Echo Zulu

L and N Racing and Winchell Thoroughbreds's Echo Zulu (Gun Runner), second to Goodnight Olive (Ghostzapper) when that one solidified her champion female sprinter honors in last year's GI Breeders' Cup F/M Sprint, asserted her position atop that division this year with a convincing tally over that same rival in Saturday's GI Ballerina H. at Saratoga. She was also the second Grade I winner for her connections sired by Gun Runner on the card. An Eclipse winner herself in 2021 with a perfect four-for-four 2-year-old season that included romping victories...

It's a bit of Christmas in August Saturday at venerable Saratoga Race Course, which plays host to no fewer than five Grade I events for horses of all ages--on dirt and on turf--topped by the main event on the summer calendar, the $1.25-million GI Travers S. While the fields are short on numbers, they are long on quality, as three of the races have attracted reigning Eclipse Award winners, none of whom are anything close to a cinch in their respective heats. Champion and 'TDN Rising Star' Forte (Violence) has...

Winchell Thoroughbreds and L and N Racing's Echo Zulu (Gun Runner) has won three Grade Is and earned an Eclipse Award, but in Wednesday's GII Honorable Miss H. the 4-year-old filly added to her resume when she posted a Beyer Speed Figure of 112--the fastest number recorded by any horse going six furlongs this year. "I'm extremely proud of her race. That obviously was an impressive race and that would put a [big] number on it," Asmussen said. "I'm very happy with how she came out of the race yesterday....

Getting down to business early, the champion 2-year-old filly from 2021 and 'TDN Rising Star' Echo Zulu, added the second graded stakes victory of her 4-year-old campaign with a geared-down win in the GII Honorable Miss H. Wednesday afternoon at Saratoga Race Course. Breaking from the inside post position, the 2-5 favorite rushed out to the early lead and was shadowed by Frank's Rockette through a quarter in :22.02 and a half in :44.45. Echo Zulu waved good bye to that foe at the top of the lane, striding clear...

The GII Honorable Miss H. at Saratoga is named after the highly-successful multiple stakes-winning mare from the 1970s. Owned by Edith Bancroft's sons who carried on the family tradition established by their grandfather, William Woodward Sr., the pair founded Pen-Y-Bryn Farm after their own mother's passing. With only four entered, this year's edition is highlighted by the Saratoga return of '21 champion 2-year-old filly and MGISW Echo Zulu (Gun Runner). The Steve Asmussen trainee won her juvenile debut at the Spa when she soared to become a 'TDN Rising Star'...

No stranger to layoffs, champion 2-year-old filly and 'TDN Rising Star' Echo Zulu (Gun Runner) made her first start of 2023 a winning one with a runaway score in Churchill's GIII Winning Colors S. On the sidelines since a game second to 2022 champion female sprinter Goodnight Olive (Ghostzapper) in the GI Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint, she returned to the races in this six-furlong sprint--the shortest distance she's ever raced--without missing a beat, looking every bit the 3-10 favorite. Sharp from an outside gate, Echo Zulu went out...

Champion Echo Zulu (Gun Runner) and probable champion Epicenter (Not This Time) topped a busy worktab for Steve Asmussen's potential Breeders' Cup starters Sunday morning at Keeneland as the racing world draws closer than two weeks away from the 39th World Championships in Lexington Nov. 4-5. With exercise rider Wilson Fabian aboard, Echo Zulu drilled five furlongs in :59 2/5 in company with Marsalis (Curlin). The move was the fastest five-eighths of 30 Sunday over the fast main track. Echo Zulu, who returned off a layoff to win the GIII...

"It all happened only because my wife, Elise, is very careful about where she walks...especially around horses." A Chicago-area veteran and established local TV news anchor, Ron Magers knows a good story when he hears one. It was Gulfstream Park in the spring of 1990 when Ron, accompanied by his wife, Elise, were making their way out of the paddock on their way to the airport at the end of the day's races. When something shiny in the dirt caught Elise's eye, she bent and scooped up what was an...

Trainer Steve Asmussen sent five Breeders' Cup contenders out to work Sunday at Keeneland. Grade I-winning fillies Clairiere (Curlin) and Society (Gun Runner), working in company, went five furlongs in a bullet :59.80 (1/34) in preparation for the Nov. 5 GI Breeders' Cup Distaff. The duo worked through fractions of :11.80, :23.80, :35.60, :47.60, :59.80 and out six furlongs in 1:13.20. Epicenter (Not This Time), off since winning the GI Runhappy Travers S. Aug. 27, worked five furlongs in company in 1:00.20 (3/34) in preparation for the Nov. 5 GI...

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...

Bill Betz won't forget the first day he worked on the farm he now calls home. Dr. McGee's son never even got out of his car, just told the college kid to start out front and work his way up. "Back then they had those weed-eaters with a motor you strapped onto your back," Betz recalls. "Weighed about 40lbs. So 7:00 a.m., I started weeding down the front of the farm. Get to 10:00 a.m., 11:00 a.m., 12:00 p.m., 1:00 p.m., I don't see anybody. I'm thinking, 'Boy, people really...

Echo Zulu (Gun Runner), last year's champion 2-year-old filly, will be sent to Kentucky for additional tests after being scratched behind the gate before Saturday's GI Acorn S. at Belmont Park. The filly was scratched by the track veterinarian due to lameness in her left foreleg, but X-rays taken Saturday were all clean, according to trainer Steve Asmussen. "She is giving us all the signs that we want to see," said Scott Blasi, assistant to Asmussen, who added that the filly will be shipped to Kentucky for a full evaluation...