Gun Runner’s 2021 champion 2-year-old filly Echo Zulu looked as if she was in peak form in the $275,000 Dogwood S. (G3) Saturday night at Churchill Downs, cruising to a 5 ¼-length victory in her first start since the Kentucky Oaks (G1) in early May.
The 3-year-old filly was one of Gun Runner’s five stakes winners on Saturday, with the list topped by Taiba in the Pennsylvania Derby (G1) and Society in the Cotillion (G1).
Echo Zulu was away in good order in the seven-furlong Dogwood and took the lead by a length in the first quarter-mile. The five-horse field was tightly bunched until the top of the stretch, when Echo Zulu took her cue from rider Rafael Santana, Jr. spurted clear. She rolled through the lane to win in hand in 1:22.43 on a fast main track.
“It’s an extremely exciting and emotional win for us,” said trainer Steve Asmussen, who also trained Gun Runner. “How fitting that Gun Runner’s lone champion caps off his big day with a victory in the Dogwood?”
Echo Zulu is now a five-time graded stakes winner of $1,946,375 for L and N Racing LLC and Winchell Thoroughbreds LLC. She was bred in Kentucky by Betz/Burns/CHNNHK/Magers, CoCo Equine and Ramsby.
Echo Zulu, like Gun Runner’s other graded winners on Saturday, is likely headed to the Nov. 4-5 Breeders’ Cup at Keeneland.
