Back in action after a 2021 award-winning campaign, reigning U.S. Trotter of the Year Jujubee made his seasonal qualifying debut a winning one on Wednesday morning (April 13) at Spring Garden Ranch in Florida.
Driven by Mike Wilder, Jujubee fronted a quartet of trotters through an evenly rated half in 1:00.2 before kicking it up a notch through three-quarters in 1:28 and opening up a three-length lead en route to a 1:56.1 qualifying win over four-year-old gelding Speed Away. Three-year-old trotting filly Rose Run Xcentric finished 17 lengths in arrears, with King Kenny rounding out the order.
A winner of 14 of his 18 sophomore starts and nearly $1 million, Jujubee is trained by Greg Wright for owner/breeder Jon Erdner. The four-year-old son of Creatine was a Pennsylvania Sire Stakes champion at three and boasts major stakes wins in the Breeders Crown, Kentucky Futurity and Phil Langley Memorial.
Among the morning's dozen qualifying winners was the Breeders Crown elimination winner, three-year-old trotting colt Testing Testing, who opened the session in reign to Jeff Gregory with a 2:00.4 mile (:28.2 final quarter) over a pair of fellow George Ducharme stablemates.