Breeders' Cup Sprint: Asmussen mulling options with Gunite, Echo Zulu
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Trainer Steve Asmussen has been dealt a very strong hand for this year’s Breeders’ Cup Sprint on Nov. 4 at Santa Anita. How he chooses to play those cards could prove a key element in determining the outcome not only of that event but two other Breeders’ Cup races that same day, the Dirt Mile and Filly and Mare Sprint.
Asmussen is currently playing his two cards for the Sprint, Grade 1 winner Gunite and the lightning-fast filly Echo Zulu, close to the vest. He said he’s not likely to make a final decision on where they will run until he gets to see how each of them settles in and has an opportunity to work over a track where they haven’t raced in the past.
The fact both horses share common ownership, Winchell Thoroughbreds owns Gunite and is partners with L and H Racing LLC in Echo Zulu, also is likely to play into Asmussen’s final choice of races.
“They both made the trip extremely well, that’s the first step. We wanted to get them out there early to get acclimated and so far they’ve looked good over the track,” Asmussen said. “I’ll probably give them their first breezes as an introduction to the racetrack over the weekend. At the moment, I have not sorted it out. We’re trying to do what we think is best for both horses, and the decision would probably be more direct if there were not common ownership.”
Asmussen has at least 2 million reasons to run Echo Zulu in the Sprint and just 1 million to enter her in the Filly and Mare Sprint. Those are the respective purses for both races.
Echo Zulu would be the odds-on favorite to win the Filly and Mare Sprint with a perfect record of three straight one-sided victories this season, including a 2 1/2-length decision over Goodnight Olive in the Grade 1 Ballerina on Aug. 26 at Saratoga. The impressive performance avenged her second-place finish to Goodnight Olive when the pair met at Keeneland in the 2022 Filly and Mare Sprint.
Echo Zulu also could possibly vie for favoritism with Elite Power if she competed against males in the Sprint, having paired up 112 Beyer Speed Figures in her last two starts, far and away tops of anyone pointing to that event, including defending champ Elite Power.
Gunite finished fourth, four lengths behind Cody’s Wish, in the 2022 Dirt Mile. He has won 3 of 7 starts in 2023, his most notable victory a 1 3/4-length triumph over Elite Power in the Grade 1, seven-furlong Forego. Gunite is coming off a disappointing second-place finish as the 1-5 favorite in the Parx Dirt Mile. He is equally proficient at the six-furlong distance of the Sprint as at a mile, having registered his career-best Beyer, a 108, twice going six panels earlier this season, including in the Grade 1 Vanderbilt at Saratoga when beaten a head by Elite Power over a wet strip.
“The Parx Mile obviously didn’t have the outcome we wanted, but the circumstances weren’t what anybody would have wanted either given the weather and track conditions,” said Asmussen, who won the Sprint at Santa Anita with Mitole four years earlier.
Whoever Asmussen chooses to start in the Sprint will face a lineup that is expected to include, aside from Elite Power, a strong California contingent that includes Dr. Schivel, game winner of the Grade 2 Santa Anita Sprint Championship last Saturday. Dr. Schivel, who finished a heartbreaking second, beaten a nose by Aloha West, in the 2021 Sprint at Del Mar, withstood a torrid stretch battle to outlast the lightly raced Speed Boat Beach, who also is expected to compete in the Sprint for trainer Bob Baffert, who is looking for a record sixth victory in the event.
Both The Chosen Vron and Anarchist, who finished first and second, respectively, in the Win and You’re In Bing Crosby on July 29 at Del Mar, also will run.
Friday’s Grade 2 Phoenix at Keeneland, the third and final Breeders’ Cup Challenge race for the Sprint, also is likely to produce one or more potential starters.
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