloper Starcraft has been turned down.

Paul Makin, from the Gold Coast in Queensland, said the offer came from an Australian stud but he was not interested in parting with the horse for his racing career.

"I said I don't want to do it," Makin told the NZPA last night.

Starcraft stunned racegoers last Saturday with his breathtaking performance to run down Miss Potential to win the group one $200,000 weight-for-age Mudgway Partsworld Stakes (1400m) at Hastings.

It was his first start for four months and he is now the favourite with the New Zealand TAB to win his primary spring targets. They are the $1 million Kelt Capital Stakes (2040m) at Hastings on October 2 and the A$3 million ($3.2 million) Cox Plate (2040m) at Moonee Valley in Melbourne on October 23.

Makin said he was not interested in selling Starcraft outright but would entertain a partnership for the stallion's future stud career.

"I want to keep him, but if a stud wants to make an offer for a share in him, I'm always interested in that."

Makin said he would want Starcraft to be based in Australia or New Zealand for his stud career and in the off-season could be sent to the Northern Hemisphere for the breeding season there.

But he stressed these were just thoughts as a stud career was at least a year or more away.

"He will stand at stud in Australia or New Zealand at some stage of his life but I just haven't applied any thought to it," he said.

But it is with a stud career in mind that Makin has plans for Starcraft to race in the Northern Hemisphere.

"That's why I'm taking him north, because I want him to be a genuine shuttle horse from this end to up there."

If the horse continued his great form, races in Hong Kong, the United Arab Emirates and England were on the agenda.

Starcraft had already been invited to the Hong Kong international meeting on December 12.

The horse could later head to the United Arab Emirates for the world's richest race, the Dubai World Cup (2000m). This year the race carried a stake of US$6 million ($9.2 million).

The Dubai World Cup is run in March and Starcraft could then move onto England, where Makin has his eye on the July Cup at Newmarket.

The distance of the July Cup is six furlongs (about 1200m), which does not deter Makin even though Starcraft has not won at a distance less than 1400m.

The July Cup was one of five group one wins for Soviet Star, Starcraft's sire. "It's a very stiff 1200m," Makin said. "It's run on a straight course and is a great test."

He said Starcraft's proposed international campaign might sound ambitious but it only seemed logical to him for the high regard in which he held the horse.

The A$12 million offer for Starcraft was made after his win in the A$2 million AJC Derby (2400m) in Sydney in April and Makin said the rejection had resulted in no further bids being made.

Starcraft was bred in New Zealand by Waikato Stud and was sold to Makin at the National Yearling Sales in Auckland for $80,000.

Last Saturday's win earned a stake of $117,500 which added to the A$1.8 million he had already won in Australia. He now has a record of 13 starts for eight wins, two seconds and a third. The eights wins have come at his last nine starts.

- NZPA