Winchell Thoroughbreds and L and N Racing's Echo Zulu has won three Grade 1 races and earned an Eclipse Award for 2021 Champion 2-Year-Old Filly. The brilliant daughter of Gun Runner secured another notable accomplishment in Wednesday's Grade 2, $200,000 Honorable Miss Handicap when garnering a 112 Beyer Speed Figure – the fastest number recorded by any horse going six furlongs this year.
Trained by Hall of Famer Steve Asmussen, who also conditioned her 2017 Horse of the Year and leading third-crop sire, Echo Zulu put away multiple graded stakes winner Frank's Rockette and led through every point of call en route to a 7 1/4-length score in a swift final time of 1:08.76.
“I'm extremely proud of her race. That obviously was an impressive race and that would put a [big] number on it,” Asmussen said.
Echo Zulu's Honorable Miss conquest marked a successful return to the Spa for the 4-year-old filly. She won her debut maiden race at Saratoga in July 2021 before returning to capture the Grade 1 Spinaway going seven furlongs. The Championship-earning season concluded with Grade 1 scores in the one-mile Frizette at Belmont Park and the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies at Del Mar.
The prosperous juvenile campaign warranted Grade 1 Kentucky Oaks aspirations, which propelled Echo Zulu to a victory in the Grade 2 Fair Grounds Oaks the following March. She suffered her first loss and lone off-the-board effort when fourth in the Kentucky Oaks.
Echo Zulu entered the Honorable Miss from a win in the six-furlong Grade 3 Winning Colors on May 29 at Churchill Downs, where she stopped the clock in 1:08.99.
“I'm very happy with how she came out of the race yesterday. I'm unbelievably impressed with her and I honestly didn't expect anything less,” Asmussen said. “We got off track last year chasing the Oaks with a filly that is brilliant to a mile and obviously, we'll try to get her another Eclipse Award this year. When she goes that fast that easily, it makes you dream of a lot of things.”
While the Grade 1, $500,000 Ballerina Handicap on August 26 at Saratoga is the likely next target for Echo Zulu, neither Asmussen nor Winchell Thoroughbreds' racing manager David Fiske ruled out a future start against males.
Asmussen and Winchell also campaign fellow Gun Runner-progeny Gunite, winner of the Grade 1 Hopeful in 2021, who is currently a major force in the male sprint division and will run in Saturday's Grade 1, $350,000 Alfred G. Vanderbilt Handicap.
“It probably has everything to do with how Gunite does in the division with the common ownership,” Asmussen said. “But I'm definitely not scared to run her against anybody. We'll do whatever is best for the other horses that Winchell and L and N own.”
“She has the highest Beyer at six furlongs of anyone in the country – male or female,” Fiske added. “We'll have to see what happens as we go along.”
Winchell and Asmussen also campaign three-time graded stakes winning millionaire Wicked Halo, who also is by Gun Runner. The gray 4-year-old filly, who captured the 2021 Grade 2 Adirondack, was a last out winner of Ellis Park's Twin Bridges on July 23 and could target the Ballerina.
“The plan last week was that if Wicked Halo ran well and Echo Zulu ran well, they would both show up in the Ballerina,” Fiske said. “We'll try to keep everyone healthy and go on down the path.
“People are speculating that Echo Zulu should go to the Breeders' Cup Sprint and pass the Filly and Mare Sprint,” Fiske added. “We do have Wicked Halo, but I don't know what we would do with Gunite because he could win the sprint, too.”
Fiske, who said he was left speechless following Echo Zulu's triumph, stated that Gun Runner's progeny have hit the ground running and have maintained their form later in their careers.
“When Gun Runner's first crop came out, people were conjecturing that his foals would be better the older they got, like he was. A bunch of them came out running at two and people thought, 'Maybe we were wrong.' But it looks like they weren't wrong. As good as they are at two, they're even better at four,” Fiske said.
Asmussen reflected on Gun Runner's swift ascension to one of the most sought after stallions in North America.
“I don't know that I can put into words what Gun Runner means for the breed, for a horse to break the records in his first crop,” Asmussen said. “Winning the Hopeful and the Spinaway in his first crop is hard to imagine, but it happened. For them to be going 1:08 and change every time you lead them over at four after they won all the Grade 1s at Saratoga, not only is it a level of ability that is rare to be seen, but it's a durability that this sport desperately needs.”
The post ‘Not Scared To Run Her Against Anybody’: Asmussen Considering Start Against Males For Echo Zulu appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.
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