May, 2023 | Horse Racing Free Tips

Star Shopping Gives Trainer Troy Robb First Career Victory At Pimlico

Been Robbed Racing's Star Shopping, a 4-year-old gelding making his 22nd start, got his nose down on the wire to edge Bourbon Ready in Monday's Memorial Day holiday finale at historic Pimlico Race Course and give trainer Troy Robb his first career win.

Star Shopping ($5.20), favored at 8-5 in the claiming event for 3-year-olds and up, covered five furlongs on a firm turf course in :57.63 under jockey Horacio Karamanos. It was Karamanos' second win of the day, following Air Token ($3.60) in Race 7.

“It's awesome,” Robb said. “It feels like I did something right.”

Robb is the 37-year-old nephew of Laurel Park-based trainer John 'Jerry' Robb. Monday was the younger Robb's seventh lifetime start and fifth this year, all courtesy of Star Shopping, who had one second and four thirds in six tries since launching Robb's career Nov. 20, 2022 at Laurel.

“That's my whole stable, right there,” Robb said. “I run Mary Eppler's barn and I just have that horse. She let me have that one horse in her barn. I'm thankful to her for letting me do that and try to get started.”

Star Shopping, a son of Midnight Storm, was exiting a pair of tough beats, losing by a neck when second in a Feb. 25 claimer on the dirt at Laurel before returning to be third by 1¼ lengths following a troubled trip May 11 over the Pimlico turf.

“They were touting him pretty good,” Robb said of Star Shopping. “They had a breakdown of his last race when he got stuck down behind horses and they showed that, so I think that's why everybody jumped on him. He got in a little bit of trouble last time.”

In addition to working for Eppler, who is based at Pimlico, Robb spent time under his uncle and his father, Larry Robb, who gave him his introduction to horses.

“My dad got me started when I was a kid, maybe 12 or 13, at Upper Marlboro. He had a couple horses there. During the summer I used to help him, and I always liked working with horses,” Robb said. “I moved on to work for my uncle for about 10, 15 years and now I'm working for Mary. Me and my cousin Donald, Jerry's son, just wanted to try our luck. That's pretty much it. We've worked with horses our whole lives and been in the business since we were kids. We're just trying to see if we could get lucky, and we did today.”

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Echo Zulu Draws Off In Front-Running Winning Colors Romp In 2023 Bow

Echo Zulu , the champion 2-year-old filly of 2021 and multiple Grade 1 winner, made her 4-year-old return a winning one with a dazzling 5¾-length front-running score over Fire On Time in Monday's 20th running of the $225,000 Winning Colors (G3) at Churchill Downs.

Florent Geroux rode Echo Zulu to victory for Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen and owners L and N Racing LLC (Lee Levinson) and Winchell Thoroughbreds LLC (Ron Winchell) while zipping six furlongs in 1:08.99.

Echo Zulu, who hadn't raced since finishing second to Goodnight Olive in the Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint (GI) last November at Keeneland, broke fastest of all in the compact field of five fillies and mares but was aggressively pressed from the outside by Fire On Time for the first half-mile after swift early quarter-mile fractions of :21.75 and :44.62.

At the head of the stretch, Geroux urged Echo Zulu for more and she responded by quickly opening up an insurmountable lead on the way to her sixth career graded stakes win.

The victory was worth $139,000 and boosted Echo Zulu's earnings to $2,255,375 from a record of 7-1-0 in nine starts.

Echo Zulu was the odds-on 1-5 favorite and returned $2.62 for the win. Fire On Time finished one length clear of third-place finisher Last Leaf.

Spirit Wind finished fourth and was followed by Marissa's Lady. Scarlet Stripe was scratched.

Echo Zulu is a daughter of Gun Runner out of the Menifee mare Letgomyecho and was bred in Kentucky by Betz/J.Betz/Burns/CHNNHK/Magers/CoCo Quine/Ramsby.

The Winning Colors is named in honor of Eugene Klein's Winning Colors, the most recent filly to have won the Kentucky Derby (G1) when she beat the boys in the 114th running of the Run for the Roses in 1988 for the Hall of Fame team of trainer D. Wayne Lukas and jockey Gary Stevens.

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Echo Zulu Much The Best In Winning Colors

No stranger to layoffs, champion 2-year-old filly and 'TDN Rising Star' Echo Zulu (Gun Runner) made her first start of 2023 a winning one with a runaway score in Churchill's GIII Winning Colors S. On the sidelines since a game second to 2022 champion female sprinter Goodnight Olive (Ghostzapper) in the GI Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint, she returned to the races in this six-furlong sprint–the shortest distance she's ever raced–without missing a beat, looking every bit the 3-10 favorite.

Sharp from an outside gate, Echo Zulu went out in the search of the early lead but had to contend with an equally speedy Fire On Time (Not This Time) on her outer flank. The pair quickly separated themselves from the rest of the field while working through quick early fractions of :21.75 and :44.62. Neither mare giving an inch around the far turn, Echo Zulu found herself briefly on the back foot as Fire On Time stuck a head in front with a quarter-mile to run. But Echo Zulu responded in kind to a shake of the reins from Florent Geroux, drew alongside her rival, and went on right on past, contesting the final furlong alone and hitting the wire clear by daylight while geared down.

“I'm very grateful for the owners of this very talented filly [L and N Racing and Winchell Thoroughbreds] and [trainer] Steve Asmussen,” said the winning jockey. “She broke really well today and took herself right to the front. We had some pressure on her outside but she was traveling very comfortably the entire race.”

