Meadowlands: Four supplement to Breeders Crown

The connections of two of the top sophomore trotters in their division -- Jujubee and Katie's Lucky Day -- as well as recent Scandinavian import Ecurie D (DK) and mare pacer Racine Bell have supplemented to their respective Breeders Crown events at the Meadowlands Racetrack, East Rutherford, NJ on Oct. 30.

A $62,500 supplemental fee is permitted in 3-year-old and open races. For mares the amount is $31,250. There are no supplements permitted in the 2-year-old events.

Eliminations, if needed, for all 3-year-old and older events will race on Saturday AFTERNOON, Oct. 23 with a post time of 12:00 noon. [EDT]

Jujubee, a 3-year-old colt trotter owned and bred by Jon Erdner and trained by Greg Wright Jr., has not lost a race since June, with a slate of 16-13-2-0. Jujubee made his presence felt on the national stage, winning the Muscle Hill on Hambletonian day in 1:49 4/5. The son of 2015 Breeders Crown champion Creatine was not Hambletonian eligible and the race allows no supplements, but Jujubee was able to take the supplemental route in third leg of trotting's Triple Crown, the Kentucky Futurity, lowering his mark to 1:49 3/5.

Jujubee was also a $75,000 supplement to the Kentucky Futurity, but trainer Greg Wright Jr. had a wellspring of confidence in his colt to draw from.

"I was pretty confident in supplementing [to the Crown] after he won the Futurity- the biggest challenge there was the post draw, but once he won the way he did . . . I had even more confidence in going ahead then." said Wright.

"There was a start back in a sire stake in May when he actually got beat- In Range caught him at the wire- but he came a back half in 53 4/5 or so and ever since that day that speed has been there whenever you needed it."

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Katie's Lucky Day, owned by Greg Luther's Black Magic Racing and trained by Todd Luther, also shone at the Red Mile, winning the Kentucky Futurity Filly division as a supplemental entry.

"Obviously winning the Filly Futurity down there she showed she can go with some of the better ones," said Greg Luther. "And I've never had a horse in the Breeders Crown. I'm excited to give it a shot for the big money. I've already booked flights for 23 or 24 people, we're bringing everybody."

The connections of Ecurie D (DK) planned a fall racing campaign in the U.S. as owners Marko Kreivi Stables Inc and Suleyman Yuksel Stables Inc added trainer/driver Ake Svanstedt to the group after making the son of globetrotting stallion Infinitif eligible to several of the fall stakes for open trotters. A Breeder Crown supplement was necessary for Ecurie D, though, and after his eye-opening 1:50 4/5 score in the Allerage Trot at the Red Mile in his first U.S. pari-mutuel start, the decision got much easier.

"He has been racing very good in Sweden and all of Europe since he was 3 and the owner wanted to try something new. They knew he's good on big mile tracks like this, so that was the main goal to put him here," Sarah Svanstedt when interviewed by Dave Brower after the Allerage performance.

Ecurie D hopes to follow in the hoof prints of other European stars, like 2019 Crown Trot winner Bold Eagle (FR), 2014 Crown Trot winner Commander Crowe (SW), 2007 winner Equinox Bi (p1) and 2001 winner Varenne (IT) who all added a Crown title to their resumes.

Racine Bell, a 4-year-old daughter of So Surreal owned by Chris Lawton and Dale Lawton took her lifetime mark of 1:48 1/5 at The Meadowlands in a June leg of the Kissin In The Sand, besting Rocknificent and current division leader Lyons Sentinel.

"She wasn't quite up to par there and then we found out a thing or two about her, and she's been really good since," said trainer Dave Dewhurst. "Last week she was really good and Jason [Bartlett, her regular driver] said we should put here in there, so we said OK. I've had no other place to race her other than Yonkers, I keep entering her and no one will take her."

Regular entries for eligible trotters and pacers are due by 9:00 a.m. Tuesday, Oct. 19, at the Meadowlands race office.

Eliminations for the 3-year-old and up divisions, if necessary, will be held on Saturday, Oct. 23, also on a day card with a noon post time. All Eliminations will race for a minimum of $25,000. If Eliminations are needed, post positions in the Final will be determined by an open draw, with the exception that Elimination winners in an order determined by lot, will draw for post positions number one (#1) through five (#5) in the final. All other finalists will be placed in an open draw for the remaining post positions. Any horse(s) that receive a bye into the Final will be in the open draw for post positions in the Final. All horses that start in the Final receive money.

For more information go to http://www.hambletonian.com or playmeadowlands.com.

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