Starship Jubilee Rolls To 19th Career Victory In ‘Win And You’re In’ Woodbine Mile

Winning for the 19th time in 38 career starts and taking her second Grade 1 stakes for trainer Kevin Attard, Blue Heaven Farm's 7-year-old mare Starship Jubilee proved too good for her seven male rivals, winning Saturday's CAN$1-million Ricoh Woodbine Mile at Woodbine racetrack in Ontario, Canada.

Perfectly ridden by Justin Stein, the Florida-bred daughter of Indy Wind out of Perfectly Wild, by Forest Wildcat, came from just off the pace to win by one length, covering one mile on firm turf in 1:32.06 and running her final quarter mile in 22.62 seconds.

March to the Arch finished second, with his Mark Casse stablemate, 2-1 favorite War of Will, third. They were followed across the finish by a third Casse entry, Olympic Runner, then by Armistice Day, Admiralty Pier, Shirl's Speight and Value Proposition in the field of eight.

Starship Jubilee, Canada's reigning Horse of the Year and Sovereign Award-winning turf female the last three years, paid $13.50 as the fourth choice in the betting.

The Ricoh Woodbine Mile is a Breeders' Cup Win and You're In Challenge Series race for the Fanduel Breeders' Cup Mile, to be run Nov. 7 at Keeneland. The win gives Starship Jubilee an automatic fees-paid berth in the race, along with $10,000 toward travel expenses.

Riding the mare for the first time, Stein – atop the Woodbine jockey standings in a tight race with Rafael Hernandez – allowed Starship Jubilee to settle just a few lengths off the pace set by Admiralty Pier through an opening quarter mile in :23.66 and a half in :46.14. Chad Brown-trained Value Proposition was lapped on Admiralty Pier, prompting the pace throughout.

With 3-year-old Shirl's Speight to his inside and 2-1 favorite War of Will to his outside, Stein waited patiently for a seam to open at the top of the long Woodbine stretch after six furlongs in 1:09.12. He allowed Starship Jubilee to drift to the outside and the mare kicked into high gear, overtaking the front runners to win convincingly.

Claimed by Kevin Attard's father, Tino Attard, for just $16,000 from trainer Jorge Navarro at Gulfstream Park in February 2017 in her ninth start, Starship Jubilee won five consecutive races for her new connections, including the G2 Nassau Stakes at G2 Dance Smartly Stakes in 2017. Starship Jubilee added two stakes victories in 2018, including the G2 Canadian Stakes, and won three more in 2019, highlighted by her first G1 in the E.P. Taylor Stakes going 1 1/4 miles at Woodbine.

Starship Jubilee won her first four starts this year, including the G3 Suwannee River Stakes at Gulfstream Park, the G2 Hillsborough Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs and the G2 Ballston Spa Stakes at Saratoga before finishing fourth behind Rushing Fall in the G1 Diana Stakes at Saratoga on Aug. 23 in her most recent start.

She won CAN$600,000 for the Woodbine Mile victory and has now surpassed $2 million in career earnings.

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Forster Looking At Salvator Mile As Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile ‘Win And You’re In’ For Pirate’s Punch

Whatever reservations trainer Grant Forster had about shipping Pirate's Punch from Kentucky to Monmouth Park for the second time in a little more than four weeks disappeared when he put the speedy 4-old gelding back on the work tab.

Disqualified from first place in the Grade 3 Philip H. Iselin Stakes for interference on Aug. 22 at the Oceanport, N.J., track,  Pirate's Punch has maintained the form that saw him cross the finish line a 1 1/2-length winner that day.

So Forster will try again, this time in Sunday's $150,000 Grade 3 Salvator Mile that headlines Monmouth Park's 14-race card, and he will do so with an eye on the future: the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile.

“We were looking for any reason not to come back but he just would not give us any reason not to do it,” said Forster. “He has been absolutely fantastic every day since he has been back in Kentucky after the Iselin and he has answered every question we gave him.

“He deserves the chance to go back and do it again.”

But there's a little more to it this time, Forster conceded.

“We're looking at this race as kind of our win and you're in for the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile,” he said.

Forster, who took over the training of Pirate's Punch from Jeff Mullins last summer, is still looking to add a graded stakes win to Kentucky-bred's credentials. He thought he had one in the Iselin in what was essentially a two-horse race between Pirate's Punch and Warrior's Charge, with Pirate's Punch disqualified from first for interference in the stretch.

“What can you do? That's sports,” said Forster. “Calls go against you in every sport in every country in the world. We were ecstatic with how our horse ran and we felt like we had the best horse that day. So we're back to try to do it again on Sunday.”

