International Group 1 winner Starspangledbanner has been retired and will stand his first season at Coolmore Stud in Ireland in 2011.

Starspangledbanner (Choisir) was a G1 winner of the Caulfield Guineas and Oakleigh Plate in Australia and travelled to England this year to take the G1 Golden Jubilee Stakes at Royal Ascot and G1 July Cup at Newmarket.

He bowed out of racing with a second in the G1 Nunthorpe Stakes and a fifth in the G1 Haydock Sprint Cup.

“Starspangledbanner is an incredible horse – the fastest we’ve ever had here,” Ballydoyle trainer Aidan O’Brien claimed. “ It was a great pleasure to have him.”

His performances captured the imagination of bloodstock experts including leading analyst Tony Morris.  “The 2010 versions of Britain’s two top sprints were up the highest standards of recent years,” Morris wrote in Racing Post UK after the July Cup.  “The latest Aussie flying machine lived up to all the accolades bestowed on him.”

Starspangledbanner retires to stud the winner of seven races and $2.60 million in prizemoney.