Echo Zulu's speed makes her a danger in Dogwood Stakes

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Three-year-olds will occupy the literal spotlight Saturday night at Churchill Downs when four straight age-restricted stakes are run during the latter half of an 11-race program that starts at 6 p.m. Eastern.

The Grade 3 Dogwood Stakes, with an Eclipse champion among its field of seven 3-year-old fillies, is the only graded event. It goes as race 9, and top to bottom, it’s probably the race with the highest quality, too.

The $275,000 Dogwood directly follows its seven-furlong open counterpart, the $275,000 Harrods Creek (race 8), which also got a field of seven. The other stakes, both at two turns, are the $160,000 Seneca for fillies (race 7) and the $275,000 Bourbon Trail (race 10).

This is the final night card of the year at Churchill, where all action will take place over a main track expected to be fast.

The stakes are linked together in various multi-race wagers, but not as its own pick four. They’ll all be run under the Churchill lights as the first four legs in the late pick five (races 7-11), and all are included in the pick six (races 6-11), with both sequences ending with a maiden-special sprint for 2-year-old fillies at 11:10.

Fall weather has settled into this region, with the Saturday forecast calling for a daytime high near 80 but overnight lows in the mid-50s. Televised action is available throughout the evening on FS2, with Paul LoDuca handling on-site coverage.

Dogwood

Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen said early this week that he was likely to run only one of his uncoupled duo of Echo Zulu and Wicked Halo in the 47th Dogwood, but after thinking over the Wednesday post-position draw, he said early Thursday: “With the draw, I may run both.”

So there you go. Echo Zulu, the 2-year-old filly champion of 2021, was assigned post 1 with Ricardo Santana Jr. named, while Wicked Halo got post 7 with Tyler Gaffalione. Assuming both fillies start, they’ll take the bulk of wagering action in a lineup that also includes such capable sorts as Last Leaf and Tarabi.

Echo Zulu was dominant last year, going unchallenged in four brilliant races, but this year has made only two starts. However, there can be little doubt she’ll be fresh and eager Saturday night after going unraced since fading to fourth as the pacesetter in the May 6 Kentucky Oaks, and given a lengthy series of recent stamina-building workouts at Saratoga, it’s very possible she may simply go gate to wire after her superior speed carries her straight to the front.

Wicked Halo was third in the Grade 2 Eight Belles on the Kentucky Oaks card, but she hasn’t been defeated since then, reeling off consecutive wins in the Leslie’s Lady and Tepin at Churchill and the Grade 2 Prioress at Saratoga. For some horseplayers, her recency may help make her an attractive alternative to her heavily backed stablemate.

If either of them is scratched, the Grade 2 Raven Run on Oct. 22 at Keeneland would be the next logical spot, said Asmussen.

Last Leaf (post 6, Rafael Bejarano) has done yeoman’s work as a 3-year-old, winning three stakes at Gulfstream Park before being sent last month by trainer Ron Spatz to win the Audubon Oaks at Ellis Park. The late-running daughter of Not This Time was left with trainer Eddie Kenneally to finish off the year, with the Raven Run also a target.

“She’s done great since the Ellis race,” said Kenneally. “We’re excited to see how she fits in this kind of spot.”

Tarabi (post 4, Javier Castellano), trained by Cherie DeVaux, won a restricted stakes on opening day at Saratoga and has trained smartly in the interim.

Harrods Creek

Asmussen has a major threat in this one, too, with Gunite and Gaffalione comfortably drawn in post 7 off back-to-back triple-digit Beyer Speed Figures, both at Saratoga. The Winchell Thoroughbreds homebred really came to hand getting a 101 Beyer in winning the Grade 2 Amsterdam and a 102 when second in the Grade 1 Allen Jerkens, and those are credentials to make him a solid betting choice here.

Conagher (post 4, Joe Rocco Jr.), fourth in the Jerkens, figures as the one to catch. The Jimmy Creed colt generated plenty of buzz around these parts in the spring, blitzing a Keeneland allowance at 73-1 and following that with a winning 104 Beyer in a Churchill allowance.

“He came out of the Jerkens doing super-good,” said his trainer, Mike Tomlinson.

A third consideration in this second running of the Harrods Creek is Strava (post 6, Brian Hernandez Jr.), whose two-back allowance romp here for trainer Dallas Stewart was visually impressive, and something similar would make him a threat.