Echo Zulu Dominates Frizette to Remain Undefeated
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Photo: Coglianese Photos
Echo Zulu wins the Frizette Stakes at Belmont Park
Trainer Steve Asmussen had won the Frizette Stakes (G1) at Belmont Park three times before this year, winning impressively with My Miss Aurelia (2011), Nickname (2015), and Wicked Whisper (2019), all of whom went on to successful racing careers, with My Miss Aurelia winning the Grey Goose Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1) en route to being voted champion 2-year-old filly.
His fourth winner in the Frizette, Echo Zulu , may well be better than all of them, on the strength of her 7 1/4- length win Oct. 3. Now 3-for-3, she's never won by less than four lengths and is a two-time grade 1 winner, her first grade 1 victory coming in the Sept.5 Spinaway Stakes (G1) at Saratoga Race Course.
Under Ricardo Santana Jr., Echo Zulu broke from post 6 over a fast Belmont track and went right to the lead, maintaining a short and easy advantage until the quarter pole in the one-turn mile race. Briefly challenged entering the stretch, the bay filly effortlessly slipped into another gear, increasing the distance between herself and her rivals, hitting the wire in a final time of 1:35.12 after running splits of :22.38, :45.98, and 1:10.40.
"I was (concerned); very much so. I watched the race from up the stretch, a long ways across to the backside—(and they went) :22 and 1, :45 and change," said Asmussen. "But the first thing Ricardo said when he came back was that he couldn't believe how relaxed she was. He said her ears were up and she was relaxed and within herself."
"It felt like I was walking, how she was doing it," said Santana. "She was really impressive for a 2-year old. She broke good and was waiting for the company. When the company got to her, she took off again."
The connections of Echo Zulu in the winner's circle after the Frizette Stakes at Belmont Park
The daughter of Gun Runner was purchased at the 2020 Keeneland September Yearling sale for $300,000 out of the Betz Thoroughbreds consignment by Winchell Thoroughbreds, who with Three Chimneys Farm campaigned the stallion to a near $16 million career. Winchell Thoroughbreds owns Echo Zulu in partnership with L and N Racing. She was bred in Kentucky by Betz/J. Betz/Burns/CHNNHK/Magers/CoCo Equine/Ramsby.
Echo Zulu is out of the Menifee mare Letgomyecho , whose abbreviated career included a win in the 2005 Stonerside Forward Gal Stakes (G2) at Gulfstream Park. She has been a prodigious producer of graded stakes performers and six-figure earners, including J Boys Echo (winner of the 2017 Gotham Stakes, G3), Echo Town (winner of the 2020 H. Allen Jerkens Stakes Presented by Runhappy, G1), and Unbridled Outlaw (third in the 2015 Iroquois Stakes, G3). Letgomyecho's last reported foal, a yearling American Pharoah filly named Doing Justice, sold for $1.4 million to Northshore Bloodstock, agent for Joe Allen, at the recent Keeneland September sale.
With the winner's share of the $400,000 purse, Echo Zulu has earned $440,000, a number that will rise significantly should her form carry her to a win in the 1 1/16-mile, $2 million Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1) at Del Mar on Nov. 5. The filly earned a spot in the race, along with traveling fees, with her win in the Frizette, a "Win and You're In" race.
"She obviously has a tremendous amount of ability and I think the big jump is to get to this level," said Asmussen. "The Spinaway and the Frizette—that sort of foundation and doing it multiple times gives you a tremendous amount of confidence. My worry was the Spinaway off one 5 1/2-furlong race with the (lack of) seasoning. The Spinaway and Frizette have eased all those tensions, now it's just up to how fast everybody is.
"For her to go a mile at Belmont, in solid fractions at Big Sandy… I'm extremely proud of her. We're very fortunate to have an obviously special horse."