Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf: Starship Jubilee likely to go longer against girls
It looks like Starship Jubilee will be playing the long game in the Breeders’ Cup.
Though she was pre-entered in both the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Mile and the $2 million Filly and Mare Turf, trainer Kevin Attard said Wednesday that the Filly and Mare Turf “is the direction we’re heading in.”
The Filly and Mare Turf, run at 1 3/16 miles, attracted 18 pre-entrants in a race that is limited to 14 starters. Tarnawa, a two-time Group 1 winner, was pre-entered for this race and the Turf, and trainer Dermot Weld said Wednesday she is more likely to run in the Turf at 1 1/2 miles.
Mean Mary, a three-time graded stakes winner this year, also was pre-entered for the Filly and Mare Turf and the Turf. Trainer Graham Motion said he wants to compare the fields for both races before making a final decision on which race to enter. Final entries are due Monday, when post positions will be drawn.
Starship Jubilee is 5 for 6 this year, with four graded stakes wins including a victory in the Grade 1 Woodbine Mile against males. Attard said that despite some defections, the Mile looks like a potentially tougher race and he felt Starship Jubilee was competitive with Filly and Mare Turf pre-entrants Rushing Fall, Mean Mary, and Sistercharlie in the Grade 1 Diana going 1 1/8 miles at Saratoga in August.
“We’ve run against them and we weren’t disgraced by them,” Attard said. “There were only four lengths that separated us in a paceless race. All that being said and hopeful of a little more of an honest tempo up front early that gives us maybe a decent chance.”
Attard said Florent Geroux would ride Starship Jubilee in the Filly and Mare Turf.
If Tarnawa indeed opts for the Turf, the European contingent will be led by Cayenne Pepper, Audarya, and Peaceful. Cayenne Pepper won the Group 2 Blandford Stakes at The Curragh after running second to Tarnawa and Magical in group stakes at 1 1/2 miles earlier this year.
“We got it wrong,” trainer Jessica Harrington said of Cayenne Pepper. “We thought she was a mile-and-a-half filly. This year, she can only get a mile and a quarter.”
Audarya won the Group 1 Prix Jean Romanet in France and was third, beaten a length by Tarnawa, in the Group 1 Prix de l’Opera at Lonchamp. She will represent the first Breeders’ Cup starter for trainer James Fanshawe.
Peaceful, the Group 1 1000 Guineas winner, will look to give trainer Aidan O’Brien his first win in this race. O’Brien is winless in 11 runnings of the Filly and Mare Turf with 14 starters.
Group 1 Queen Anne runner-up Terebellum, Half Light, Mehdaayih, and Angel Power are all on the preference list. Half Light should get in, provided Tarnawa opts for the Turf.
Trainer Chad Brown, a four-time BC Filly and Mare Turf winner, sends out Rushing Fall, Sistercharlie – the 2018 Filly and Mare Turf winner – and My Sister Nat. He also has Nay Lady Nay, three deep on the preference list.
Other North American-based runners in the field are Civil Union, the Flower Bowl winner; Mucho Unusual, the Grade 1 Rodeo Drive winner; Harvey’s Lil Goil, the Grade 1 Queen Elizabeth II winner; and Lady Prancealot, the Grade 1 American Oaks winner of 2019 who is 0 for 5 this year.