Making the Grade: Zulu

Zulu, pictured winning his debut, landed squarely in Derby contention with his second-place finish in the Fountain of Youth Stakes. (Photos by Eclipse Sportswire)
Making the Grade, which will run through the 2016 Belmont Stakes, focuses on the winners of the big races, usually from the previous weekend, who could impact the next Triple Crown. We’ll be taking a close look at impressive winners and evaluating their chances to win classic races based upon ability, running style, connections (owner, trainer, jockey) and pedigree.
This week we take a closer look at Zulu, runner-up in the $400,000 Xpressbet.com Fountain of Youth Stakes on Feb. 27 at Gulfstream Park.

Zulu

Bay Colt
Sire (Father): Bernardini
Dam (Mother): Temporada, by Summer Squall
Owner: Stonestreet Stables, Susan Magnier, Michael Tabor and Derrick Smith
Breeder: Ron Magers and Robert Marcocchio (Ky.)
Trainer: Todd Pletcher
Kentucky Derby Points: 20 (Ranked No. 10)

Zulu is an interesting subject for this blog because he did not, in fact, make the grade in the Fountain of Youth Stakes. He finished second to one of the leading Kentucky Derby contenders in undefeated Mohaymen, but the runner-up finish lifted him all the way to 10th place on the Road to the Kentucky Derby Leaderboard and placed him in great position to make the field for the first jewel of the Triple Crown with even a decent effort in his final Kentucky Derby prep race.
Ability: After posting convincing victories in both of his first two starts in sprint races, Zulu was tested in the Fountain of Youth by trainer Todd Pletcher. While he was defeated for the first time in his career, the Bernardini colt posted a career-best 111 Equibase Speed Figure in the Fountain of Youth. The 16-point jump is especially significant given he was stretching out in distance to 1 1/16 miles and going around two turns for the first time. It’s very appealing to see a runner with sprinter speed show the improvement Zulu did when going that farthest he has to date in his career.
Zulu sold twice at auction. The first time he sold for $400,000 in the first book of the 2014 Keeneland September yearling sale, which is reserved for only the most physically impressive yearlings with strong pedigrees. Zulu subsequently sold for $900,000 to his current ownership group at the 2015 Fasig-Tipton Florida sale of selected 2-year-olds in training.
Running style: Zulu set the pace through a blistering half-mile in :45.18 in his career debut and pulled away to win by two lengths. He showed the ability to rate in his second race, pressing the leader through a half-mile before imposing his will on that rival and powering away to a 7 ¼-length runaway while the pacemaker faded to finish last of seven. Zulu used similar tactics in the Fountain of Youth, pressing the pace and then taking the lead briefly before yielding to Mohaymen.
Zulu has the speed to set the pace in a sprint, so his cruising speed is definitely a key weapon in his arsenal. If the early tempo is leisurely, Zulu can seize command and take it to his opponents. If the pace is swift, he can place himself in position to make the first move entering the stretch. His cruising speed is a valuable asset. 
ZULU (RIGHT) AND MOHAYMEN IN THE FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH

