Echo Zulu Targets Acorn; Likely to Focus on Sprints

Echo Zulu , the champion 2-year-old filly of 2021, may have seen her last race at two turns.

David Fiske, racing manager for Winchell Thoroughbreds, said the daughter of Gun Runner  , who finished a game fourth in the Longines Kentucky Oaks (G1), will be pointed to the June 11 one-turn mile Acorn Stakes (G1) at Belmont Park and will likely finish out the year in sprint races.

"The Acorn is likely next and I suspect she may never see another two-turn race again," Fiske said May 9 about the 3-year-old filly owned by L and N Racing and Winchell Thoroughbreds and trained by Steve Asmussen. "I don't think we want to run her in the Alabama Stakes (G1) or Coaching Club American Oaks (G1). She could go 1 1/16 miles around one turn at Belmont. That would not be beyond her scope. But the Acorn, the (Longines) Test Stakes (G1), the Breeders Cup Filly and Mare Sprint (G1) are the likely races for her."

Echo Zulu was a perfect 5-for-5 before the Kentucky Oaks, which was contested at 1 1/8 miles. Running for just the second time since her Nov. 5 win in the NetJets Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1). She pressed the pace of Yuugiri  in the Run for the Lillies and led briefly on the final turn before finishing fourth, three lengths behind Secret Oath .

"If you have the 2-year-old champion and she's doing OK, you go in the Oaks," Fiske said. "You give her a chance to show who she is. There were a lot of reasons to go, but her strong suit is probably around one turn sprinting."

Echo Zulu, who was bred by Betz/J. Betz/Burns/CHNNHK/Magers/CoCo Equine/Ramsby, was bought by Winchell for $300,000 at the Keeneland September Yearling Sale and has earned $1,776,875.

Winchell's Epicenter , who was second behind 80-1 shot Rich Strike  in the Kentucky Derby presented by Woodford Reserve (G1), remains a possibility for the May 21 Preakness Stakes (G1), provided he continued to show positive signs in his training for the second leg of the Triple Crown.

"Epicenter will go back to the track at Churchill Downs Wednesday," Fiske said about the son of Not This Time   who was the 4-1 favorite for Asmussen in the May 6 Run for the Roses. "He looks great at the moment, but we'll see what his energy level is like when he returns to the track and make a decision. If he were to go in the Preakness he would probably be the favorite. I don't know who else would be.

"It was not the result we were hoping for in the Derby and Oaks but the horses ran the way they were supposed to and they came back good. They didn't lose much in defeat."

Rich Strike, Epicenter, and Simplification , who was fourth, are the most likely candidates to run in both the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes.

Trainer Chad Brown said Monday that he would wait until the weekend to decide on the Preakness status of  Zandon , who was third in the Kentucky Derby. Brown already has a leading Preakness candidate in Early Voting , who was second in the Wood Memorial Stakes Presented by Resorts World Casino (G2) and did not run in the Kentucky Derby.