Dance Smartly matches champions Holy Helena and Starship Jubilee
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – In perhaps the most intriguing matchup on Saturday’s Queen’s Plate undercard at Woodbine, the Canadian champions Starship Jubilee and Holy Helena will clash over 10 furlongs on turf in the $175,000 Dance Smartly Stakes.
Starship Jubilee won the Sovereign Award for champion female grass runner in each of the past two years. She dead-heated for the win in the 2017 Dance Smartly, but was a well-beaten sixth in last year’s renewal.
Starship Jubilee was freshened by trainer Kevin Attard after romping in her Jan. 19 season opener in the Sunshine Millions Filly and Mare Turf at Gulfstream. When she returned to action here May 26 in the Grade 2 Nassau, she opened up a clear lead in the stretch only to give way late to the sharp Maryland shipper Secret Message, finishing three-quarters of a length back in second.
“It was a little bittersweet,” said Attard, regarding the Nassau. “(Secret Message) looked tough on paper. I knew she’d be closing, but I had (Starship Jubilee) ready to roll. I think she ran her race, but it was hard to see her open up like that and get caught. She normally doesn’t do that.”
Holy Helena was Canada’s champion 3-year-old filly in 2017, the year she won the Queen’s Plate and Woodbine Oaks on Tapeta. Trainer Jimmy Jerkens subsequently transformed the Stronach Stable runner into a turf specialist.
Holy Helena took the Grade 3 The Very One at Gulfstream for the second year in a row in her penultimate start. She was a better-than-looked fourth most recently at Belmont in the Grade 2 New York, rallying from off slow fractions into traffic in the stretch before surging late to just miss third.
The Grade 2 Dance Smartly drew a field of eight and goes as the eighth on a 13-race card.
KEY CONTENDERS
Starship Jubilee, by Indy Wind
Last 3 Beyers: 94-95-85
◗ Attard said she has excelled in her training since the one-mile Nassau.
“She came out of her last race in great shape,” Attard said. “She had a great work last weekend. I think a mile and a quarter is about as far as she wants to go.”
Holy Helena, by Ghostzapper
Last 3 Beyers: 90-95-86
◗ Her biggest graded stakes score came in last year’s Grade 2 Sheepshead Bay at Belmont, when she defeated Lottie and Santa Monica over 1 3/8 miles.
◗ She should get the firm ground that she prefers on Saturday.
Rock my Love, by Holy Roman Emperor
Beyers: NA-NA-NA
◗ Off a nine-month layoff, the European import is making her first start on this side of the pond. She is a Group 3 winner in Germany, and her best performance was a runner-up finish in a Group 2 in France last August.