Fair Grounds Oaks not out of the question for Echo Zulu
The fabulous filly Echo Zulu is ramping up the pace of her training as she approaches the first start of her 3-year-old season.
Echo Zulu won all four of her 2021 starts at age 2, capping her campaign with a 5 1/4-length romp in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies, her third Grade 1 victory following wins in the Spinaway at Saratoga and the Frizette at Belmont.
Her perfect season made her an easy Eclipse Award winner, but Echo Zulu didn’t post a workout following the Breeders’ Cup until Feb. 8. Steve Asmussen, Echo Zulu’s Hall of Fame trainer, gave the filly ample time to get her legs back under her following a winter break, and Echo Zulu’s five-furlong workout in 1:01.80 on Monday at Fair Grounds was her strongest piece of work yet.
“She worked good this week, 1:01 and change in company, and she’s obviously progressing in her fitness,” Asmussen said. “We gave three works by herself at low tempo; this was her first breeze in company.”
Asmussen and the filly’s owners, L & N Racing and Winchell Thoroughbreds, have let Echo Zulu progress at her own pace, but her recent breeze impressed them enough that the Fair Grounds Oaks on March 26 has become a potential comeback race.
“We’re not far enough along to decide whether or not we’re running,” Asmussen said. “It’s in play.”
The Fair Grounds Oaks might not come up an especially strong race. Turnerloose beat Goddess of Fire by a half-length to win Fair Grounds’s last race in the division, the Rachel Alexandra on Feb. 19. Turnerloose earned an 81 Beyer Speed Figure in that start. Echo Zulu’s Beyer pattern at age 2 was 92-90-90-94.
Over on the other side of the world, the Asmussen-trained Midnight Bourbon picked up a check for just less than $2 million finishing third last Saturday in the $20 million Saudi Cup. Midnight Bourbon flew Monday from Saudi Arabia to Dubai to prepare for the $12 million Dubai World Cup on March 26. Asmussen said Midnight Bourbon likely would have two works before the World Cup, which is run around two turns over about 1 1/4 miles compared to the 1 1/8-mile Saudi Cup around one turn.
Midnight Bourbon has won only twice in 16 starts while earning over $3 million, and as often has been the case during his career, the colt loomed near the front in midstretch of the Saudi Cup before a mild fade to the wire. Asmussen praised Midnight Bourbon’s “mental strength,” calling him a horse that takes hard races well and comes back looking for more, and he won’t concede Midnight Bourbon hangs.
“I cannot eliminate that, but when he comes back blowing as hard as you can, it’s hard to say, ‘Just try harder,’ ” he said.
Jackie’s Warrior, another 2021 Eclipse Award winner as male sprint champion, worked a half-mile in 52.80 on Feb. 27, his first breeze since a bitterly disappointing sixth-place finish as the odds-on favorite in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint.
“He’s coming back beautiful,” Asmussen said. “We did an extremely light half-mile with him.”
Jackie’s Warrior, if all goes well, is aimed to the Churchill Downs Stakes on Kentucky Derby Day, May 7, and Asmussen hopes to find a prep race in advance of that spot.
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Max Player, winner of the Grade 1 Jockey Club Gold Cup last Sept. 4 at Saratoga but a distant eighth in the BC Classic, logged his third workout of 2022 on Tuesday and is ahead of the schedule Asmussen mapped in pencil a couple months ago.
“I don’t know if I’ll be able to wait until Belmont to run him,” he said.
And finally, Epicenter, who has become a top-tier Triple Crown hope during the last two months, worked a half mile in 52 seconds on Monday, his first breeze since he cruised to victory Feb. 19 in the Risen Star Stakes and earned a 98 Beyer Speed Figure
“He’ll have a couple company works the next two weeks,” Asmussen said. “He’s acting and training like a winner.”