Echo Zulu Primed to Regain Winning Form in Acorn
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Echo Zulu
Winchell Thoroughbreds and L and N Racing's champion Echo Zulu is looking to regain her grade 1 form June 11 in the $500,000 Acorn Stakes (G1) at Belmont Park.
The 3-year-old daughter of Gun Runner trained by Steve Asmussen has only one loss among her six career starts, having finished fourth last out in the Longines Kentucky Oaks (G1). Cutting back to the Acorn's one-mile distance is likely to suit last year's Eclipse champion 2-year-old filly, who has more often than not won by large margins at 1 1/16 miles or less. In her first test at a mile in the Frizette Stakes (G1) at Belmont, she won by 7 1/4 lengths and followed that performance with a 5 1/4-length win in the NetJets Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1). The filly would win another 1 1/16-mile race after the Breeders' Cup in the Fair Grounds Oaks (G2), but only by a nose.
"I thought she ran great in the Oaks to miss being second by a length and off one race for the year," said Dave Fiske, Winchell's racing and bloodstock adviser. "I thought she did really well. As fast as she is, you'd have to figure she's going to be more effective around one turn."
Fiske added that coming into the Acorn, the filly appears to have lost none of her edge.
"I watched her work last week and her exercise rider couldn't have been standing any taller, any straighter in the irons. He just had hands on her withers and never moved," he said.
Echo Zulu will break from post 5 under Joel Rosario, who has been aboard regularly since the Breeders' Cup. They are the field's highweight at 123 pounds.
In the Acorn, Echo Zulu faces only four challengers, including Godolphin's homebred Matareya , a daughter of Pioneerof the Nile who comes into the race off a decisive 2 1/4-length win May 6 in the Eight Belles Stakes Presented by TwinSpires (G2) at Churchill Downs.
Trained by Brad Cox and to be ridden by Flavien Prat, Matareya has been tested twice at a mile or longer. She ran fifth in the Darley Alcibiades Stakes (G1) at Keeneland, her only off-the-board finish at 2, and was second behind Secret Oath in a mile allowance Dec. 31 at Oaklawn Park. This year she's only sprinted, but won two graded stakes by healthy margins going seven furlongs. She won the Beaumont Stakes Presented by Keeneland Select (G3) by 8 1/2 lengths.
Matareya will break from post 4 carrying 120 pounds.
Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher will send out Repole Stable and Woodford Racing's Inventing for her stakes debut. The Union Rags filly started her career in April and posted runner-up efforts in each of her first two starts. She completed her Acorn preparation June 4, working in company with Malathaat through a four-furlong breeze in :48.75.
Irad Ortiz Jr. will ride, and Inventing will carry 118 pounds.
Rounding out the field is Dream Lith , a daughter of Medaglia d'Oro who won the Golden Rod Stakes (G2) at 2 but has been unplaced in three stakes this year for owners Cypress Creek Equine and Arnold Bennewith and trainer Robertino Diodoro; and Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners and Long Valley Stables' Divine Huntress for trainer Graham Motion, who watched his Divining Rod filly finish fourth last out in the Black-Eyed Susan Stakes (G2).
Belmont Park, Saturday, June 11, 2022, Race 3Entries: Acorn S. (G1)
PP
Horse
Jockey
Wgt
Trainer
M/L
1
1Dream Lith (KY)
Ramon A. Vazquez
120
Robertino Diodoro
15/1
2
2Inventing (KY)
Irad Ortiz, Jr.
118
Todd A. Pletcher
20/1
3
3Divine Huntress (MD)
Luis Saez
118
H. Graham Motion
12/1
4
4Matareya (KY)
Flavien Prat
120
Brad H. Cox
6/5
5
5Echo Zulu (KY)
Joel Rosario
123
Steven M. Asmussen
3/5
