Echo Zulu will face some new hurdles in the $2 million NetJets Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1) Nov. 5 at Del Mar however eye-catching victories in her first three begins whereas stretching out a bit in every effort are offering confidence for her connections.
Campaigned by L and N Racing and Winchell Thoroughbreds, Echo Zulu has but to be challenged in her first three begins. After she gained her 5 1/2-furlong maiden debut by 5 1/2 lengths July 15 at Saratoga Race Course, Echo Zulu dealt with a category check by profitable the grade 1 Spinaway Stakes at seven furlongs Sept. 5 on the Spa earlier than efficiently stretching out to a mile within the Frizette Stakes (G1) Oct. 3 at Belmont Park. In that almost all current effort, she she drew off within the stretch to attain by 7 1/4 lengths.
Skilled by Steve Asmussen, Echo Zulu will begin exterior of New York for the primary time when she travels cross nation to Del Mar to start out because the 4-5 favourite within the Juvenile Fillies. Additionally, she is going to once more stretch out a bit whereas for the primary time making an attempt two turns within the 1 1/16-mile Juvenile Fillies.
Not that her connections want rather more purpose for optimism, however Echo Zulu is from the primary crop of Gun Runner , who wrapped up his Horse of the Year season with a 2 1/4-length victory in the 2017 Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1) at Del Mar. Asmussen also trained Gun Runner.
With the steady progression in distance of her one-turn races, Asmussen said after the Frizette that he’s confident she’s ready to try two turns. He said going from the maiden win to the grade 1 level in her second start gave him more concern than stretching out to two turns.
“The Spinaway and the Frizette—that form of basis and doing it a number of occasions offers you an amazing quantity of confidence,” Asmussen mentioned. “My fear was (beginning within the) Spinaway off one 5 1/2-furlong maiden race with the [lack of] seasoning. The Spinaway and Frizette have eased all these tensions; now it is simply as much as how briskly everyone is.”
Seven-time Breeders’ Cup winner Asmussen, who gained the 2011 Juvenile Fillies with My Miss Aurelia , shipped Echo Zulu to Southern California early. She worked five furlongs at Santa Anita Park Oct. 15 and five furlongs Oct. 22.
Echo Zulu is not the only filly entered off a dominating grade 1 victory by a trainer with a previous Juvenile Fillies winner. In her most recent start Albaugh Family Stables’ Juju’s Map, a daughter of Liam’s Map , opened up in Keeneland‘s quick stretch at 1 1/16 miles to put up a 4 1/4-length victory within the Darley Alcibiades Stakes (G1) Oct. 8.
Juju’s Map is educated by Brad Cox, a seven-time Breeders’ Cup winner who saddled British Idiom to victory in the 2019 Juvenile Fillies. Cox was pleased with an in-hand work by Juju’s Map in which she completed five furlongs in a bullet :59 3/5 Oct. 29 at Churchill Downs whereas working with 4-year-old stakes-winning filly Matera .
“She was well in hand throughout the work, and it was exactly what we were looking for at this stage,” Cox said. “This filly seemed to improve a little bit since her win in the Alcibiades, which is what these horses need to do this time of year leading into the Breeders’ Cup.”
The most accomplished Southern California-based runner in the field is Old Bones Racing Stable, Michael Lombardi, and Joey Platts’ Ain’t Easy , who posted a 4 3/4-length victory in the Chandelier Stakes (G2)—contested at the Juvenile Fillies distance—Oct. 1 at Santa Anita. The undefeated daughter of leading sire Into Mischief also has a 5 1/4-length maiden win at Del Mar in her debut.
Ain’t Easy is trained by Phil D’Amato, who liked how she comfortably rated in third and willingly punched through along the rail in the backstretch early in the Chandelier under Joel Rosario before taking command. D’Amato, who earned a Breeders’ Cup win with Obviously in the 2016 Turf Sprint (G1T) at Santa Anita, also thinks the Chandelier will serve as a good prep.
“A good two-turn experience, confidence booster, an easy win, where it didn’t look like she was taxed too much,” D’Amato noted after the race. “So I like everything I saw right now.”
D’Amato also has entered Desert Dawn off her third-place finish in the Chandelier.
Also entered off a pair of impressive victories is Hidden Connection , a daughter of first-crop sire Connect who has won her two races by a combined 16 3/4 lengths. Trained by Bret Calhoun for owners Hidden Brook Farm and Black Type Thoroughbreds, Hidden Connection won her maiden debut on the dirt at Colonial Downs then overwhelmed 9 rivals within the 1 1/16-mile Pocahontas Stakes (G3) Sept. 18 at Churchill.
Rounding out the sector are Alcibiades third-place finisher Sequist , Spinaway runner-up Tarabi , and Nest , off an impressive debut maiden win for trainer Todd Pletcher.
OFFICIAL: Post Positions for the $2 Million @NetJets #BreedersCup Juvenile Fillies at @DelMarRacing on #FutureStarsFriday.
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— Breeders’ Cup (@BreedersCup) November 1, 2021
