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Gunite Caps Grade I Double For Gun Runner in Hopeful

Gunite (Gun Runner) capped off a remarkable summer for both his freshman sire and his trainer on closing day Monday at Saratoga, shaking off pace pressure and kicking away in the stretch to an 11-1 upset of the GI Hopeful S. His well-earned victory made it a clean sweep of the Spa's annual marquee 2-year-old races for Three Chimneys Farm's freshman sensation Gun Runner after Echo Zulu dominated the GI Spinaway S. Sunday, and was the icing on the cake for Steve Asmussen, who had his most successful Saratoga season yet, highlighted by his becoming the all-time winningest trainer in North America earlier in the meet.

Lagging back early in his first two starts before rallying to finish third and then second, Gunite found his early foot third out June 26 at Churchill, dueling through a :21.68 quarter and edging away to a 1 1/2-length graduation. Going toe to toe with favored Doctor Jeff (Street Boss) in the GII Saratoga Special S. here last out Aug. 14, he won the battle with that rival fading to fifth, but lost the war, as he proved no match in the final furlong for re-opposing High Oak (Gormley).

Let go as the fourth choice in this Labor Day feature as the money poured in on 3-5 GIII Sanford S. romper Wit (Practical Joke) and 5-2 High Oak, Gunite was sent through a rail opening by Ricardo Santana, Jr. to be part of a three-way pace battle through a :22.23 quarter. Meanwhile, High Oak found a perfect spot tracking that trio in fourth while Wit landed in midpack after stumbling at the start. Getting rid of his pace rivals past a salty :44.46 half, Gunite arrived at the top of the lane in command, but appeared ripe for the picking as Wit navigated into the clear after saving ground on the bend. But the favorite could never muster a serious threat to the Winchell Thoroughbreds colorbearer, and Gunite kept to his task past the teeming Saratoga stands to finish the meet's stakes schedule with an exclamation point. Wit was able to hold second over 28-1 longshot Kevin's Folly (Distorted Humor), while High Oak checked in a disappointing fourth.

“I loved how he went through the wire,” said Asmussen, who won his third straight Hopeful. “He didn't get away great today. Ricardo said there was just a little bit of bumping. Going 22 and 1 to 44 and 2, and to look how he did it to the wire, it's going to be exciting going forward. I was concerned we weren't where we expected to be in the first hundred yards. But I watched the race from up the stretch and Ricardo, coming into the stretch, moved his hands a bit but had him plenty gathered up. I felt really good then. It's state of mind. We've been aggressive with him and he's put on weight and gotten stronger the whole time. We've been through the roof with how well he's doing.”

“He's a really nice horse,” said Santana. “He can go to the lead, he can come from behind. He can do whatever you want. Today, I decided to take him back. [Early leader Defend] tried to blow the turn a little bit, so the rail opened. I made my move, and he was making his move by himself. I was really comfortable with him the whole race. He's getting better and better and better.”

The win gave Santana, who spends most of the year in Kentucky and is one of the last remaining Kentucky riders to summer in Saratoga, a fifth Grade I score at the meet.

“It's special,” he said. “Saratoga is one of the best tracks in North America. I'm really blessed. Five Grade I wins in one meet is unreal.”

Asmussen added that Gunite's next target will be the one-mile GI Champagne S. Oct. 2 at Belmont, a “Win and You're In” qualifier for the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile, saying, “I love him for more 2-year-old races this year. We know what we want his next two races to be and we feel really good about them. The Champagne and the Breeders' Cup are what we're hoping his next two races are. I love his style for the Juvenile. He's going to travel and we'll try to take it. We're very proud of him.”

Pedigree Notes:

Not only the second Grade I winner already for 2017 Horse of the Year Gun Runner, Gunite is also a remarkable fourth graded stakes winner already for the chestnut, following aforementioned Echo Zulu, GII Adirondack S. heroine Wicked Halo and GII Best Pal S. victor Pappacap. He is the first foal to race out of Simple Surprise, who annexed the Bolton Landing S. for these connections over the local turf as a juvenile in 2015 and later added two stakes placings sprinting on the Fair Grounds lawn. Second dam Simplify captured the restricted Loudonville S. on the Saratoga dirt in 2009 and placed in six other black-type events. Gunite has a yearling full-sister and produced a filly by Copper Bullet this season before being bred to Tapiture.

