Echo Sound continues on path to Test with Victory Ride win

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Echo Sound keeps getting incrementally better and trainer Rusty Arnold knows she’s going to have to continue that trend if she is to win a race like the Grade 1 Test Stakes on Aug. 2.

Friday at Saratoga, Echo Sound took another forward move, drawing away from three rivals to win the Grade 3, $162,750 Victory Ride Stakes by 4 1/4 lengths, her fifth win from six career starts. Beauty Reigns finished second, 4 3/4 lengths clear of Indy Bay. Hollygrove, who set the pace, finished last.

Whatintheliteral was scratched after she flipped in the paddock.

Echo Sound won three of four starts at 2, her lone defeat coming in the Myrtlewood Stakes at Churchill Downs last November. She came out of that race with an unspecified problem and was given plenty of time to recover, according to Arnold.

Echo Sound came off the bench with a two-length victory in the Grade 3 Miss Preakness Stakes at Pimlico on May 16.

:: Access morning workout reports straight from the tracks and get an edge with DRF Clocker Reports

Echo Sound has speed, but jockey Luis Saez prefers her to have a target. Echo Sound broke on top but Saez was able to sit just off of Hollygrove who ran an opening half-mile in 44.85 seconds. Saez took control straightening away for home and Echo Sound drew clear with relative easy, completing the 6 1/2 furlongs in 1:15.49, good for a career-best 101 Beyer Speed Figure. She returned $5 as the favorite.

“She’s a good gate horse, she always breaks so well,” Saez said. “Today, she broke on top but we always wait to follow somebody. She settled perfect, we came to the three-eighths I had a lot of horse. I came to the top of the stretch she was on cruise control.”

Echo Sound, a daughter of Echo Town owned by Gabriel Duignan increased her career earnings to $459,995.

The Victory Ride was named for the filly Arnold trained to win the Test here in 2001. Naturally, winning this race had a little extra meaning for the veteran trainer.

“She was the fastest horse I ever had so to win a race they named after her it’s a good feeling,” Arnold said.

In a month, Echo Sound will try to give Arnold a second victory in the Test.

“I think she’s taken a couple of steps forward, we’re going to need another step forward for the next one, but I think that’s what we’ll do,” Arnold said.

:: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.