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‘A Good Problem To Have’: Attard Debating Between Two Breeders’ Cup Races For Starship Jubilee

Winner of five of her six starts in 2020, Starship Jubilee is preparing to make the trip south from her Woodbine base to Keeneland for the Breeders' Cup World Championships. The 7-year-old daughter of Indy Wind won the Grade 1 Woodbine Mile over males in her most recent start, and she won the Grade 1 E. P. Taylor Stakes over 1 1/4 miles in 2019, so there are several options for her on Nov. 7.

Her trainer, Kevin Attard, is still waiting to decide whether he'll enter Starship Jubilee in the Breeders' Cup Mile or the Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf, according to the Toronto Sun.

“Obviously we want to give her the best shot of performing her best and (the decision) is going to come down to trying to see who's running where,” Attard told the Sun. “We've got a decent enough idea, but when we watch the pre-entries come out it's going to be a little more clear in that sense. The good thing about my filly is, she's very versatile. She's obviously shown that she can run a mile, she's shown she can run a mile and a quarter and we're lucky enough that the Filly& Mile Turf is 1 3/16ths. And that's within her wheelhouse – a little shorter than the 1 1/4 distance, which I like. But at the same token, she ran such a big race in the Woodbine Ricoh Mile, then you have to consider running her against the boys again one more time. It's a good problem to have.”

Named the Canadian Horse of the Year in 2019, Starship Jubilee was a $16,000 claim three years ago. She has since won a dozen stakes races, including two Grade 1 races, and earned over $2 million. Her record ahead of the Breeders' Cup stands at 19-5-3 from 38 starts, and she's showing no signs of slowing down.

“You don't really expect them to be around at seven (years old),” Attard told the Sun. “It's not really the normal that we see here in racing. But the fact is, she's arguably at her best now. She enjoys what she's doing… Every time you think the chapter's done and the book might be ready to close, she's on to the next chapter. So I'm enjoying the ride and I'm going to keep going with it.”

Kevin Attard Joins TDN Writers’ Room

You’d be hard-pressed to find a more successful claim in the past decade than Blue Heaven Farm’s Starship Jubilee (Indy Wind). Plucked for $16,000 from Jorge Navarro of all people in February of 2017 at Gulfstream, the now 7-year-old mare has taken trainer Kevin Attard on the ride of a lifetime, and scored her greatest triumph yet with a victory in Saturday’s GI Woodbine Mile S., becoming a multimillionaire in the process. Wednesday, Attard joined the TDN Writers’ Room podcast presented by Keeneland as the Green Group Guest of the Week to tell he and Starship Jubilee’s rags-to-riches story.

“We were just looking for horses to bring back to Woodbine at the time,” Attard recalled of he and dad Tino Attard’s thought process back in 2017. “At Gulfstream, it’s really tough to claim, you’re always kind of shaking for horses that look legit on paper and have good form to them. So we had gotten out-shook a lot of times with a couple of claims we had put in. She had come across on form like she had some potential, had run some decent enough races, seemed like she was appreciating stretching out a bit. So we took a chance and we were lucky enough to win the shake that day. And the rest is history.”

Now with 19 wins in 38 starts and hardly any duds in her past performances, it’s clear that Starship Jubilee has something special about her. Attard tried to pinpoint what it is that makes the mare so consistent.

“She’s just a very competitive horse,” he said. “Even in the morning, she’s not an easy filly to train in the sense that when she wants to go, you have to have a good exercise rider on her. And Ricardo Pilgrim, who’s been galloping her, has done a great job with her here at Woodbine. So we’ve been fortunate with that. She’s very feisty, has a lot of sass and attitude about her, and is not a typical mare that you can just hug or cuddle up to. She’s got some fire and if you’re not on your toes, she’ll bite you. She could kick you. She’s really a handful when she wants to be, and I think that translates onto the racetrack. She just brings that attitude with her to the track. Whether it’s competing against the fillies and mares or the boys, she’s just ready to lay it down and give her best.”

Elsewhere on the show, the writers reacted to the development of the first guilty pleas stemming from March’s FBI indictments and debated the wisdom of restrictive new whip rules. Then, in the West Point Thoroughbreds news segment, they discussed Tiz the Law (Constitution) skipping the GI Preakness S. to train up to the GI Longines Breeders’ Cup Classic. Click here to watch the podcast; click here for the audio-only version.

