‘A good, simple horse’ puts on a show on Kentucky Futurity Day at The Red Mile.
Trainer Greg Wright Jr. has a star on his hands, even though it hasn’t always seemed that way.
Owner-breeder Jon Erdner had to pay a $75,000 supplemental fee just to get his colt into Sunday’s 129th Kentucky Futurity at The Red Mile. That made no difference when Jujubee crossed the finish line first in the final leg of harness racing’s trotting Triple Crown.
“He’s just a good, simple horse,” Wright said.
Jujubee won the $560,000 feature race on the final day of Grand Circuit racing at the Lexington track in 1:49.3. Cuatro De Julio finished second, with Fly Light third. Jujubee paid $3.80 to win, $2.80 to place and $2.60 to show.
Leaving from Post 5, Jujubee led the field through the first quarter-mile before yielding control to Cuatro De Julio along the backside. However, driver Andrew McCarthy spent little time trailing and circled Jujubee back to the front by the half-mile point. Jujubee led the rest of the way, pulling away from Cuatro De Julio in the stretch for a dominant 5¼-length victory.
Through 21 starts, Jujubee has amassed $630,607 for Erdner, who last visited the winner’s circle at The Red Mile in 2008 when One Tough Lass won the Kentucky Filly Futurity.
Jujubee burst to prominence with an upset victory in the Muscle Hill Trot on the Hambletonian undercard at East Rutherford, N.J., on Aug. 7. Before that, the 3-year-old won the $253,000 Pennsylvania Sire Stakes, and after that the $100,000 Phil Langley Memorial at Hoosier Park before shipping to Lexington.
“He takes care of himself, and we came right from Hoosier so it’s been wonderful jogging him on this track and training him,” Wright Jr. said. “I mean, I don’t know how much better he can get. He’s done everything pretty simply.”
There was no trotting Triple Crown winner this year, as Johan Palema won the Yonkers Trot and Captain Corey captured the Hambletonian earlier this season.
McCarthy, who drove Kentucky Futurity 10th-place finisher Ahundreddollarbill to victory in the $479,135 Canadian Trotting Classic on Sept. 18, said he chose to pilot Jujubee on Sunday after driving him to the Pennsylvania Sire Stakes win.
“It was a tough call, but this horse just feels like an absolute next-level great horse to me,” McCarthy said after Sunday’s win. “That’s what I said to Greg when I came back after the (Pennsylvania) Sire Stakes final, I showed him my arm — I had goosebumps all down it — and I said, ‘There’s only one other horse that’s done that to me.’”
Wright Jr. said the choice to supplement Jujubee into the Futurity was simple for Erdner, who plans to send his colt on to the Breeders Crown, harness racing’s $6 million year-end series of 12 championship events at the Meadowlands on Oct. 29-30.
“The horse deserves a chance,” Erdner said. “He’s a great horse and I’d like to see him go as far as he can go.”
Surprise in the Kentucky Filly Futurity
Sunday’s 56th running of the Kentucky Filly Futurity at The Red Mile also delivered a supplemented champion.
Black Magic Racing and trainer Todd Luther fronted a $75,000 late fee to get Katie’s Lucky Day onto the track, and the decision paid off in the form of victory in the $351,000 race for 3-year-old filly trotters.
Katie’s Lucky Day beat even-money favorite Bella Bellini at the finish to win the 1-mile race in 1:50.4.
Katie’s Lucky Day made her Grand Circuit debut on Sept. 18 in the $327,060 Elegantimage with a third-place finish at Woodbine Mohawk Park in Canada. Prior to that start, the filly dominated on the Ohio Sires Stakes circuit but finished second in the $300,000 final to world champion Herculisa.
“Obviously I go on what my trainer and driver say, and she’s been very good; we haven’t had to race her real hard all year long,” Greg Luther of Black Magic Racing said after Sunday’s win about his decision to supplement his filly. “She raced huge up in Canada, and we’re trying to make it to the big leagues. When you got one that’s even close, you go ahead and put them in.”
Katie’s Lucky Day and driver Trevor Smith got up late to beat Hambletonian Oaks champ Bella Bellini by a nose Sunday. May Karp closed to finish third and You Ato Dream took fourth.
“By far the nicest filly I’ve ever trained,” Luther said of Katie’s Lucky Day. “She gives a hundred percent every week and she don’t do absolutely nothing wrong.”
Winning her ninth race from 18 starts this season and her 15th from 30 overall, Katie’s Lucky Day parlayed her $75,000 supplement to a $175,500 payday, pushing her career bankroll to $512,416.
Meet winners
Following the trophy presentation for the Kentucky Futurity, The Red Mile honored the Grand Circuit meet’s leading driver and trainer.
Yannick Gingras clinched the driving title with 13 wins. Ake Svanstedt was the top trainer with eight victories.