Blue Heaven Farm’s reigning Canadian Horse of the Year Starship Jubilee maintained her winning form, denying 2018 Champion Turf Female Sistercharlie a triumph off a layoff in the 32nd running of the Grade 2, $200,000 Ballston Spa going 1 1/16 miles over the inner turf course on Saturday at Saratoga Race Course.
Trained at Woodbine by Kevin Attard, Starship Jubilee broke awkwardly out of the gate under Hall of Fame jockey Javier Castellano from post 5 and appeared a bit rank passing the grandstand while second to the outside of Call Me Love.
“The horse broke sideways and my [right] foot hit the door,” Castellano said. “It was painful. With the pain, I tried to rate the horse and I think I grabbed a little too much. It looked like the horse was keen, but she wasn’t.”
Heading into the first turn, North Broadway controlled the pace leading by 5 ½ lengths through an opening quarter mile in 24.29 seconds and extended her advantage to 10 lengths through a half in 48.18 over a firm turf course.
Starship Jubilee settled in third, just a length ahead of seven-time Grade 1-winning champion Sistercharlie. Approaching the far turn, Starship Jubilee was in an all-out drive under Castellano and took command from North Broadway at the top of the stretch with Call Me Love to her inside in second. The two battled through the final furlong with Sistercharlie flattening in third, but Starship Jubilee came out on top in a final time of 1:41.76, defeating Call Me Love by a neck. Sistercharlie finished another 1 ¼ lengths in third.
Her Beyer Figure was 98.
“She is quite the mare,” said Attard. “A true competitor in every sense of the word. She loves to win and gives it her best each and every time.”
Castellano has piloted her to four of her stakes wins.
“I had to fight her a little bit. She’s such a great horse; to beat Sistercharlie, she’s one of the best fillies in the country,” said Castellano, who previously guided Dacita (2015) and Salve Germania (2009) to Ballston Spa victories. “I think we were in the right time and the right place to beat her today. I give all the credit to my horse.
“Finally, I decided to be a little more patient and relax the horse. The way the race developed was phenomenal,” Castellano continued. “I like the way she did it. We had to take on a number one horse in the country like Sistercharlie. I think it was the right time today and the right place to beat her, not to take anything from my horse. I’m very satisfied with the way she did it today.”
Attard watched the Ballston Spa from his home base at Woodbine in Ontario and was unable to attend Saturday’s race to do restrictions concerning the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I thought Castellano rode her perfectly,” Attard said. “[North Broadway] opened up and did the job they intended her to do and set the pace up for Sistercharlie. Going into the turn, Sistercharlie was flanking us the whole way and had dead aim on us. Coming around the turn to the quarter pole, I could see Johnny V start to go to work and she didn’t look like she was picking up the bit yet and I thought if we could just stay ahead of her, at this point, we might be able to get the advantage. The favorite didn’t kick in and the one horse [Call Me Love] kept battling back. It looked like we were safe and home, but the one wouldn’t lay down and made it a good fight to the finish.”
Starship Jubilee was saddled by Hall of Famer Shug McGaughey.
“Shug and his crew did an incredible job helping me out,” Attard said. “Considering the situation with COVID this year, it was hard not to be able to send somebody with your own horse. But I was in great hands and that made the whole experience easier to handle. I’m looking forward to getting her home and evaluating what to do next.”
Unbeaten in four starts this year, Starship Jubilee, who returned $8.20 for a $2 win bet, enhanced her record to 36-18-5-while scoring an eighth graded stakes victory in the Ballston Spa and increased her lifetime earnings to $1,608,667. She was claimed for a frugal $16,000 in January 2017.
“I kept saying to the TV, ‘give me a little more, mama,’ and she did. She pinned her ears back and kept that horse at bay,” Attard said. “She’s just a special horse. She’s 7 and a lot of horses as they get older lose a step or two, but arguably, this horse has gotten better as she’s gotten older. She has the will and desire to win and I’ll probably never come across another horse as good as her.”
Bred in Florida by William P. Sorren, Starship Jubilee is by Indy Wind and is out of the unraced Forest Wildcat broodmare Perfectly Wild, whose dam was four-time graded stakes winner Perfect Arc.
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