Epicenter, Echo Zulu give Asmussen pair of favorites
NEW ORLEANS – The morning after a five-win day that included victories in the Louisiana Derby and Fair Grounds Oaks, trainer Steve Asmussen on Sunday understandably was still letting the joy of it all wash over him.
“Better than well!” he said. “It’s awesome. Awesome horses make for good days.”
In Epicenter, who won the Louisiana Derby to complete a productive series of races here at Fair Grounds this season, and Echo Zulu, the champion filly who remained unbeaten by capturing the Fair Grounds Oaks in her first start of the year, Asmussen has what reasonably could be posited as the current favorites for both the Kentucky Derby on May 7 and the Kentucky Oaks on May 6. They were two of his five winners on Saturday’s card, and all came in concert with jockey Joel Rosario.
Both Epicenter and Echo Zulu were scheduled to leave Fair Grounds on Monday, bound for Churchill Downs, where they will make their next starts.
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Asmussen is the winningest trainer in the sport’s history, with 9,687 victories entering Sunday's racing. He’s won the Preakness twice, won the Belmont, owns eight Breeders’ Cup wins, is a two-time Eclipse Award winner as champion trainer, has trained the Horse of the Year four times, and was voted into the Hall of Fame in 2016. There’s literally just one race missing from that powerful resume, which Asmussen referenced as to why he was so thrilled following the Louisiana Derby.
“Because I’m 0 for 26 in the Derby,” he said, in the excitement giving himself three more losses than he actually has, “and he’s got a great chance and I want to win it.”
Epicenter got a Beyer Speed Figure of 102. He was 3 for 4 here this winter, with victories in the Gun Runner and Risen Star and a narrow loss in the Lecomte.
Echo Zulu got a Beyer figure of 88. She had not raced in 4 1/2 months, since winning the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies to secure an Eclipse Award as champion 2-year-old filly. Echo Zulu gave Asmussen his fourth win in the Fair Grounds Oaks.
“But never without a prep,” Asmussen said. “Winning off the bench separates her.”
Zozos, who ran second in the Louisiana Derby in his third start and stakes debut, like the Asmussen pair will head to Churchill Downs this week. His trainer, Brad Cox, said he hoped the 40 points earned by Zozos would be, as it has been previously, sufficient to run in the Derby.
“You get one shot at it,” said Cox, who said Zozos “ran a big race, second-best, got a lot out of it. The winner has experience on us.”
“He looked really good this morning,” Cox said Sunday. “Really happy with him.”
Rattle N Roll, who was fourth in his second start of the year, “came out fine,” said his trainer, Kenny McPeek, who said he would not jam him back in another race to try and increase his current point total of 20.
“If he can get in, great, but if not we’ll point for the Preakness,” McPeek said of the second leg of the Triple Crown on May 21 at Pimlico.
McPeek said Rattle N Roll being a Grade 1 winner via his Breeders’ Futurity victory last fall made running in a Grade 3 like the Lexington in order to try and pad his point total to get into the Derby an unappealing scenario. He said he thought Epicenter “was really impressive.”
Rattle N Roll was headed to Ocala, Fla., on Sunday, where he will train for the time being at McPeek's Silverleaf training center. McPeek will be relocating to Kentucky in upcoming weeks, as he has his highly regarded Smile Happy pointing to the Blue Grass Stakes on April 9.
Call Me Midnight, who was sixth in the Louisiana Derby in his first start since upsetting Epicenter in the Lecomte, could run in the Lexington at Keeneland on April 16, trainer Keith Desormeaux said Sunday. The Lexington, worth 20 points to the winner, is the last point-scoring race of the series. It falls three weeks after the Louisiana Derby, three weeks in front of the Kentucky Derby.
“He looks good,” said Desormeaux, who said no decision would be made regarding the Lexington “until we see how he trains this week.”