It was back to work for Echo Zulu Aug. 17 at Saratoga Race Course.
The 3-year-old filly, owned by L and N Racing and Winchell Thoroughbreds, had her first recorded breeze since June 5 when she went four furlongs in :53.64 over the Oklahoma Training Track.
"It wasn't unexpected," said David Fiske, the racing manager for Winchell Thoroughbreds. "She has been up at Saratoga for several weeks galloping around and getting ready to work. The only unplanned part was the work got moved up a day due to potential weather. We just wanted her to stretch her legs and not do anything too serious."
Echo Zulu, last year's Eclipse Award winning 2-year-old filly, was scratched from the Acorn Stakes (G1) at Belmont Park. Fiske said following the June 11 race, the filly was tested "from nose to tail" and she received a clean bill of health.
"We walked her for a few weeks," Fiske said. "If she had been any other horse, we probably would have went on with her. She is pretty valuable, and we tend to treat her with kid gloves."
Fiske said that Echo Zulu, a daughter of leading second-crop sire Gun Runner , never left Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen's barn.
There is no schedule in place for Echo Zulu's next start.
"We just wanted to give her some time off," Fiske said, "and then bring her back and, hopefully, get some more victories later in the year."
Echo Zulu hasn't run since finishing fourth May 6 in the Longines Kentucky Oaks (G1) at Churchill Downs. In her only other start this year, she won the March 26 Twinspires.com Fair Grounds Oaks (G2).
In her championship season last year, Echo Zulu won all four of her starts, three of them grade 1 races. The season culminated in a victory in the NetJets Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1) at Del Mar.
Romans Serving as Host for Two Travers Invaders
Trainer Dale Romans is running a Travers hotel at his barn on the backstretch at Saratoga Race Course.
Romans doesn't have a horse running in the $1.25 million Runhappy Travers Stakes (G1) Aug. 27, but he has been playing the role of host for a couple of runners in the Midsummer Derby.
The Eric Reed-trained Rich Strike, winner of the Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (G1), has a stall in the Romans' barn as does Ain't Life Grand, who captured the Iowa Derby at Prairie Meadows last month for trainer Kelly Von Hemel.
The two colts are next door to each other on the shedrow.
Romans has a connection to both. He trained Rich Strike's sire, Keen Ice , to a win in the 2015 Travers over Triple Crown winner American Pharoah . He also trained Ain't Life Grand's daddy, Not This Time . Not This Time was second in the 2016 Sentient Jet Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1).
"It's cool to watch them train," Romans said Aug. 17 outside his barn. "It's fun to be a little involved. I tell everyone they are my grandsons. The one colt reminds me of Not This Time; he looks a lot like him. This other colt doesn't look anything like Keen Ice, other than he is big and strong. Different colors, though."
Skippylongstocking Will Wait for Pennsylvania Derby
Twelve 3-year-old Thoroughbred names were on the list of nominations for the $1.25 million Runhappy Travers (G1) at Saratoga Race Course.
Daniel Alonso's Skippylongstocking was not one of them.
Winner of the Aug. 6 West Virginia Derby (G3) in his last start, Skippylongstocking was initially considered for a run in the Midsummer Derby. However. After thinking it through, trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. decided the $1 million Pennsylvania Derby (G1) at Parx Racing Sept. 24 was the way to go.
There, he is likely to face Runhappy Santa Anita Derby (G1) winner and TVG.com Haskell Stakes (G1) runner-up Taiba , trained by Bob Baffert.
Skippylongstocking, a son of Exaggerator, won his first graded stakes race in the West Virginia Derby. Before that start, he had finished third in the Belmont Stakes Presented by NYRA Bets (G1), fifth in the Preakness Stakes (G1), and third in the Wood Memorial Stakes Presented by Resorts World Casino (G2).
"Timing-wise, it worked out a lot better," Joseph said outside his barn on the backstretch Aug. 17. "Obviously, the Travers is coming up tough. We were definitely tempted, even before the West Virginia Derby. We would be running back in three weeks, and we'd by 15-, 20-1. It made more sense to go to the Pennsylvania Derby."
Joseph won the 2019 Pennsylvania Derby with 31-1 longshot Math Wizard. It was the first grade 1 win for Joseph.
Pletcher Will Have Four in Jockey Club Gold Cup
Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher is going to be a busy man Sept. 3, the final Saturday of the 40-day meet at Saratoga Race Course.
He is expected to saddle four horses in the $1.25 million Jockey Club Gold Cup (G1): Dynamic One, owned by Repole Stable, Phipps Stable and St. Elias Stable; Keepmeinmind, owned by Cypress Creek Equine, Arnold Bennewith and Spendthrift Farm; Americanrevolution , owned by China Horse Club and WinStar Farm and Untreated, owned by Team Valor International.
Dynamic One, who won the Suburban Stakes (G2) at Belmont Park in his last start, worked Aug. 12 in company with Malathaat, last year's Eclipse Award winner for 3-year-old filly. They had a bullet five-furlong breeze in 1:01.12. Pletcher said it was one of the better works he has seen from Dynamic One.
As for his top older horses, Pletcher is still sorting out where Life Is Good , winner of the Whitney Stakes (G1) Aug 6, will go as well as Happy Saver, the Whitney runner-up. The two races he has in mind are the Woodward Stakes (G1) at Belmont Oct. 1 and the Lukas Classic Stakes (G3) at Churchill Downs on the same day.
"Happy Saver will go wherever Life Is Good does not go," Pletcher said.
