Returning to Coolmore Australia this spring, Starspangledbanner has a very smart mare in France with four year-old mare Exxtra scoring a dominant win in the Group III Prix du Palais-Royal (1400m) at Longchamp on Sunday.
Trained by Carlos and Yann Lerner, Exxtra ended last year with a Group win at Chantilly and has picked up where she left off at her second run this year. She made light of the wet ground to score by a length and a half.
Purchased for just €26,000 from the Arqana Deauville October Yearling Sale, Exxtra is the best of three winners from three to race from Rolling Stone , a placed Raven’s Pass half-sister to the dam of triple US Group I winner Raging Bull.
She has the overall record of five wins and four placings from 16 starts.
Exxtra is one of 40 stakes-winners for Starspangledbanner, a champion Australian bred sprinter by Choisir that has built a global reputation as a sire. He has sired stakes-winners in eight different countries and his seven Group I winners have been successful in Australia, Hong Kong, USA, Great Britain and France.
Starspangledbanner stands at a fee of $44,000.