Monday, Saratoga
HOPEFUL S.-GI, $300,000, Saratoga, 9-6, 2yo, 7f, 1:23.08, gd.
1–GUNITE, 120, c, 2, by Gun Runner
          1st Dam: Simple Surprise (SW, $185,446), by Cowboy Cal
          2nd Dam: Simplify, by Pulpit
          3rd Dam: Classic Olympio, by Olympio
   1ST BLACK-TYPE WIN, 1ST GRADED STAKES WIN, 1ST GRADE I
   WIN. O/B-Winchell Thoroughbreds LLC (KY); T-Steven M.
Asmussen; J-Ricardo Santana, Jr. $165,000. Lifetime Record:
5-2-2-1, $293,988. Werk Nick Rating: A+++ *Triple Plus*. Click
   for eNicks report & 5-cross catalogue-style pedigree.
2–Wit, 122, c, 2, Practical Joke–Numero d'Oro, by Medaglia
d'Oro. 'TDN Rising Star' ($575,000 Ylg '20 KEESEP). O-Repole
Stable, St. Elias Stable & Gainesway Stable (Antony Beck);
B-Rosilyn Polan (KY); T-Todd A. Pletcher. $60,000.
3–Kevin's Folly, 120, c, 2, Distorted Humor–Santa Vindi, by
Vindication. ($80,000 Ylg '20 KEESEP). O-Michael McLoughlin;
B-Stonehaven Steadings (KY); T-Thomas M. Amoss. $36,000.
Margins: 5 3/4, 3, HF. Odds: 11.60, 0.65, 28.75.
Also Ran: High Oak, Power Agenda, Big Scully, Volcanic, Headline Report, Kitodan, Defend, Street Fight. Click for the Equibase.com chart, the TJCIS.com PPs or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.

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Echo Zulu Dominant In Spinaway At Saratoga

In only her second start, Echo Zulu added Grade 1 winner to her resume with a dominant win in the Spinaway Stakes at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. She battled with Benbang early, took over the lead on the far turn, and then dashed away to a four-length victory over a field of eight others to become 2017 Horse of the Year Gun Runner's first Grade 1 winner.

Echo Zulu and Benbang were away fastest, trading front runner status down the backstretch as they ran the first quarter in :22.07 and the half-mile in :44.73. Entering the final turn, Echo Zulu passed Benbang for the last time, with Tarabi taking over second as they entered the stretch.

In the Saratoga straight, Echo Zulu skipped away from the field with ease, powered down by jockey Ricardo Santana, Jr. in the final sixteenth as Tarabi and then Saucy Lady T came home in second and third. The final time for the seven-furlong Spinaway was 1:22.51. Find this race's chart here.

Echo Zulu paid $3.30, $2.90, and $2.50. Tarabi paid $9.10 and $6.30. Saucy Lady T. paid $6.30.

“It was a huge jump. We prepared her like a first-time starter at Saratoga to run. She responded and ran well and that was a long time ago going five and a half against different horses. To jump from maidens to a Grade 1 off one run in a race with everything going your way is not easy. It takes a special horse to do it and maybe that's what she is,” trainer Steve Asmussen said after the race.

“She's nice. First time she won was impressive and she was training really well. We were happy with her,” Santana told the NYRA Press Office after the Spinaway. “I had so much confidence that I only wore two goggles for seven furlongs. She was working real nice and today she improved a lot.”

By Gun Runner out of the Grade 2 winning mare Letgomyecho (Menifee), the 2-year-old filly was bred in Kentucky by Betz, J. Betz, Burns, CHNNHK, Magers, and CoCo. She is owned by L and N Racing and Winchell Thoroughbreds, who purchased the filly for $300,000 from Betz Thoroughbreds at the 2020 Keeneland September Yearling Sale. Her win in the Spinaway brings her to a perfect 2 for 2 with career earnings of $220,000.

