Grade I winner Zulu Alpha (Street Cry {Ire}–Zori, by A.P. Indy) has been scratched out of Saturday's GII Calumet Turf Cup and Kentucky Downs and will be retired from racing. The 8-year-old will take up residence at Old Friends.
“I'm going to scratch Zulu,” Hui told the KY Downs notes team. “He's going to be retired to Old Friends. There's not a whole lot that's physically wrong with him. After consultation with Mike this weekend, he just believes he will not be competitive at this level.”
Claimed by Hui and Ortiz for $80,000 out of a winning effort at Churchill Downs in September of 2018, Zulu Alpha won the GIII Sycamore S. in his first start for those connections and was subsequently transferred to Mike Maker. Capturing the GIII W.L. McKnight S.and GII Mac Diarmida S. at the start of 2019, the gelding took the GIII Kentucky Turf Cup S. later that season.
Scoring a career high with a win in the GI Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational S. in 2020, Zulu Alpha followed suit with asuccessful title defense in the Mac Diarmida and won the GII TVG Elkhorn S. two starts after that. Shelved after finishing third in the 2020 Kentucky Turf Cup last September, he was off the board in his two starts this year in the July 17 GIII Arlington S. and GI Mr. D. S. Aug. 14. Zulu Alpha retires with 12 wins from 37 starts and hit the board an additional 11 times, earning $2,269,084.
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