Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies winner and undefeated 2021 Champion 2-Year-Old Filly Echo Zulu will not be pushed in her training just to make it to the Kentucky Oaks on May 6, Winchell Thoroughbreds racing manager David Fiske told bloodhorse.com.
The daughter of Gun Runner has had five works since her return to training, the latest a five furlong move in 1:00.80 at Fair Grounds, and could return in the Fair Grounds Oaks (G2) on March 26 if trainer Steve Asmussen believes the filly is ready.
If not, Fiske said, Echo Zulu won't be pushed to make the fillies' classic.
“If she makes the Kentucky Oaks great, but we're not going to take her out of her comfort zone just to make the Oaks,” Fiske told bloodhorse.com. “There are a lot of grade 1 races out there and she's already a champion. If she makes the Fair Grounds Oaks I'd say there's a pretty good chance she'd be looking at the Kentucky Oaks.”
Winner of the G1 Spinaway, G1 Frizette, and the G1 Breeders' Cup, Echo Zulu has won her four starts by a combined 22 lengths. Out of the Grade 2-winning Menifee mare Letgomyecho, the filly was a $300,000 yearling purchase at the Keeneland September sale.
Meanwhile, the Winchell-owned Epicenter also breezed on Monday for his next engagement in the G2 Louisiana Derby on March 26. The 3-year-old son of Not This Time blazed five furlongs in a bullet 59.60 seconds at the Fair Grounds, a move Fiske said “looked almost effortless.”
I know it's early for some of you, but it is Monday.#EchoZulu (outside) working 5/8 in 100.4 (or there about) @fairgroundsnola pic.twitter.com/B2FhqtNHAp
— DJFiske (@DJFiske) March 7, 2022
Read more at bloodhorse.com.
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