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Echo Zulu Faces Eight in Spinaway

Winchell Thoroughbreds and L and N Racing's Echo Zulu (Gun Runner), tabbed a 'TDN Rising Star' following her 5 1/2-length debut victory at Saratoga July 15, will attempt to add to her freshman sire's growing list of graded stakes winners when she goes postward in the GI Spinaway S. at Saratoga Sunday. Her first-out effort earned her a 92 Beyer Speed Figure–the highest recorded figure for a 2-year-old filly this year.

“The idea was always that she could be a Saratoga 2-year-old,” said Winchell Thoroughbreds' racing and bloodstock advisor David Fiske. “She showed some early speed, but for her to win the way she did and to get the number she got, I don't think anyone was expecting that.”

Echo Zulu, a half-sister to Grade I winner Echo Town (Speightstown) and a $300,000 KEESEP yearling purchase, will add a furlong and a half to that effort in the seven-furlong Spinaway and she could become fast-starting Gun Runner's first Grade I winner. The stallion was represented earlier in the meet by GII Adirondack S. winner Wicked Halo and by GII Saratoga Special runner-up Gunite. Across the country, his Pappacap won the GII Best Pal S. at Del Mar.

“She came out of Steve [Asmussen]'s parents' operation in Laredo pretty highly touted,” Fiske said. “We have some pretty big expectations for her. We were grateful that [co-owner Mike] Levinson let us partner up with her. We bought a few other yearlings last year and since he had Echo Town, he asked about her. We looked at her and got her as well.”

Jim Bakke's Girl with a Dream (Practical Joke) is another juvenile by a freshman sire coming into the Spinaway off an impressive debut victory. The Brad Cox trainee pulled away to a 6 3/4-length score doing five furlongs at Ellis Park July 24.

Pretty Birdie (Bird Song) carried the colors of the late Marylou Whitney, for years synonymous with racing in Saratoga, to victory in an emotional opening-day GIII Schuylerville S. July 15. A debut winner at Churchill June 18, the gray filly will look to double up on her Saratoga graded haul Sunday for trainer Norm Casse.

Gold Square's Sue Ellen Mishkin (Mohaymen) jumps to the graded ranks after romping to a 7 1/4-length debut score going six furlongs versus state-bred foes in her Aug. 13 unveiling.

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Promising Filly Echo Zulu Tops Sunday’s Spinaway

Winchell Thoroughbreds and L and N Racing's Echo Zulu will attempt to parlay a sensational debut victory into a graded stakes win as she takes on a field of nine 2-year-old fillies assembled for Sunday's 130th running of the Grade 1, $300,000 Spinaway going seven furlongs at Saratoga Race Course.

The historic event has been won by subsequent Champion 2-Year-Old Females Before Dawn [1981], Family Style [1985], Meadow Star [1990], Flanders [1994], Golden Attraction [1995], Countess Diana [1997] and Vequist [2020]. In its earlier years, the Spinaway was won by Hall of Fame fillies Miss Woodford [1883], Maskette [1908], Top Flight [1930], Cicada [1961], Affectionately [1962], La Prevoyante [1972] and Ruffian [1974].

Trained by Hall of Famer Steve Asmussen, Echo Zulu was highly impressive on debut, romping to a 5 ½-length maiden score on July 15 at Saratoga, where she recorded a 92 Beyer Speed Figure – the highest recorded figure for a 2-year-old filly this year.

“The idea was always that she could be a Saratoga 2-year-old,” said Winchell Thoroughbreds racing and bloodstock advisor David Fiske. “She showed some early speed, but for her to win the way she did and to get the number she got, I don't think anyone was expecting that.”

Echo Zulu, bought for $300,000 out of the 2020 Keeneland September Yearling Sale, is out of the graded stakes winning Menifee mare Letgomyecho. She is a half-sister to L and N Racing's Echo Town, the winner of last year's Grade 1 H. Allen Jerkens Memorial.

A victory would give her leading freshman stallion Gun Runner his first Grade 1 win as a sire. He has already sired two graded stakes winners in his first crop, including Grade 2 Adironack winner Wicked Halo who also is owned by Winchell and trained by Asmussen.

