Echo Zulu returns with dominating Dogwood Stakes triumph

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The champ is back. Echo Zulu, whose brilliance as a 2-year-old earned her a divisional Eclipse Award, returned a winner in her first start since being defeated in the Kentucky Oaks by dominating the Grade 3, $274,000 Dogwood Stakes in one of four stakes, all for 3-year-olds, run Saturday night under the Churchill Downs lights.

“She is such a special filly,” Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen said after Echo Zulu led all the way in winning the seven-furlong Dogwood by 5 1/4 lengths. “She’s a champion, and it’s very thrilling to get her back to her winning ways. It’s unbelievably exciting for the entire team.”

Breaking smartly from post 1 under Ricardo Santana Jr., Echo Zulu rated kindly on a short lead down the backstretch and through the turn before lengthening her stride once the field of five fillies straightened for home. She continued to show no effects of her four-months-plus layoff when finishing in 1:22.43, with Tarabi second and Colorful Mischief third. She paid $3.02 as a heavy favorite.

Echo Zulu now has won six of seven starts and earned $1,946,375 for the partnership of Winchell Thoroughbreds and the L and N Racing of Lee Levinson. She was the fifth stakes winner of the day (including two Grade 1s) for her red-hot sire, Gun Runner, whom Asmussen trained to the 2017 Horse of the Year title.

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Echo Zulu earned a 94 Beyer Speed Figure in her comeback. She will now be aimed at the Nov. 5 Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint going seven furlongs at Keeneland.

This was the final night card of the year at Churchill, where action throughout a 14-day September meet that ends next Sunday (Oct. 2) is taking place over the main track. Weather conditions were ideal throughout the entire 11-race card, with the track rated fast.

Gunite ($3.26) takes Harrods Creek

In the race directly preceding the Dogwood, Asmussen and the Winchell team also visited the winner’s circle afterward with a winning odds-on favorite when Gunite powered to a three-length triumph under Tyler Gaffalione in the male counterpart to the Dogwood, the $274,500 Harrods Creek at the same seven-furlong distance. The winner paid $3.26.

Gunite, a Winchell homebred by Gun Runner, was assigned a 100 Beyer, his third straight race with a triple-digit figure, when notching his third stakes victory from his last four starts, with the other wins coming in July in the Maxfield at Churchill and the Grade 2 Amsterdam at Saratoga. Overall, the dark bay colt has five wins and four seconds from 11 starts for earnings of $814,809, with his most notable triumph being the Grade 1 Hopeful as a 2-year-old.

Gaffalione always had the early leader, Conagher, within his reach, as Gunite sat a chilly second much of the trip before taking command leaving the furlong pole. Conagher, the 9-5 second choice, held second by 2 3/4 lengths over Strava in a field of seven colts.

Gunite “has a lot of grit late in his races and shows that each time he runs,” Gaffalione said.

Home Brew ($13.40) in Bourbon Trail

In the closest finish of the four stakes, Santana somehow got Home Brew to the wire first while maintaining an inside path throughout the $275,000 Bourbon Trail as the Street Sense colt prevailed in a tight three-horse photo over Creative Minister, who in turn had a nose on War Campaign in third. The winner paid $13.40 after finishing the 1 3/16-mile distance in 1:56.39.

Home Brew, bred and owned by Gary and Mary West, earned a 96 Beyer in posting his fifth win from eight overall starts and his third in a stakes, following the Oaklawn Stakes in April and the Pegasus at Monmouth Park in June.

Brad Cox, who was not on hand after traveling to Philadelphia for the Pennsylvania Derby earlier in the day, is the trainer of Home Brew.

Sixtythreecaliber ($24.92) wins Seneca

Yet another 3-year-old by Gun Runner was victorious in the $160,000 Seneca when Sixtythreecaliber out-gamed Falconet by a neck in the 1 1/16-mile race, earning a career-high 86 Beyer when posting her first stakes victory. Ridden by Edgar Morales, the winner paid $24.92 after finishing in 1:44.22.

Falconet led all the way before a persistent Sixtythreecaliber, always in range, finally wore her down. Scratch Kat was third, followed in order by Turnerloose and Cocktail Moments, the two favorites in a field of seven fillies.

“Our filly never showed any quit,” said Tom Amoss, who trains Sixtythreecaliber for Spendthrift Farm and My Racehorse. She now has won four of six starts overall.

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