Connections: Zulu’s trainer, Todd Pletcher, won the Kentucky Derby in 2010 with Super Saver and the Belmont Stakes in 2007 with Rags to Riches and 2013 with Palace Malice. The seven-time Eclipse Award winner as outstanding trainer served as an assistant to Hall of Famer D. Wayne Lukas before going out on his own in 1996. Pletcher has eclipsed $10-million in purse earnings for 13 straight years (2003-2015), including eight years in which his runners bankrolled more than $20-million. Pletcher led all North American trainers by purse earnings from 2010 through 2015 with his career-best total of $28,116,097 coming in 2007.
Pletcher has nine victories in the Breeders’ Cup World Championships, two of which came in 2015 with Liam’s Map (Las Vegas Dirt Mile) and Stopchargingmaria (Longines Distaff). Pletcher is the all-time leader among North American trainers by purse earnings with $309,904,375.
Jockey John Velazquez won the Kentucky Derby in 2011 with Animal Kingdom and owns a pair of Eclipse Awards. Velazquez guided Rags to Riches to victory in the Belmont Stakes in 2007 and also guided Union Rags to victory in the 2012 Belmont.
Velazquez, a 2012 inductee into the Racing Hall of Fame, also guided Destin to victory in the Sam F. Davis Stakes for Pletcher. He won his first Breeders’ Cup race in 1998 with Da Hoss and has 13 victories in the World Championships to date.
Velazquez is the all-time leading rider by career purse earnings with $340,323,837 through March 3.
Zulu is owned by the partnership of Stonestreet Stables, Susan Magnier, Michael Tabor and Derrick Smith.
California vintner Jess Jackson, who died in April 2011, founded Stonestreet Stables. Jackson’s wife Barbara Banke now runs the operation. Stonestreet won the Preakness in 2007 with Curlin and 2009 with Rachel Alexandra, both of whom went on to win Horse of the Year. Curlin was a two-time Horse of the Year winner who also won the 2007 Breeders’ Cup Classic. Stonestreet also won the 2011 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies with My Miss Aurelia.
Susan Magnier, Michael Tabor and Derrick Smith are associates of Coolmore Stud, one of the world’s most important breeding operations. The trio raced 2013 Breeders’ Cup Turf winner Magician.
Magnier is the daughter of the legendary Irish trainer Vincent O'Brien, who won 42 classic races in Europe during his career. Her husband, John Magnier, is the managing partner of Coolmore.
Tabor jumped into Thoroughbred racing in the mid-1990s after selling his 114-shop betting company, Prince Arthur, in Great Britain to rival Coral. He succeeded Robert Sangster as a partner in the Coolmore Stud business and made a splash in America in May 1995 when Thunder Gulch won the Kentucky Derby.
Smith is an Englishman who worked for the British bookmakers, Ladbrokes, before leaving in 1988 to go into business on his own. Among the horses he has owned in partnership with Tabor include Rags to Riches and Lion Heart as well as Pomeroy, Sense of Style and Chapel Royal.
2016 FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH STAKES

Video courtesy of Gulfstream Park
Pedigree: Zulu is from the sixth crop of 2006 champion 3-year-old male Bernardini, who won that year’s Preakness Stakes as well as the Travers and Jockey Club Gold Cup Stakes at 1 ¼ miles. Bernardini has sired 33 group or graded stakes winners to date, including 2011 Travers victor Stay Thirsty, 2012 Travers winner Alpha, 2012 Woodward Stakes winner To Honor and Serve and one of the most highly regarded 3-year-old fillies of 2016 in Rachel’s Valentina. Bernardini has proved a sire capable of elite runners going a route of ground.

Previous Making the Grades
Nyquist
Exaggerator
Airoforce
Flexibility
Collected
Mo Tom
Discreetness
Sunny Ridge
Mohaymen
Mor Spirit
Gun Runner

Zulu is one of 10 winners from 11 starters out of the winning Summer Squall mare Temporada, who also has produced Grade 3-placed multiple stakes winner Third Chance and multiple stakes winner Banner Bill as well as stakes-placed winner Stormy Afternoon. Both Third Chance and Banner Bill were stakes winners sprinting, although the latter won six races at a mile or longer.
Zulu’s grandam (maternal grandmother), Lehmi Go, was a talented racemare who won four stakes, including the Grade 2 La Prevoyante Invitational Handicap at 1 ½ miles on a muddy main track. His third dam (maternal great grandmother) finished third in the Grade 1 Spinaway Stakes and second in the Grade 2 Adirondack Stakes in 1982.
From a pedigree standpoint, there are some positive and some negatives when it comes to assessing Zulu’s Derby chances. On one hand, he’s by a sire very capable of an elite runner going around two turns from a female family that has some class. On the other hand, outside of Lehmi Go, much of that class came in sprint races. 
With only three races under his belt in March, Zulu has a ton of ground to make up to become a legitimate threat for the Kentucky Derby, but the Fountain of Youth was an encouraging step in that direction for a colt with plenty of speed an
d enough class in his pedigree to warrant excitement.