Starship Jubilee Defends Canadian Stakes Title

Starship Jubilee ran uncontested from start to finish Sept. 14 in the CA$253,500 (US$190,759) Canadian Stakes Presented by the Japan Racing Association (G2T), defending her title in the 1 1/8-mile turf race at Woodbine in dominant fashion.

The 6-year-old Indy Wind mare drew off to win by an even bigger margin this year. In 2018, she won by 3 1/4 lengths under jockey Luis Contreras. This season, with Contreras back aboard, Starship Jubilee galloped home 4 1/4 lengths clear.

Trainer Kevin Attard said he knew Starship Jubilee could adjust her running style depending on the way the race set up.

"On paper, it didn't seem like there was any pace," he said. "We've been trying to rate her, and we've sent her sometimes a little bit further than she wants to go, so I just told Luis in the paddock, 'There's not much pace in here. If she breaks running, just kind of let it be and slow her down, but if someone wants the lead, just let them have it.'

"He did a great job. She broke sharp, he got her to relax pretty well, and she was uncontested from start to finish."

Attard saw his faith rewarded in the bay mare, who races for Bonnie Baskin and her son Adam Corndorf's Blue Heaven Farm. Starship Jubilee came off a third in the Woodford Reserve Ballston Spa Stakes (G2T) going 1 1/16 miles at Saratoga Race Course and held her own against an international cast of characters after setting fractions of :24.64, :49.09, 1:11.79, and 1:34.01. Off at odds of 2-1, she finished in 1:45.84 on turf rated yielding.

Magnetic Charm was second, with Competitionofideas a nose back in third. 

"I have faith in her, no doubt about it, but whenever you have ship-ins coming from all parts of the world, you never know how that form's going to hold up, and you wonder what kind of caliber of horses they're coming with," the trainer said. "All I could say was, my horse was in good shape, she came out of the Ballston Spa in good order, and she's been working well in the interim. She's been sharp and eating well, so I figured she had a big performance in her today."

Starship Jubilee improved her record to 13-4-3 from 30 starts, with earnings of US$865,670. Bred in Florida by William P. Sorren out of the Forest Wildcat mare Perfectly Wild, she was a $425,000 RNA in her last trip through the auction ring at the 2018 Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale.

Attard said he'll review options with the owners for the mare, who followed her Canadian victory in 2018 with a fourth in the 1 1/4-mile E.P. Taylor Stakes (G1T), also at Woodbine.

"It's tough to say (what her next target will be)," he said. "Obviously, the E.P. Taylor comes up here at a mile and a quarter, but that's a little bit farther than what she wants to do. But we'll nominate for that and kind of take it from there."

Yorkton Returns to Winning Ways

Chiefswood Stable's homebred Yorkton hadn't won a race in five tries since his 2018 score in the Bold Venture Stakes (G3). But the 5-year-old son of Speightstown  caught multiple breaks in his return to the 6 1/2-furlong test, most significantly when 2017 Canadian Horse of the Year Pink Lloyd broke through the gate, got away slowly, and was declared a non-starter after the race.

"He hit his head on the gate, and he opened the door first," jockey Eurico Rosa da Silva said of Pink Lloyd, who ran on to finish fourth but was disqualified to seventh. "He's all right. He finished well, but it took all our focus off the race."

Meanwhile, 7-5 choice Yorkton went directly to the lead under Patrick Husbands and cut opening fractions of :21.68, :44.29, and 1:08.63. The Stuart Simon trainee did well to hold off the closing run of Ikerrin Road by a neck, finishing in 1:14.96 on the fast all-weather track.

Curlin's Honor was third, three-quarters of a length back.

According to Chiefswood manager Rob Landry, getting grade 2-placed Yorkton to relax on the front end is always key. Yorkton came off a sixth in the June 29 Highlander Stakes (G1T) at six furlongs over the Woodbine lawn, where he gave way grudgingly at the eighth pole after showing the way early. He was later found to have grabbed a quarter.

"He had some things go wrong all the way along earlier this year," Simon said. "He grabbed a quarter really bad in his last race, and, talking it over with the guys, we wanted to totally regroup and start over, kind of, with him. The horse has just been training out of this world. He's just in good order. He's a nice horse when he's right."

"He's always shown us he's a really nice horse," Landry said. "He's naturally fast, he has a lot of natural speed, and the key is to try and get him to relax. He'll give you that finish if you can get him to relax, but he's been going out hard in a lot of his races and just not relaxing. Patrick did a great job on him. Obviously, Stuart did a great job getting him there. Even though he was on the lead, he was doing it comfortable enough. I was a little worried when I saw the first quarter in :21 and change, but we know this horse shows some ability, and he was able to put it together today and we're happy about that.

"We've had a lot of high hopes for this horse. Unfortunately, things haven't always worked out for him. He's had little foot issues that have stalled some of our training with him. Obviously, we think a lot of him. I think when this horse is good, he's at least a grade 2 horse. Hopefully this gets him back on track and gets him going in the right direction."

Landry said the versatile Yorkton, who has also won on turf, could eye a sprint on the grass on the Oct. 12 undercard for the Pattison Canadian International Stakes (G1T) at Woodbine or a stakes on the all-weather track there later in the year. 

Yorkton was bred in Ontario out of the A.P. Indy mare Sunday Affair, who foaled a Curlin  filly May 9 and was not bred for 2020. He improved his record to 7-2-2 from 24 starts, with his share of the CAN$141,500 purse boosting his earnings to US$498,090.

Video: Bold Venture S. (G3)

Video: Canadian S. Presented by the Japan Racing Association (G2T)