Tag: L & N Racing

Champion Echo Zulu Euthanized Following Stall Accident

L and N Racing and Winchell Thoroughbreds' Eclipse Award-winning 'TDN Rising Star' Echo Zulu (Gun Runner–Letgomyecho, by Menifee), was euthanized Sunday at the Chino Valley Equine Hospital in Southern California. Daily Racing Form was first to report the news. Trainer Steve Asmussen told the Form's Steve Andersen that the filly became cast in her stall and injured herself when trying to get back on her feet.

“She was beyond special. My condolences to all who loved her,” Asmussen told the Form.

David Fiske, who has served as the racing and farm manager for Winchell Thoroughbreds for 44 years, told TDN via phone on Monday what he knew about the Feb. 18 accident, his voice at times cracking with emotion.

“What I was told–since I wasn't there, I don't have firsthand knowledge–is that she got cast in her stall [Sunday] evening and broke her leg above the plate that had been inserted, and [worsened the injury] trying to get up. There was no real option other than euthanasia.”

Bred in Kentucky by Betz/J. Betz/Burns/CHNNHK/Magers/CoCo Equine/Ramsby, Echo Zulu was hammered down to Winchell Thoroughbreds for $300,000 from the Betz Thoroughbreds consignment at the 2020 Keeneland September Sale. A highly impressive debut winner at Saratoga in July 2021, Echo Zulu took the GI Spinaway S. and GI Frizette S. by open lengths and locked up the Eclipse Award with a dominating 5 1/4-length success in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies at Del Mar.

 

 

Kept around two turns for the first half of her sophomore season, the bay wired the GII Fair Grounds Oaks, but didn't see out the nine-furlong trip of the GI Kentucky Oaks and finished a close third. Returned to sprint trips for the rest of the season–and her career–she posted a towering victory in the GIII Dogwood S. that September and ran Goodnight Olive (Ghostzapper) to 2 1/2 lengths when runner-up in the GI Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint.

Kept in training at four, Echo Zulu took out the GIII Winning Colors S. with a then career-best 97 Beyer Speed Figure, but she upped her game further still, romping by 7 1/4 lengths in Saratoga's GII Honorable Miss H. in July before overpowering Goodnight Olive in the GI Ballerina H. She earned 112 Beyers for both efforts. She was training towards a start in the Breeders' Cup when she suffered fractured sesamoids in an October workout, underwent surgery and had remained at the clinic since.

In the estimation of 70 voters, Echo Zulu was the top filly and mare sprinter of 2023, but Goodnight Olive secured 142 first-place votes after defending her Filly & Mare Sprint title at Santa Anita and took home the statuette for the second straight year.

Up until the stall accident, Fiske said Echo Zulu's post-surgery recovery had been progressing on an optimistic arc.

“It had been going really well,” he said. “Steve [Asmussen] and I had been talking about her on Saturday morning, how she was getting very close to being able to travel. We kind of saw on the horizon her getting to a point where she could walk onto an airplane and come back to Lexington. So she was very close.”

Fiske added that the reality of Echo Zulu's passing still hasn't sunk in for him or those directly involved in her care.

“Even though I knew about the situation [Sunday] evening, and had anticipated having to deal with these questions and text messages and whatever else today, even with the lead time, I still don't have the vocabulary to adequately express what she meant to us and what she meant to our program,” he said.

In a social media posting on the X platform, Michael Levinson, the racing manager and a partner of L & N Racing, wrote: “Extremely sad and upset about the passing of Echo Zulu, she was a true champion and will forever be in our hearts at L & N Racing. Rest in peace champ.”

Added Ron Winchell: “It's devastating and beyond sad for our team. This happened at a point when we were just starting to feel good about her recovery. She is absolutely irreplaceable.”

A half-sister to fellow 'Rising Star' Echo Town (Speightstown) and GSW J Boys Echo (Mineshaft), Echo Zulu posted a record of 9-1-0 from 11 starts and amassed earnings of $2,640,375.

–Additional reporting by T.D. Thornton

 

The post Champion Echo Zulu Euthanized Following Stall Accident appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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Grade 1 Winner Echo Town Retired To Ashford Stud

Grade 1 H. Allen Jerkens Stakes winner Echo Town has been retired from racing and will stand at a fee of $10,000.

“We are delighted that Echo Town will be coming to Ashford,” said Ashford's director of sales Charlie O'Connor. “He's a very good-looking horse and Speightstown is making an impression as a sire of sires. As one of the best sprinters of his generation we think Echo Town offers a similar profile to our own Munnings who continues to go from strength to strength.”

Echo Town broke his maiden at the first time of asking at Fair Grounds for Steve Asmussen earning TDN Rising Star Status in the process. Two more convincing wins followed at Oaklawn Park and Churchill Downs before he ran second to No Parole in the Woody Stephens in his first start against Grade 1 company. Next time out in the G1 H. Allen Jerkens Stakes at Saratoga, he turned the tables on his Woody Stephens rival in no uncertain fashion drawing off to a 3 1/2-length score.

“We are extremely excited for Echo Town to stand at Coolmore America,” said co-owner Michael Levinson of L&N Racing. “He has been a star on the racetrack, and we're confident Coolmore will give him every opportunity to succeed as a stallion, we look forward to seeing his foals hit the ground in 2022.”

A son of the G2 Forward Gal Stakes winner Letgomyecho, Echo Town is a half-brother to J Boys Echo, victorious in the G3 Gotham Stakes and to Grade 3-placed juvenile Unbridled Outlaw.

Echo Town is already at Ashford and available for inspection by appointment.

The post Grade 1 Winner Echo Town Retired To Ashford Stud appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Kentucky Derby Runner-Up Lookin At Lee Retired; Stud Plans Pending

Lookin at Lee, the runner-up behind Always Dreaming in the 2017 Kentucky Derby, has been retired from racing with plans to stand him in a regional market, owner Michael Levinson confirmed Wednesday on social media.

The 6-year-old son of Lookin at Lucky finished his on-track career with four wins in 35 starts for earnings of $1,343,188. He raced for owner L & N Racing and trainer Steve Asmussen.

As a 2-year-old, he won the Ellis Park Juvenile Stakes, then rolled off a pair of runner-up efforts in the Grade 3 Iroquois Stakes and G1 Breeders' Futurity before finishing fourth in the 2016 Breeders' Cup Juvenile at Santa Anita. He punched his ticket to the 2017 Derby with third-place finishes in the G3 Southwest Stakes and G1 Arkansas Derby before running second in the Derby at odds of 33-1 – a feat made even more impressive by the fact that he broke from the dreaded inside post.

The remainder of Lookin at Lee's 3-year-old campaign included a fourth in the Preakness Stakes and a seventh in the Belmont Stakes, and the rest of his season was highlighted by a third in the G3 West Virginia Derby.

Lookin at Lee continued to be a road warrior in his 4-year-old season and beyond, notching a win in Downs At Albuquerque Handicap and a Churchill Downs allowance optional claiming race to go along with stakes places at Sunland Park and Sunray Park.

Bred in Kentucky by Ray Hanson, Lookin at Lee is out of the Grade 3-placed stakes-winning Langfuhr mare Langara Lass, making him a half-brother to multiple Grade 3 winner Blended Citizen and Grade 1-placed stakes winner Battlefield Angel. The latter is herself the dam of Grade 1-placed Manny Wah.

The post Kentucky Derby Runner-Up Lookin At Lee Retired; Stud Plans Pending appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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