Blue Heaven Farm’s multiple graded stakes winner Starship Jubilee was made the 6-5 morning line favorite for the $175,000 Cardinal (Grade III), a 1 1/8-mile turf test at Churchill Downs coming up Thursday.
The co-feature on the 12-race Thanksgiving Day card, along with the $300,000 Falls City (GII), is slated as Race 11 with a post time of 4:22 p.m. (all times Eastern). The first post gets underway at a special time of 11:30 a.m.
Starship Jubilee (31-14-4-3 / $1,138,487) is a top contender for Canadian Horse of the Year honours following a stellar 2019 campaign that included a one-length score in the $600,000 E.P. Taylor (GI) at Woodbine. Trained by Kevin Attard, Starship Jubilee was claimed for $16,000 in 2017 at Gulfstream Park. The 6-year-old mare by Indy Wind is searching for her first victory outside of Woodbine and Gulfstream Park. Luis Contreras has the call on Starship Jubilee from post position No. 11.
Starship Jubilee may be the slight leader for Canadian Horse of the Year honours (voting begins in the first week of January) based on her Grade 1 win plus the Grade 2 Canadian and the Sunshine Millions Mare Turf in January. She was also 2nd or third in three Grade 2’s including the Ballston Spa at Saratoga.
Pink Lloyd’s Grade 2 Kennedy Road was his sixth win in 6 races that counted this year (he was declared a non-starter from the Bold Venture Stakes). He also won the Grade 3 Jacques Cartier and Vigil Stakes. All of his wins came at Woodbine.
El Tormenta won the Grade 1 Woodbine Mile as well as the Grade 2 Connaught Cup and he was sixth beaten just over four lengths in the Breeders’ Cup Mile (G1) at Santa Anita.
The Daily Racing Form Past Performances for three current candidates:
~ with files from Churchill Downs
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