TDN RISING STARS

January 18, 2020 - Fair Grounds, Race 8, Msw, USD $50,000, 6F, .0000

Echo Town, c, 3, 2017 by Speightstown

1st Dam: Letgomyecho (GSW, $136,200), by Menifee
2nd Dam: Echo Echo Echo, by Eastern Echo
3rd Dam: Kashie West, by Sir Ivor

Owner: L and N Racing LLC
Breeder: Betz, J Betz, Burns, CHNNHK Thoroughbreds, Magers, CoCo Equine et al (KY)
Trainer: Steven M. Asmussen

Sent off the lesser-preferred half of an uncoupled Steve Asmussen-trained entry at 13-1, Echo Town (Speightstown) was consigned to a three-wide, no-cover trip, but nonetheless went through his gears in a fast final quarter-mile to become the afternoon's second 'TDN Rising Star' in the Big Easy.

Content to track from off the pace while monitoring the every move of his even-money stablemate Earner (Carpe Diem), a $425,000 Keeneland September graduate, Echo Town-himself a $100,000 purchase by the connections of GI Kentucky Derby runner-up Lookin At Lee (Lookin At Lucky)-ranged up three wide outside of Earner nearing the stretch, claimed that one with relative ease with about a furlong to travel and was ridden out through the final sixteenth of a mile to score by about 2 1/2 eased-down lengths in a time that was only 0.84 seconds slower than that record by paternal half-brother Bobby's Wicked One in winning the Duncan F. Kenner S. earlier on the program. His final two furlongs were clocked in a slick :23.49.

A son of the 2005 GII Forward Gal S. winner Letgomyecho, Echo Town is a half-brother to J Boys Echo (Mineshaft), victorious in the GIII Gotham S. in 2017; and to Grade III-placed juvenile Unbridled Outlaw (Unbridled's Song). Echo Town is a half-brother to a Candy Ride (Arg) colt that fetched $150,000 at KEESEP last fall and a yearling colt from the first crop of Horse of the Year Gun Runner. Letgomyecho visited fellow Horse of the Year American Pharoah in 2019.