A son of Shanghai Bobby, Pirate's Punch shows a 4-3-4 line for 16 career starts, with earnings of $242,751. His appearance at Monmouth Park in the Iselin marked the 10th different track he has raced at over his career and the ninth time in his past 10 starts that he was trying a mile and a sixteenth.

He will be shortening up to a mile for only the third time in his career.

“I think a mile, a mile and a sixteenth, a mile and an eighth … I don't think there is any real specialty to him per se,” said Forster.

The eight-horse Salvator Mile field, he said, “is more well-rounded than the Iselin field was.”

“In the Iselin, Warrior's Charge was the most accomplished horse in the race,” he said. “You look at this field and see a horse like Bal Harbour and I am more worried about him this time than I was in the Iselin. It's his third time off the layoff. There's Top Line Growth, who ran a big number off a layoff. We'll see if he's ready to build off of that or if he will regress.

“With (Grade 1 winner) Valid Point (trying dirt for the first time in his career) you don't know if they're experimenting or if they feel this will move him up. I don't know. He's a hard read.”

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Alda Seeks BC Berth in Natalma

Wertheimer and Frere homebred Alda (Munnings) will attempt to keep her hot streak going and secure a post in the gate for the GI Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf Sunday in Woodbine’s GI Natalma S. A second-out graduate at Belmont July 9, the Graham Motion trainee captured the Catch a Glimpse S. going 6 1/2 panels on the local lawn Aug. 23. Finishing second that day was Dreaming of Drew (Speightster), who romped by six lengths in her main track graduation here July 18.

Jimmy Toner ships one in who certainly has the pedigree of a Grade I winner in Seasons (Tapit), daughter of Winter Memories, who won seven graded events, two of which were Grade Is. Seasons won her debut going two turns at Saratoga Aug. 9.

Another debut winner jumping up the class ladder here is Charles Fipke homebred Lady Speightspeare (Speightstown), who donned cap and gown by 3 3/4 lengths in a seven-panel event on the Woodbine lawn Aug. 22. Big Big Plans (Point of Entry) also enters off a first-out graduation, winning by six lengths in a $25,000 maiden optional claimer on the aynthetic Aug. 20.

Completing the field are a pair of maidens in Sleek Lynx (GB) (War Front) and Stunning Princess (Cairo Prince). Trained by Mark Casse, Sleek Lynx finished a half-length second as the favorite in a one-mile turf event at Gulfstream July 23. Danny Gargan pupil Stunning Princess was runner-up in a pair of 1 1/16-mile tests on the Saratoga lawn July 23 and Aug. 19. The bay receives Lasix for the first time in this “Win and You’re In” event.

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TAA Named Official Aftercare Partner of 2020 Breeders’ Cup

The Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance (TAA) has been named the official aftercare partner of the 2020 Breeders' Cup World Championships Nov. 6-7 at Keeneland. The TAA is also an official charity of the Breeders' Cup.

The TAA fundraises to award annual grants to accredited Thoroughbred aftercare nonprofits. At this year's Breeders' Cup, the TAA is asking connections of Breeders' Cup entrants to pledge a percentage of their potential Breeders' Cup earnings to the TAA. Those interested in making a pledge can contact the TAA office at info@thoroughbredaftercare.org, 859-224-2756 or by visiting ThoroughbredAftercare.org/Pledge.

“It is our privilege to see Thoroughbreds at their finest moments in the Breeders' Cup World Championships and it is this industry's collective responsibility to see to their aftercare when the celebrations are over,” said Dora Delgado, TAA board member and executive vice president and chief racing officer at Breeders' Cup. “As a proud founding member and supporter of the TAA's mission and vision, we partner with them in their work and dedication to Thoroughbred aftercare.”

During the World Championships, the TAA will present the Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance Stakes (G2), formerly the Marathon Stakes. In addition, the TAA has partnered with TVG to be a part of the TVG Breeders' Cup Juvenile presented by the Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance (G1), the feature race on Future Stars Friday Nov. 6.

As a seed money donor, the Breeders' Cup has been a supporter of the TAA since its inception, along with Keeneland and The Jockey Club.

“While this year's event may be different, we are honored to be a partner of the Breeders' Cup and we are grateful for their ongoing support,” TAA President John Phillips said. “Aftercare is our responsibility to the horse and our obligation to the sport. We encourage those who are racing at the highest level in the World Championships to give back to secure a future for our horses and for our industry.”

Learn more here.

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