Echo Zulu, Epicenter Light Up Fair Grounds Worktab

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Echo Zulu, Epicenter Light Up Fair Grounds Worktab
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Photo: Edward Whitaker/Racing Post
Echo Zulu wins the 2021 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies at Del Mar

Winchell Thoroughbreds' champion 2-year-old filly Echo Zulu  and impressive Risen Star Stakes presented by Larmarque Ford (G2) winner Epicenter  lit up the March 7 morning work tab at the Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots.

According to Winchell Thoroughbreds racing manager David Fiske, both Steve Asmussen trainees worked "exactly how we wanted them to go."

Epicenter, making his second breeze since the Feb. 19 Risen Star, drilled five furlongs in company in a bullet :59.60. The 3-year-old son of Not This Time   worked an easy half-mile the week before in :52, nine days after the Risen Star.

"He's doing great. He looked almost effortless breezing this morning," said Fiske. "He's hanging in there knock on wood and hopefully he makes the next step towards the Derby."

In the Risen Star, Epicenter led from gate-to-wire, powering away from a top-class field of rivals that included graded stakes winners Smile Happy , Pappacap , Slow Down Andy , and Remsen Stakes (G2) runner-up Zandon  for a 2 3/4-length score. Prior to the Risen Star, Epicenter captured the Gun Runner Stakes as a 2-year-old and was a narrow runner-up to Call Me Midnight  in the Jan. 22 Lecomte Stakes (G3).

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Currently sitting atop the Road to the Kentucky Derby leaderboard with 64 points, Epicenter is targeting the lucrative Twinspires.com Louisiana Derby (G2) on March 26. The Louisiana Derby, which carries a $1 million purse, is worth 100 Derby points to the winner.

Echo Zulu, owned in partnership with L & N Racing, breezed five-furlongs in 1:00.80, drawing away noticeably from her workmate in the final strides before the wire. The undefeated juvenile filly champion, given a freshening off her stellar 2021 campaign, recorded her fifth workout on Monday since resuming training. She is yet to make her 3-year-old debut, though Fiske indicated the March 26 Twinspires.com Fair Grounds Oaks (G2) is a possibility.

The Gun Runner   filly is currently ranked sixth on the Road to the Longines Kentucky Oaks (G1) leaderboard with 30 points, which were earned in her 2021 wins in the NetJets Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1) and Frizette Stakes (G1).

"If she makes the Kentucky Oaks great but we're not going to take her out of her comfort zone just to make the Oaks," said Fiske. "There are a lot of grade 1 races out there and she's already a champion. If she makes the Fair Grounds Oaks I'd say there's a pretty good chance she'd be looking at the Kentucky Oaks."