Starship Jubilee makes bid for division leadership in Diana
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – In her last trip south of the border, the Canadian-based mare Starship Jubilee upset the champion Sistercharlie in the Grade 2 Ballston Spa Stakes at Saratoga. In her next trip south of the border, Starship Jubilee will again meet Sistercharlie as well as her five-time Grade 1-winning stablemate Rushing Fall in Sunday’s Grade 1, $500,000 Diana Stakes at the Spa.
Sistercharlie and Rushing Fall are both trained by Chad Brown, who has won the Diana four consecutive years.
“You know when you have a turf filly you can’t avoid Chad Brown,” Kevin Attard, the trainer of Starship Jubilee, said Thursday by phone from Canada. “They seem to get better and better as you get through them.”
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Starship Jubilee has gotten better and better as she’s gone along. Not only has she won all four of her starts this year, but she has won six of her last seven dating back to last September. That includes a victory in the Grade 1 E.P. Taylor at Woodbine. She was considered for the Grade 2 Dance Smartly last Saturday, but Attard felt it was too quick back from Starship Jubilee’s victory in the Ballston Spa. That and a chance to establish herself as the top older female turf horse in training with a Diana victory were incentives to come back to Saratoga.
“Definitely. She’s had a great campaign so far,” Attard said. “If we can keep that record intact it’s that much extra special. At the end of the day, we’re trying to do what’s right by her. This race best suited her. My filly’s best suited for a mile and an eighth.”
Starship Jubilee is 4 for 6 at 1 1/8 miles, including a victory in the Grade 2 Canadian in 2018 in which she beat the Brown-trained New Money Honey and earned a career-best Beyer Speed Figure of 104.
Javier Castellano rode Starship Jubilee in the Ballston Spa. He is committed to ride Rushing Fall on Sunday, so Jose Ortiz rides Starship Jubilee.
In addition to the Brown-trained duo, Starship Jubilee will take on Mean Mary, who has won four consecutive races including the Grade 2 New York Stakes on June 27 at Belmont. Call Me Love, second to Starship Jubilee in the Ballston Spa, rounds out the field.
The Diana offers a fees-paid berth into the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf, to be run Nov. 7 at Keeneland.