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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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Starship Jubilee Beats the Boys in Woodbine Mile

Starship Jubilee (Indy Wind) bested the boys and earned a spot in the gate for the GI Breeders’ Cup Mile with a victory in the GI Ricoh Woodbine Mile Saturday. Settling in fourth off the rail as Admiralty Pier (English Channel) clocked an opening quarter in :23.66, pilot Justin Stein checked Starship Jubilee for a stride, but they maintained their position with War of Will (War Front) running in tandem with her through a :46.14 half-mile. Shadowing the 2019 GI Preakness S. hero’s advance towards the front approaching the far turn, Starship Jubilee split rivals to launch a four-wide bid at the top of the lane. Overtaking War of Will entering the final sixteenth, the 7-year-old mare forged clear to win by a length.

“Just an unbelievable feeling,” said Kevin Attard. “This mare doesn’t get the respect she deserves. She’s a winner of 18 or 19 races out of 38 starts, I was really disappointed to see her at 6-1 on the board… just kind of forgotten about. Time after time, she comes up and proves that she’s a top horse in North America.”

“Sitting inside the three-eighths pole, around the 5/16ths pole I had tons, and I waited for a chance to tip her out and ask her to run,” said Stein. “She’s so honest and wants to win more than anybody else out there. I watched her replays…she’s just gritty. She just waited for her cue and took off like a scalded cat. She was gone.”

Claimed for just $16,000 back in 2017, Starship Jubilee won her first Grade I in last year’s GI E.P. Taylor S. and was second next out in the GIII Cardinal S. over a yielding course at Churchill Downs in November. She opened her 2020 account with four straight victories: the Sunshine Millions F/M Turf Jan. 18, the GIII Suwannee River S. Feb. 8, the GII Hillsborough S. Mar. 7 and the GII Ballston Spa S. July 25. The FL-bred entered off a fourth in the GI Diana S. at Saratoga Aug. 23.

Pedigree Notes:

Canada’s reigning Horse of the Year, Starship Jubilee is one of eight winners from as many to race from her dam, a daughter of Grade I winner Perfect Arc. Third dam Podeica was victorious in the G1 Polla de Potrancas in her native Argentina. Also the dam of the MSP Starship Nala, Perfectly Wild is represented by the 3-year- old Allegedly Perfect (Kantharos), who captured a grass allowance two back at Gulfstream in June. Perfectly Wild was bred to Malibu Moon in each of the last two seasons.

Saturday, Woodbine
RICOH WOODBINE MILE S.-GI, C$1,000,000, Woodbine, 9-19, 3yo/up, 1mT, 1:32.06, fm.
1–STARSHIP JUBILEE, 121, m, 7, by Indy Wind
1st Dam: Perfectly Wild, by Forest Wildcat
2nd Dam: Perfect Arc, by Brown Arc
3rd Dam: Podeica (Arg), by Petronisi (GB)
($6,500 Ylg ’14 OBSAUG; $34,000 RNA 2yo ’15 OBSAPR;
$425,000 RNA 5yo ’18 KEENOV). O-Blue Heaven Farm;
B-William P. Sorren (FL); T-Kevin Attard; J-Justin Stein.
C$600,000. Lifetime Record: Horse of the Year & 3x Ch. Turf
Female-Can, 38-19-5-3, $2,093,069. *1/2 to Starship Nala
(Capo Bastone), MSP, $244,300. Werk Nick Rating: A++. Click
for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–March to the Arch, 124, g, 5, Arch–Daveron (Ger), by Black
Sam Bellamy (Ire). O-Live Oak Plantation; B-Live Oak Stud (FL);
T-Mark E. Casse. C$200,000.
3–War of Will, 126, c, 4, War Front–Visions of Clarity (Ire), by
Sadler’s Wells. ($175,000 RNA Ylg ’17 KEESEP; €250,000 2yo
’18 ARQMAY). O-Gary Barber; B-Flaxman Holdings Limited
(KY); T-Mark E. Casse. C$100,000.
Margins: 1, 3/4, HD. Odds: 5.75, 2.70, 2.10.
Also Ran: Olympic Runner, Armistice Day, Admiralty Pier, Shirl’s Speight, Value Proposition (GB).
Click for the Equibase.com chart, the TJCIS.com PPs or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO, sponsored by Fasig-Tipton.

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