“She came out of Steve's parents' operation in Laredo pretty highly touted,” Fiske said. “We have some pretty big expectations for her. We were grateful that [co-owner Mike] Levinson let us partner up with her. We bought a few other yearlings last year and since he had Echo Town, he asked about her. We looked at her and got her as well.”

Jockey Ricardo Santana, Jr. will retain the mount from post 3.

While Echo Zulu attempts to rise to the occasion, Pretty Birdie will seek a second graded stakes triumph for trainer Norm Casse.

The Marylou Whitney Stables-owned daughter of Bird Song has led at every point of call in two starts. After a runaway debut victory on June 18 at Churchill Downs, she captured the Grade 3 Schuylerville on July 15 at Saratoga by two lengths.

Jockey Luis Saez will return aboard Pretty Birdie from post 5.

An impressive 2 ¼-length score on debut at 36-1 odds has given trainer Robertino Diodoro confidence that Dream Lith can step up to Grade 1 company.

The dark bay or brown daughter of Medaglia d'Oro, owned by Cypress Creek Equine and Arnold Bennewith, broke her maiden on August 8 going 6 ½ furlongs at the Spa. She tracked a close fourth in the clear down the backstretch before making her move in between horses in upper stretch and taking command at the eighth pole.

Despite always having high hopes in Dream Lith, Diodoro said the first-out success was a bit of a surprise.

“We're really excited about her,” Diodoro said. “She wasn't supposed to do what she did that day, not because of ability, we knew she had that. We thought it would take two turns for her to break her maiden. I think even the extra furlong going into the Spinaway is going to help her even more. She's awesome. Sometimes, you see a maiden win first out. Maybe she was more ready than the other horses, but this filly is the real deal.”

Diodoro added that Dream Lith bounced out of her maiden score exceptionally well.

“Some horses that break their maiden first out, you have to ease off. But she just came back like a pro,” Diodoro said. “She's giving us all the signs that she's the real deal.”

Jockey David Cohen retains the mount from post 7.

Tarabi is also seeking a breakthrough victory following an impressive debut maiden win on August 7 at Ellis Park.

In her six-furlong maiden score, the chestnut daughter of First Samurai maintained her inside position down the backstretch, inched her way to the front under no urging and was never in doubt in the stretch, winning by 5 ½ lengths.

Owned by LBD Stable, Manganaro Bloodstock and David Ingordo, Tarabi is out of the Indian Charlie mare Indian Bay, making her a full-sister to Shivaji, a Group 3 winner in Japan.

“As an early 2-year-old she was very forward and never had a bad day on the track,” said trainer Cherie DeVaux. “She's very straightforward and mature mentally. She showed a lot of talent in the morning and the plan was always to run her at Ellis and if she ran to our expectations, to give her a shot in the Spinaway.”

Tarabi has breezed twice at Saratoga following her maiden victory.

“She's adjusted really well,” DeVaux said. “She continues to train well. She's grown, matured and progressed physically. She's had one easy work over the track and one where we asked a bit more of her and she handled it really well and got over the track really well. She's come out of it in good shape.”

Hall of Fame jockey Javier Castellano, a two-time Spinaway victor, will ride Tarabi from post 1.

Completing the field are Girl With a Dream [post 2, Florent Geroux], Benbang [post 4, Manny Franco], Saucy Lady T [post 6, Irad Ortiz, Jr.], Sequist [post 8, Junior Alvarado], Sue Ellen Mishkin [post 9, Jose Ortiz],

The prestigious race is named in honor of George Lorillard's talented chestnut who won seven of her nine starts, including stakes wins at the defunct Jerome Park and Sheepshead Bay Park. Successful in her career as a broodmare, Spinaway was the granddam of Tanya, who won her grandmother's namesake race in 1904 before defeating colts in the Belmont Stakes the following year. Other prominent descendants of Spinaway include multiple champion producing stallion Giant's Causeway, prolific broodmare Hasili and European champion Gleneagles.

The Spinaway is slated as Race 11 on Sunday's 12-race program, which offers a first post of 12:35 p.m. Eastern. Saratoga Live will present daily television coverage of the 40-day summer meet on FOX Sports and MSG Networks. For the complete Saratoga Live broadcast schedule, and additional programming information, visit https://www.nyra.com/saratoga/racing/tv-schedule.

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