Pedigree Notes:

Part of the wildly successful first crop of Breeders' Cup champion and Horse of the Year Gun Runner, Echo Zulu is a daughter of GII Stonerside Forward Gal winner Letgomyecho, the dam of no fewer than eight other winners including GISW 'TDN Rising Star' and sire Echo Town (Speightstown), GSW J Boys Echo (Mineshaft), and GSP Unbridled Outlaw (Unbridled's Song). Letgomyecho herself is a half-sister to the dams of GIII Ohio Derby victor Dean Martini (Cairo Prince), GSW Western Smoke (Smoke Glacken) and GISP One Lucky Dane (Lookin At Lucky). Echo Zulu's youngest sibling, the now 3-year-old Doing Justice (American Pharoah), brought a final bid of $1.4 million from Northshore Bloodstock at the 2021 Keeneland September Sale.

Monday, Churchill Downs
WINNING COLORS S.-GIII, $223,250, Churchill Downs, 5-29, 4yo/up, f/m, 6f, 1:08.99, ft.
1–ECHO ZULU, 118, f, 4, by Gun Runner
1st Dam: Letgomyecho (GSW, $136,200), by Menifee
2nd Dam: Echo Echo Echo, by Eastern Echo
3rd Dam: Kashie West, by Sir Ivor
($300,000 Ylg '20 KEESEP). 'TDN Rising Star'. O-L and N Racing LLC and Winchell Thoroughbreds LLC; B-Betz/J. Betz/Burns/ CHNNHK/Magers/CoCo Equine/Ramsby (KY); T-Steven M. Asmussen; J-Florent Geroux. $139,000. Lifetime Record: Ch. 2yo Filly, MGISW, 9-7-1-0, $2,255,375. *1/2 to Unbridled Outlaw (Unbridled's Song), GSP, $253,478; J Boys Echo (Mineshaft), GSW, $377,543; and Echo Town (Speightstown), GISW, $410,020. Werk Nick Rating: A+++. *Triple Plus*. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree or free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–Fire On Time, 118, m, 5, Not This Time–Sapphire Spitfire, by Awesome Again. ($95,000 Wlg '18 KEENOV). O-Albaugh Family Stables LLC; B-Jorge S. Wagner (KY); T-Dale L. Romans. $45,000.
3–Last Leaf, 118, f, 4, Not This Time–My Miss Kallie, by Paddy O'Prado. ($7,000 Wlg '19 KEENOV; $10,000 Ylg '20 OBSWIN; $23,500 Ylg '20 OBSOCT). O-Monarch Stables, Inc.; B-Khalid Mishref Alkahtani (KY); T-Eddie Kenneally. $22,500.
Margins: 5 3/4, 1, HD. Odds: 0.31, 7.62, 7.55.
Also Ran: Spirit Wind, Marissa's Lady. Scratched: Scarlet Stripe.
Click for the Equibase.com chart or the TJCIS.com PPs. VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.

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Bango To Seek Third Aristides Victory In Attempt Tie Churchill’s All-Time Wins Record

Tamaroak Partners' 10-time local winner Bango will attempt to tie the all-time wins mark at Churchill Downs in Saturday's 35th running of the $225,000 Aristides Stakes (Listed) while facing off against two of the top sprinters in North America – Jun Park and Delia Nash's Sibelius and Winchell Thoroughbreds' Gunite.

The Aristides Stakes, which will go as Race 6 of 11, has a post time of 3:18 p.m. (ET). Dubbed as “Stephen Foster Preview Day,” the Aristides is one of six stakes events on the program. The others are the $225,000 Arlington Stakes (G3), $225,000 Blame Stakes (G3), $225,000 Regret Stakes (G3), $225,000 Shawnee (G3) and $225,000 Audubon (Listed). First post is 12:45 p.m.

Bango, trained by Greg Foley, has won the last two editions of the Aristides. The speedy homebred son of Congrats enters the Aristides following a five-length score in the St. Matthews Stakes May 4 at Churchill. If Bango prevails in the Aristides, he'd tie Ready's Rocket for the all-time win leader at Churchill Downs. Hall of Famer John Velazquez will have the call from post No. 4.

Sibelius is slated to make his return to North American racing following his victory in the Dubai Golden Shaheen (G1) on March 25. Trained by Jeremiah O'Dwyer, Sibelius defeated fellow Aristides rival Gunite in the Dubai Golden Shaheen by a half-length. The 5-year-old gelded son of Not This Time has won seven races in his 19-race campaign. In last year's Bet On Sunshine Stakes at Churchill Downs, Sibelius was defeated three-quarters of a length to Bango. Junior Alvarado will have the mount from the rail.

Grade 2winner Gunite has been regularly preparing for the Aristides at Churchill Downs. The well-traveled son of Gun Runner began his 4-year-old stand with a victory in the King Cotton Stakes at Oaklawn prior to his runner-up effort in the Riyadh Dirt Sprint (G3) in Saudi Arabia and his narrow third-place effort in the Dubai Golden Shaheen. Gunite will be piloted by Tyler Gaffalione from post 3.

Here is the complete field for the Aristides from the rail out (with jockey and trainer): Sibelius (Alvarado, O'Dwyer); Tejano Twist (Chris Landeros, Chris Hartman); Gunite (Gaffalione, Asmussen); Bango (Velazquez, Foley); and Strava (Luis Saez, Dallas Stewart).

The Aristides Stakes will be run one month in advance of the $225,000 Kelly's Landing (Listed) on the July 1 Stephen Foster Day at Churchill Downs.

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