Winchell Thoroughbreds and champion of L and N Racing Echo Zulu looking to get back to 1st grade on June 11 with $500,000 Acorn Stakes (G1) at Belmont Park.
3 year old daughter of Gunman coached by Steve Asmussen had only one loss in her six career starts, finishing fourth in the Longines Kentucky Oaks (G1). Acorn’s one-mile cut could match last year’s 2-year-old Eclipse champion, who regularly fails to win by a big 1 1/16 mile or less. In her first test of the one mile at the Frizette Stakes (G1) in Belmont, she won 7 1/4 lengths and followed that performance with a 5 1/4 length win in the NetJets Breeders ‘Juvenile Fillies Cup (G1). The chubby guy will win another 1/16 mile race after the Breeder’s Cup at Fair Grounds Oaks (G2), but only by a nose.
“I think she ran great in the Oaks to not finish second in the long run and get through one race of the year,” said Dave Fiske, Winchell’s racing and blood team advisor. “I think she did a great job. At such a fast pace, you would think she would be more efficient in one turn.”
Fiske added that when it came to Acorn, the bad girl didn’t seem to have lost her edge.
“I watched her work last week and her gymnast couldn’t stand any taller, straighter than any iron. He just put his hand on her shoulder and never moved. “, I said.
Echo Zulu will drop out of 5th place under Joel Rosario, who has been a regular since Breeders’ Cup. They are the high weight of the field at 123 pounds.
In Acorn, Echo Zulu faces only four challengers, including Godolphin’s hybrid Matareya daughter of the Nile Pioneer, who entered the race with a decisive victory 2 1/4 length May 6 in the Eight Belles Stakes presented by TwinSpires (G2) at Churchill Downs.
Trained by Brad Cox and driven by Flavien Prat, Matareya has been tested twice at distances of a mile or so. She placed fifth in Darley Alcibiades Stakes (G1) at Keenelandshe finished off the table only in 2nd place and second after Secret Vow in an allowance mile. December 31 at Oaklawn Park. This year, she just sprinted, but won two ranked shares thanks to a seven-fold increase in better returns. She won the Beaumont Stakes presented by Keeneland Select (G3) with a length of 8 1/2.
Matareya will rest in 4th place with 120 pounds.
Hall of Fame Coach Todd Pletcher Will Send Repole Stable and Woodford Racing’s Invention for her equity launch. The Union Rags filly started her career in April and finished runner-up in each of her first starts. She completed the preparations for Acorn on June 4, working together with Malathaat through a four-layer long breeze in: 48.75.
Irad Ortiz Jr will ride, and Inventing will carry 118 pounds.
Rounding this field is Dream Lith a daughter of Medaglia d’Oro who won the Golden Rod Stakes (G2) in 2nd place but was eliminated in three spots this year to Cypress Creek Equine and Arnold Bennewith owners and coach Robertino Diodoro; and Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners and Long Valley Stables’ Divine Hunter to trainer Graham Motion, who watched Circuit probe finished fourth last in Black-Eyed Susan Stakes (G2).
Item: Acorn S. (G1)
Belmont ParkSaturday, June 11, 2022, Race 3
- Level I
- 1m
- Dust
- 500,000 dollars
- 3 yo Fillies
- 12:33pm (local)
