The mare Starship Jubilee outruns the boys in Woodbine Mile

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Starship Jubilee, the little mare with a big heart, beat the boys under Justin Stein in Saturday’s Grade 1 Woodbine Mile, becoming the third female winner in the race’s storied history, while earning a fees-paid berth into the Breeders’ Cup.

Admiralty Pier set quick fractions of 23.66, 46.14 and 1:09.12, while Starship Jubilee raced in mid-pack, with the favored War of Will to her outside and the unbeaten 3-year-old Shirl’s Speight to her inside.

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War of Will hit the front at the eighth pole before being overtaken by Starship Jubilee, who edged away for a one-length score over a charging March to the Arch. War of Will edged out Olympic Runner for third, a result that gave trainer Mark Casse a sweep of the second, third and fourth positions.

Starship Jubilee’s final time of 1:32.06 was just .31 of a second off Wise Dan’s course record. She returned $13.50 to win.

“Sitting inside around the five-sixteenths pole, I had tons,” Stein said. “I was waiting for a chance to tip her out and ask her to run. She’s so honest, and she wants to win more than anybody else out there. She just waited for her cue, and took off like a scalded cat. She was gone.”

Trainer Kevin Attard, who bypassed last Saturday’s Grade 2 Canadian with Starship Jubilee, gained confidence in her as she made her way down the stretch.

“When I saw her tip out and I heard [track announcer] Robert Geller call her name, I was watching with my binoculars,” Attard said. “I put them down and probably screamed as loud as I could, because I knew she had a good chance. I started to see her draw away, and the other horses weren’t making up ground. You never want to count your chickens before they hatch, but I knew she had it.”

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First money of $600,000 in the $1 million event pushed Starship Jubilee’s career earnings over $2 million. The 2019 Canadian Horse of the Year, she was claimed for a bargain $16,000 by Attard early in 2017 at Gulfstream. She was eventually sold privately to Blue Heaven Farm after going through the 2018 Keeneland November sale as not sold.

Attard said a decision on if the 7-year-old daughter of Indy Wind will run back in a Breeders’ Cup race at Keeneland in November is pending.

* Dirty Dangle won the final stakes on the Woodbine Mile card, the $135,810 Woodbine Cares, with Sheena Ryan riding for trainer Ralph Biamonte. Dirty Dangle covered five furlongs in 56.82 on the inner-turf in the sprint for 2-year-old fillies, and paid $11.30.