Echo Zulu in the phonetic military alphabet means “EZ,” and goodness have things been that way for the 3-year-old filly who bears the name. Last year at age 2, Echo Zulu won all four of her starts – three Grade 1s, the last of them the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies – by a combined 22 lengths. No one could keep up with her during the middle of her races, no one came close to running her down late. Echo Zulu was named champion 2-year-old filly in a landslide. There will be “Excessive Zeal” from gamblers when Echo Zulu launches her 3-year-old campaign Saturday at Fair Grounds in the Grade 2, $400,000 Fair Grounds Oaks. Echo Zulu, trained by Steve Asmussen for L and N Racing and Winchell Thoroughbreds, is 3-5 on the track’s morning line and ought to be an even shorter price than that facing just five foes. The most likely outcome: She goes to the lead under Joel Rosario and proves too talented for this bunch. But the outside-drawn filly, Hidden Connection, also has some speed to deploy, and Echo Zulu might not make an easy lead. Also consider that Echo Zulu hasn’t started since the Juvenile Fillies on Nov. 5, and she didn’t post a timed workout this season until Feb. 8. There’s no way Hall of Famer Asmussen, who has a gentle touch with talented fillies, was going to rush Echo Zulu back into action, but this is a significant gap between starts, especially for a horse racing two turns for just the second time. :: Serious horseplayers use serious products. Get DRF's premium past performances, now free for the first time Nonetheless, there is confidence from within the Echo Zulu camp that she’ll emerge from her 2022 debut flawless record intact. “If anything would not have gone perfectly, she wouldn’t be in this race,” Asmussen said. “Her training schedule has gone nicely; she’s looked fabulous in the mornings.” :: Want the best bonus in racing? Get a $250 deposit match, $10 free bet, and free Formulator with DRF Bets. Code: WINNING Were the Fair Grounds Oaks a test of sheer ability, Echo Zulu would merit 1-100 favoritism. No doubt she is the “best” horse in the race. The best horse does not always triumph. The Fair Grounds Oaks is contested over 1 1/16 miles and is a 170-point qualifier for the May 6 Kentucky Oaks, a 1 1/8-mile contest capped at 14 starters determined by point accumulation in designated races. Echo Zulu was the 5-2 favorite in the Kentucky Oaks future pool, which closed March 13. Turnerloose, who won, and Hidden Connection, who was fourth, exit the Feb. 19 Rachel Alexandra, which did not appear especially strong this year. Turnerloose was making her first start since finishing 14th on Nov. 5 in the BC Juvenile Fillies Turf and was racing for the first time on dirt. She stalked the pace and rallied steadily to win the Rachel Alexandra by a half-length over the Todd Pletcher-trained Florida shipper Goddess of Fire. “I’d rather run against Echo Zulu now off a layoff,” said trainer Brad Cox “She’s very good, a champion, but our filly is doing well. Her weight’s good, she looks good physically, and she galloped out really well in her last race. We went into that thinking we were 80 or 90 percent ready to run.” Breaking from post 11 in the Rachel Alexandra did no favors for Hidden Connection, who impressively won the first two starts of her career before clunking home a distant fourth in the Juvenile Fillies. One still would’ve liked to see more stretch fight from the filly, but trainer Bret Calhoun has been eager to jump back into the fray. Bernabreezy and Sequist finished one-three Feb. 18 in a two-turn, first-level dirt allowance race. Bernabreezy has the higher-level form between the pair but her two top races came when she was permitted to start on Lasix, a medication used to control exercised induced pulmonary hemorrhage and not allowed in the Fair Grounds Oaks. That leaves the filly with the greatest upset appeal, another Pletcher shipper from Florida named Favor, who also has the no-Lasix question to answer. Favor finished a tame fourth while bet to 3-2 in her career debut last November. “I thought she’d win first time out,” Pletcher said this week from Dubai, where he runs Life Is Good on Saturday as the heavy favorite in the $12 million Dubai World Cup. Instead, Favor won second and third time out, comfortably capturing one-turn Gulfstream Park miles, leaving a favorable visual impression both starts. Pletcher believes Favor, a daughter of Pioneerof the Nile, will appreciate a move to two turns and lauded her swift March 19 workout at Palm Beach Downs. Favor is listed at 8-1 on the track’s morning line. Thoughts of her taking down the champ might not be Entirely Zany.