Tom Pedulla presents five takeaways from the $1 million TVG.com Haskell Stakes on Saturday at Monmouth Park and other major developments this weekend.
Tag: Racing
Express Train Back on Track for San Diego Handicap Victory
Express Train, consistently in the top flight on the dirt, repelled challenges from both inside and outside to score in the $251,500 San Diego Handicap at Del Mar July 17.
Impressive Juvenile Winner Echo Zulu Earns 92 Beyer At Saratoga
L and N Racing and Winchell Thoroughbreds' Echo Zulu asserted herself as a rising star with a 5 ½-length debut triumph in a maiden special weight on Opening Day at Saratoga for Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen.
The 2-year-old daughter of leading freshman stallion and 2017 Horse of the Year Gun Runner, who also was trained by Asmussen and owned by Winchell, tracked mutuel favorite Lady Scarlet from second, taking the lead in upper stretch and powering home impressively to register a 92 Beyer for the 5 1/2-furlong contest.
David Fiske, bloodstock and racing advisor to co-owner Ron Winchell, said that both the 6 1/2-furlong Grade 2, $200,000 Adirondack on Aug. 8 or the seven-furlong Grade 1, $300,000 Spinaway on Sept. 5 could be in play for Echo Zulu.
“I can imagine she'll run back in a stake somewhere,” Fiske said. “Whether that's the Adirondack or the Spinaway, it just depends on how she trains and how she comes out of this.”
Echo Zulu, a half-sister to Grade 1-winner Echo Town and graded stakes winner J Boys Echo, gave her sire an eighth winner in his first crop. Five of his eight winners are owned by Winchell.
“The assessment on most of the Gun Runners is that they don't have a lot of early gate speed, but they will keep running,” Fiske said. “Everyone has been excited that distance will be where they really start to excel. The performance yesterday was good. She left the gate running, going around the turn laying second. All the other Gun Runners we've had don't have a lot of quit in them. To open up by five and run such a high Beyer was just icing on the cake.”
Asmussen, a three-time winner of the Adirondack, teamed up with Ron Winchell to capture the 2015 edition with Just Wicked.
Echo Zulu, a $300,000 purchase from the Betz Thoroughbreds consignment at the 2020 Keeneland September Yearling Sale, is out of black type producer and graded stakes winner Letgomyecho.
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‘Improving 3-Year-Old’ Masqueparade Works Toward Jim Dandy
FTGGG Racing's graded stakes-winner Masqueparade breezed a half-mile in 49.23 seconds over Saratoga's fast main track Friday in preparation for the Grade 2, $600,000 Jim Dandy on July 31 at the Spa, a race in which he'll likely face Belmont Stakes winner Essential Quality.
The Al Stall, Jr.,-trained son of second crop sire Upstart has made a gradual climb up the ladder since being elevated to first via disqualification from his fourth career start on March 20 at Fair Grounds.
Masqueparade followed with an 11 ¾-length optional-claiming win going nine furlongs at Churchill Downs before defeating graded stakes winners King Fury, Keepmeinind and Promise Keeper in the nine-furlong Grade 3 Ohio Derby on June 26 at Thistledown.
“He's an improving 3-year-old mentally, physically and figure wise and that's why we're taking our chance in a race like the Jim Dandy,” Stall, Jr. said. “He's easy on himself. He won't grab the bit and go down there in 47 and change and gallop out in a minute, which is good at this point in time. It might help his longevity.”
Stall, Jr. said he had considered the Grade 1 Haskell Invitational on July 17 at Monmouth Park and the Grade 2 West Virginia Derby on 7 at Mountaineer, but decided the Jim Dandy provided the best opportunity.
“I think with natural selection they'll sort themselves out,” Stall, Jr. said of the 3-year-old crop. “There's plenty to choose from. The Haskell will tell us a lot, the Jim Dandy will tell us a lot, West Virginia might tell us something moving forward. The Haskell came up too close, but honestly, we just want to give this horse a chance to improve. He keeps on moving forward, so he belongs in this group.”
A $180,000 purchase from the 2019 Keeneland September Yearling Sale, where he was consigned by Taylor Made Sales Agency, Masqueparade is out of the Any Given Saturday mare Cry War Eagle. She has a 2020 colt by Collected and a 2021 filly by Cairo Prince.
Jockey Miguel Mena, who has piloted Masqueparade in all six of his lifetime starts, will retain the mount for the Jim Dandy.
Stall, Jr. added that Bal Mar Equine's Dalika is possible for the Grade 2, $250,000 Glens Falls on Aug. 7 at Saratoga.
The gray or roan German-bred mare earned her first graded stakes triumph last out in the Grade 3 Robert G. Dick Memorial on July 10 at Delaware Park. She will return to the Spa after recording stakes efforts the past two seasons, finishing second in the Riskaverse in 2019 and fifth in the Caress last year.
“She's kind of hard to ride against because if you have a horse lengths ahead of you, it takes so much to catch up to her,” Stall, Jr. said. “She got overaggressive in the Caress and she'll do that. She's the type of horse that you cannot fight her. You've got to let her do her thing. That's why Miguel [Mena] fits her so well. We don't send her one inch, she just trains that way.”
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