Hillsborough Stakes heroine Starship Jubilee 'better with age'

Starship Jubilee, the favorite in Saturday's Grade 2, $225,000 Hillsborough Stakes for older fillies and mares, continued her perfect season on the Tampa Bay Downs turf.

The Florida-bred withstood a strong stretch challenge from Chad Brown-trained Beautiful Lover to post a 1 ¼-length victory in 1:47.83 for the mile-and-an-eighth. Kelsey’s Cross finished third and Magic Star was fourth in the 11-horse field.

The 7-year-old Starship Jubilee, a Grade 1 winner owned by Blue Heaven Farm and trained by Kevin Attard, improved to 17-for-35 lifetime with three straight victories to begin 2020. The $145,000 winner’s share of the purse raised her earnings to $1,498,667.

Hall of Fame jockey Javier Castellano was aboard for the victory.

“She’s such a classy horse,” Castellano said. “This is the type of horse you can do whatever you want. You can dictate the pace or you can come from behind. I enjoyed the ride and I’m very fortunate to be part of it. It looks like she is getting better and better and better.”

Attard, the son of training legend Tino Attard, who was also here, agreed.

“She’s getting better with age, just like a fine wine, a woman coming into herself,” Kevin Attard said. “She’s 7 but she’s been healthy, and I think it’s great for the sport when you see an older horse like her staying around and running at a top level.

“She has a strong following; every time she wins I get messages from everywhere and it’s just nice to see people appreciate what she brings each time she runs. She’s been a real Cinderella story and has exceeded expectations, obviously.”

Tino Attard claimed Starship Jubilee for $16,000 at Gulfstream in 2017.