Attard between two hard spots

When it comes to the Breeders’ Cup, Kevin Attard is torn.

The trainer of the terrific 7-year-old mare Starship Jubilee is trying to decide whether to run her in the $2 million Filly and Mare Turf at 1 3/16 miles or the $2 million Mile, where she would meet mostly males.

Starship Jubilee is coming off a win against males in the Woodbine Mile. She is 5 for 7 at a mile, though four of those wins came in 2017 against mostly lesser quality opposition. Starship Jubilee has never run 1 3/16 miles, but she has twice won at 1 1/4 miles, including last year’s Grade 1 E.P. Taylor at the beginning of a 13-month run during in which she has won 7 of 9 starts.

“I think a mile and threesixteenths is within her wheelhouse,” Attard said earlier this week. “It’s tough. Obviously, facing the males is a little bit more of a challenge, though the setup may help her more in that sense. It’s not that clear-cut right now. Still a lot of pondering going on.”

Attard said he has been pleased with how Starship Jubilee has acted and trained since the Woodbine Mile. Last Saturday, she breezed a half-mile in 48 seconds over Woodbine’s training track, the fastest of 20 breezes at the distance that morning.

“So far, everything is going good, it’s just a matter of figuring which might be the easier of the two, if there is an easier of the two,” Attard said. “After [Sunday], I was leaning toward the Filly and Mare, but I’m still trying to decipher it.”

If she were to run in the Filly and Mare Turf, it would set up a showdown with Rushing Fall for the female turf championship. Rushing Fall is 3 for 3 this year with a pair of Grade 1 victories, including the Diana, where Starship Jubilee finished fourth, her lone loss in six starts in 2020.

Part of Attard’s decision could hinge on what the European contingent looks like for both races. Trainer Aidan O’Brien has yet to decide who, if anybody, he may run in the Filly and Mare Turf. He did tell Racing TV in Europe that Love, a three-time Group 1-winning 3-year-old, would not be coming to the U.S. for the Breeders’ Cup. Magical, also a threetime Group 1 winner this year, is facing males again in the Champion Stakes at Ascot on Saturday. She could be considered for the BC Turf – a race in which she finished second to Enable in 2018 – or the Filly and Mare Turf.

Tarnawa, a two-time Group 1 winner for trainer Dermot Weld, is also being considered for the Filly and Mare Turf and the Turf.

Stateside, the Filly and Mare Turf picked up a confirmed starter in Civil Union, who ran her win streak to four with a victory in the Grade 1 Flower Bowl last Saturday at Belmont. Trainer Chad Brown said Flower Bowl runner-up My Sister Nat is “50-50” to join her half-sister Sister charlie in the Filly and Mare Turf. Brown also trains Rushing Fall.

Richard Baltas said that Bodhicitta, the Grade 2 Yellow Ribbon winner, would not run in the Filly and Mare Turf but Lady Prancealot, winless in five starts this year, will run. She was most recently third to Mucho Unusual, who is on schedule to run in the Filly and Mare Turf as is Diana runnerup Mean Mary.