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Echo Zulu Returns To The Spa In Honorable Miss

The GII Honorable Miss H. at Saratoga is named after the highly-successful multiple stakes-winning mare from the 1970s. Owned by Edith Bancroft's sons who carried on the family tradition established by their grandfather, William Woodward Sr., the pair founded Pen-Y-Bryn Farm after their own mother's passing.

With only four entered, this year's edition is highlighted by the Saratoga return of '21 champion 2-year-old filly and MGISW Echo Zulu (Gun Runner). The Steve Asmussen trainee won her juvenile debut at the Spa when she soared to become a 'TDN Rising Star' and followed that up with a 4-length win in the GI Spinaway S.

Second last fall in the GI Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint between Eclipse champion female sprinter Goodnight Olive (Ghostzapper) and stablemate MGSW &MGISP Wicked Halo (Gun Runner), who just won the Twin Bridges S. at Ellis Park on Sunday, Echo Zulu started her 4-year-old campaign by recording a 5 3/4 length victory in the GIII Winning Colors S. May 29 at Churchill Downs.

Facing her, will be MGISP Frank's Rockette (Into Mischief) from Bill Mott's shedrow. The 6-year-old mare (27-12-9-3) comes back to Saratoga riding a three-race win streak, which includes two Grade III victories at Gulfstream Park. Rounding out the field are a pair of runners who were beaten last time out by Goodnight Olive. Maryquitecontrary (First Dude), who has won six of eight career races, ran second to her in the GI Madison S. in April at Keeneland for new trainer Shug McGaughey, while Dr B (Liam's Map), trained by Butch Reid, was fourth behind her in the GII Bed o' Roses S. June 17 at Belmont Park.

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Record Purses for ’23 Zia Park Meet

Purses for the upcoming race meet at Zia Park will be the richest in the track's 24 years, with overnight purses expected to average $360,000 per day for the 30-day mixed Thoroughbred and Quarter Horse meet.

“With the realignment of the 2023 New Mexico racing calendar, this is a tremendous opportunity to showcase New Mexico horse racing,” said Christopher McErlean, Vice President of Racing for PENN Entertainment, parent company of Zia Park. “There will be racing opportunities for all categories–New Mexico-breds and open horses, wide ranges of allowance classes and plenty of spots for different claiming levels–and the purses will be unlike anything seen in this region of the country. If horsemen don't have Zia Park on their radar yet, they should take notice and make plans to participate.”

Maiden special weight races at the meet will have a $45,000 base purse, with New Mexico-bred exclusive races offering a $55,000 purse. Open allowance categories will range from $52,500 up to $65,000, while New Mexico-bred allowance races will get an added $12,000 per race. Claiming race purses will range from $24,000 to $46,500 (plus $7,000 to $8,000 added for New Mexico-bred races), with claiming categories from $7,500 to $25,000.

The 2023 Zia Park stakes schedule will be highlighted by back-to-back-to-back million-dollar stakes days. Seven New Mexico-bred stake races totaling over $1.2 million in purses will be in the spotlight Nov. 26. The day is headed by the $350,000 (est.) New Mexico Classic Cup Futurity and the $225,000 (est.) New Mexico Classic Cup Derby.

On Nov. 27, New Mexico-bred Thoroughbreds will face off in eight New Mexico Classic Cup championship races worth over $1.2 million, including the $200,000 Peppers Pride S. for older fillies and mares going one mile and the $200,000 Rocky Gulch S. for older male horses going one mile and seventy yards.

The trifecta of million-dollar stakes days concludes Nov. 28 with the Land of Enchantment Stakes Day featuring seven stakes worth over $1.1 million, including the $300,000 Zia Park Derby and the $300,000 Zia Park Oaks, both at one mile and one sixteenth.

The Zia Park meet begins Nov. 3, with Quarter Horse racing every Saturday and Sunday (plus Nov. 3) and Thoroughbred racing every Monday and Tuesday (plus Dec. 20).

Stall applications for the 2023 Zia Park race meet are due Aug. 15 and can be found at https://www.ziaparkcasino.com/racing. The stable area is expected to open the week of Sept. 25.

