Grade 1 Winner Zulu Alpha Retired From Racing

Zulu Alpha , winner of the 2020 Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational Stakes Presented by Runhappy (G1T) and more than $2.26 million in earnings, has been retired by owner Michael Hui. 

The Street Cry gelding will soon join Old Friends Equine Thoroughbred retirement home in Georgetown, Ky., Hui said Sept. 10. Zulu Alpha will be scratched from the Sept. 11 Calumet Turf Cup Stakes (G2T) at Kentucky Downs, a race he won in 2019. 

Trained by Mike Maker, Zulu Alpha was coming back from a layoff after going to the sideline following a third in the 2020 Turf Cup. Racing for the first time since last September, he was fifth in the July 17 Arlington Stakes (G3T) and seventh in the Aug. 14 Mr. D. Stakes (G1T), both at Arlington International Racecourse.

"He's been with Mike since March and there was a plan we laid out for him," Hui said. "We dismissed the first race at Arlington as a fitness issue off the layoff, because he came out of the race fine. He was pretty tired, but he was still the same old 'Zulu' and we just expected he needed that one.

"In the Mr. D., what concerned Mike, is that he came out noticeably in deep stretch. Coming out of the race he was still sound, but he was very tired."

Hui said he decided to drop the curtain on the 8-year-old runner's career after an assessment from Maker, who had six horses entered in the upcoming Turf Cup.

"I said, 'Well, how do we look?' And he said, 'He's training like the old 'Zulu' but I don't know if he can be competitive with the horses I have entered,' and that tells you everything you need to know," the owner said.

After Zulu Alpha won the 2020 TVG Elkhorn Stakes (G2T) at Keeneland, Hui worked out an arrangement to eventually send the gelding to Old Friends. He had Hogy there until the multiple graded stakes winner died earlier this year.

Bred in Kentucky by Calumet Farm out of the A.P. Indy mare Zori, Zulu Alpha began his career in Ireland for his breeder and made four starts there before he returned to the United States. He retires with a 12-5-6 record from 37 starts, for earnings of $2,269,084. Hui claimed the gelding almost exactly three years ago for $80,000 with the 2019 Calumet Turf Cup in mind, which he won by 3 1/4 lengths. After that claim Zulu Alpha won seven graded stakes.

Of his favorite memories from the gelding's career, Hui said the Pegasus and the Elkhorn stand out.

"It was kind of eerie because there was no one in attendance, but you don't get the opportunity to win that many graded stakes races at Keeneland, so fans or no fans, that would be a great memory," he said. "And for the Pegasus win I was speechless; it was just off the charts crazy.

"I'm happy to just say thank you and give him a great after-racing life. He's been a joy to own, for sure."

Zulu Alpha, currently with Maker's string at Churchill Downs, will make the journey to Old Friends in the following weeks.

"I'm not really a true horseman; I'm more of a racetrack guy," Hui said. "I was very blessed to have Hogy, and unfortunately he passed. But Zulu, at the racetrack he was at a different level. Very competitive but he also liked attention from humans. His race record speaks for itself. He took me to a level I had never dreamed of. The right thing to do is while he's good, he deserves the utmost in retirement."