Reigning champion 2-year-old filly and 'TDN Rising Star' Echo Zulu made it five stakes wins on Saturday for her sire Gun Runner with a dominant performance in the GIII Dogwood S. under the lights at Churchill Downs. Last seen tasting defeat for the first time when a tiring fourth behind Secret Oath (Arrogate) in the GI Longines Kentucky Oaks over this track, the $300,000 Keeneland September yearling purchase was off at 51 cents on the dollar to return to winning ways and did just that. Away quickest of all from the inside barrier, the Steve Asmussen trainee showed the way through moderate fractions as you could have thrown a blanket across the five of them at the half-mile. They were all stacked up behind the champ, ready to pounce if the favorite faltered, but Echo Zulu went through her gears in the final furlong and a half and crossed the wire 5 1/4 lengths to the good of Tarabi.
Echo Zulu, who was tabbed a 'TDN Rising Star' following her debut win at Saratoga last July, won the GI Spinaway S. and GI Frizette S. before capping her championship season with a 5 1/4-length victory in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies S. She opened her sophomore campaign with a gritty win in the Mar. 26 GII Fair Grounds Oaks, but weakened to fourth when suffering her first loss in the May 6 GI Kentucky Oaks. The champ was scratched behind the gate of the June 11 GI Acorn S.
Pedigree Notes:
Adding to Gun Runner's Grade I sweep Saturday afternoon at Parx with Taiba and Society were 11-1 Sixtythreecaliber in the Seneca Overnight S. and Gunite in the Fort Harrod S. prior to Echo Zulu's tour-de-force.
Echo Zulu, a daughter of 2005 GII Forward Gal S. winner Legomyecho, has an unraced 2-year-old half-sister by American Pharoah named Doing Justice who sold for $1.4 million at the 2021 Keeneland September sale.
Saturday, Churchill Downs
DOGWOOD S.-GIII, $274,000, Churchill Downs, 9-24, 3yo, f, 7f, 1:22.43, ft.
1–ECHO ZULU, 122, f, 3, by Gun Runner
1st Dam: Letgomyecho (GSW, $136,200), by Menifee
2nd Dam: Echo Echo Echo, by Eastern Echo
3rd Dam: Kashie West, by Sir Ivor
'TDN Rising Star'. ($300,000 Ylg '20 KEESEP). O-L & N Racing
LLC & Winchell Thoroughbreds LLC; B-Betz/J.
Betz/Burns/CHNNHK/Magers/CoCo Equine/Ramsby (KY);
T-Steven M. Asmussen; J-Ricardo Santana, Jr. $169,500.
Lifetime Record: Ch. 2-year-old filly, MGISW, 7-6-0-0,
$1,946,375. *1/2 to Unbridled Outlaw (Unbridled's Song), GSP,
$253,478; J Boys Echo (Mineshaft), GSW, $377,543; Echo
Town (Speightstown), GISW, $410,020.
Werk Nick Rating: A+++. *Triple Plus*
Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree. Click for the
free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–Tarabi, 120, f, 3, First Samurai–Indian Bay, by Indian Charlie.
($240,000 Ylg '20 KEESEP). O-LBD Stable LLC, Manganaro
Bloodstock & David Ingordo; B-Hinkle Farms (KY); T-Cherie
DeVaux. $55,000.
3–Colorful Mischief, 118, f, 3, Into Mischief–Color Me Flying, by
Distorted Humor. 1ST BLACK TYPE, 1ST GRADED BLACK TYPE.
($300,000 Ylg '20 FTKSEL). O-St. Elias Stable; B-Clearsky Farms
(KY); T-Todd A. Pletcher. $27,500.
Margins: 5 1/4, 1HF, HF. Odds: 0.51, 2.75, 11.86.
Also Ran: Last Leaf, Gunning. Scratched: Chasing Fireflies, Wicked Halo.
Click for the Equibase.com chart and the TJCIS.com PPs. VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.
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