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Milton Toby Passes Away

Award-winning author and attorney Milton Toby passed away Monday at his Georgetown, Kentucky home following a battle with cancer. He was 73.

News of Toby's passing was first reported by Blood-Horse, where he worked for over a decade before beginning a freelance writing career.

Toby began his sports writing career at the Aiken Standard and his first assignment for the South Carolina newspaper involved covering the 1972 GI Belmont S. He returned to Kentucky in 1973 and began a 12-year stint writing for the BloodHorse magazine.

As a freelance photojournalist, Toby covered stories across the globe, from China to Costa Rica and Columbia, before turning his attention to the law and earning a law degree from University of Kentucky School of Law in 1995. In addition to practicing law, he also taught at several Kentucky colleges and universities and served as chair of the Central Kentucky Bar Association's equine law division. He served as president of the American Society of Journalists and Authors from 2018-2020, sat on the board of the American Horse Publications from 2010-2013, and was an instructor in equine commercial law at the University of Louisville's Equine Industry Program.

Toby is the author of 10 books. His “Dancer's Image, the Forgotten Story of the 1968 Kentucky Derby,” won the 2011 Dr. Tony Ryan Book Award, as well as the American Horse Publications Editorial Award as the best equine book of 2011. He doubled up on AHP's top equine book in 2012 with “Noor: A Champion Thoroughbred's Unlikely Journey from California to Kentucky,” and won that award again in 2018 with “Taking Shergar: Thoroughbred Racing's Most Famous Cold Case.”

Toby's 10th and final book, “Unnatural Ability, the History of Performance-Enhancing Drugs in Racing” will be published next month by University Press of Kentucky.

Toby is survived by his wife, Roberta.

No service or visitation is scheduled. A gathering of remembrance may be announced at a later date. Donations may be made in Toby's name to Bluegrass Care Navigators in Lexington.

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Bill Strauss, Bret Jones Named to DMTC Board of Directors

Bill Strauss and Bret Jones have both been named to the Board of Directors of the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club. The two, who are the first new members added to the board since three members were added in 2018, bring the total number of current board members to 11.

“We've made ourselves better and stronger with the addition of these two fine gentlemen,” said board member and Del Mar CEO Joe Harper. “When you can pick up a pair of individuals who love racing and have rich histories in the game like they do, it was easy to get a unanimous vote to bring them on.”
Strauss, 65, was originally a New Yorker who had a successful financial career in Manhattan before making a coast-to-coast switch to Del Mar in 1992. There he helped found Provide Commerce, which became one of the nation's top e-commerce companies, including its popular ProFlowers.com and Shari's Berries.

He and his brother, Jeffrey, a master chef, partnered in a hugely popular restaurant they called the Pamplemousse Grille just across the street from Del Mar racetrack. They named their first horse The Pamplemousse and he became a stakes winner. Since then Bill has been a partner in such topline horses as double Breeders' Cup winner Mizdirection and $5.6 million earner Hot Rod Charlie.

“As a long-time Del Mar resident with my wife Margie, and a long time horse owner, I am honored to have been selected to serve on the prestigious Del Mar Thoroughbred Club Board of Directors,” Strauss said. “I am looking forward to working with my fellow board members to carve out a successful future for horse racing in California.”

Jones, 43, is the president of Airdrie Stud. In addition to his new role at Del Mar, he has served on the Breeders' Cup Board of Directors since 2011 and sits on the Keeneland Advisory Board, as well as the Board of Trustees for the University of Kentucky's Markey Cancer Foundation.

“I am very grateful to have been given this opportunity to work with the incredible leadership team at Del Mar,” Jones said. “Anyone who has ever walked through its gates knows how truly special that racetrack is, and anyone who cares about the future of our sport recognizes how vitally important its continued success is for our industry. California racing is a true lynchpin for our sport and its prosperity should be the business of all of us; whether you're from San Diego County or Woodford County, KY. I look forward to helping in any way I can and am honored to be working with an organization I so deeply respect.”

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