Echo Zulu ready for first workout of the year

It’s taken longer than might have been expected, but soon to be named champion 2-year-old filly Echo Zulu is nearing the first timed workout of her 3-year-old season.

Perfect in four starts last year, already a three-time Grade 1 winner, and a smashing victress in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies where she earned a 94 Beyer Speed Figure, Echo Zulu has been in trainer Steve Asmussen’s Fair Grounds barn since the waning days of 2021. Asmussen and his team have taken their time with the diminutive filly, who, Asmussen said, would have worked this past Sunday or Monday but for wet weather. Rain continued in New Orleans through Thursday.

“Obviously, we’re not doing a lot in the rain this week,” Asmussen said. “I want to get a few decent gallops in her over a good track before she works.”

Once Echo Zulu gets on a work pattern, she should gain race fitness quickly, given her stature and natural athleticism. Owned by L and N Racing and Winchell Thoroughbreds, Echo Zulu, out of Letgomyecho, is part of Gun Runner’s first crop of foals.

Four-year-old filly Clairiere, beaten less than one length in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff, had her first work following a winter break when she went an easy half-mile last Sunday. Clairiere is doing “better than ever,” Asmussen said, and could make the Azeri Stakes on March 12 at Oaklawn Park.

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Epicenter, who won the Gun Runner Stakes in December and ran a winning race finishing a close second Jan. 22 in the Lecomte, had an easy first-after-race half-mile breeze Monday and is on target for the Risen Star Stakes on Feb. 19.

La Crete, who won the Silverbulletday on the Lecomte card, hasn’t worked back yet but remains a likely runner in the Rachel Alexandra Stakes on Feb. 19. Asmussen also plans to run Halo Again in the Fair Grounds Stakes on the Feb. 19 card following his win in the Buddy Diliberto Memorial in December and close second Jan. 22 in the Colonel E.R. Bradley Stakes. And Midnight Bourbon, bound for the Saudi Cup on Feb. 26, had his first work since finishing second to Mandaloun in the Louisiana Stakes on Jan. 22, going an easy half on Monday.

Juju’s Map will arrive shortly

While the 2021 BC Juvenile Fillies winner has yet to breeze this year, the BC Juvenile Fillies runner-up, Juju’s Map, has yet to join trainer Brad Cox’s string at Fair Grounds. Cox said Juju’s Map got a “solid 60 days” rest following the Breeders’ Cup before resuming light training at WinStar Farm in Kentucky.

Juju’s Map has moved to Keeneland, where she has started galloping, and could ship to Fair Grounds as early as next week, Cox said.

“It’s too early to say what race we might make with her,” Cox said.

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Mandaloun, an impressive winner of his 4-year-old debut in the Louisiana Stakes, was scheduled to have his first work since that race this weekend, weather permitting, and remains on track for the Saudi Cup. Another Cox-trained 4-year-old, Warrant, ran well enough in the Louisiana, finishing third while making his first start in four months, that connections are considering shipping for the Santa Anita Handicap on March 5 rather than starting in the Mineshaft on Feb. 19 at Fair Grounds.

“We’ll see how the races are looking,” Cox said. “The logical spot would be to run out of his own stall.”

Finally, Louisiana-bred 4-year-old filly Australasia, who had been working at Keeneland, has moved into Cox’s Fair Grounds barn and breezed five furlongs in 1:02.20 on Monday in New Orleans. Australasia won the first six starts of her career, capped by a sharp victory over high-class Bella Sofia in the Jersey Girl on June 6 at Belmont Park. She hasn’t started since being eased across the finish in the Victory Ride on July 10, also at Belmont, and has no specific race targeted, Cox said.

◗ A first-level allowance race restricted to 3-year-olds, open to $50,000 claimers, and carded for about 5 1/2 furlongs on turf is the highest-class fare on Sunday’s nine-race program. The race could easily be rained onto dirt, which would make Four Dawn tough to run down if he holds his Dec. 30 maiden-winning form for the Cox barn.