Dattt Echo Turns Back in Crank It Up

The Mark Hennig Stable is taking a new approach with Dattt Echo in Sunday’s $100,000 Crank It Up Stakes.

The 3-year-old Stormy Atlantic filly, who is coming off three straight stakes races at a mile or more, will shorten up to five and a half furlongs for the Crank It Up in an attempt to become a closing sprinter.

“A mile or mile and a sixteenth has been a little too far for her,” said Rob Rader, who trains the Hennig horses at Monmouth. “She has no closing kick.

“She’s handled the turf well, and she’s won sprinting in the past, so this time we’ll combine that in a turf sprint.

“She has enough speed to run in a sprint,” Rader said. “She won’t make the lead, but we’d like her to hang in there three or four lengths back and then make a run at them in the stretch.

“She’s been working like a sonofagun at Belmont for Mark (a half-mile in :47 1/5 on June 20), so she looks ready for this.”

Dattt Echo started the year running second on the dirt to the talented Diva Delite in the seven-furlong Gasparilla Stakes at Tampa Bay, and followed with a third in the two-turn Coconut Grove on the Gulfstream turf.

Last out in the one-mile Little Silver Stakes here, Dattt Echo stayed right up on a fast pace for six furlongs, but then tired to finish fifth.

“After that race, Mark decided we should shorten her up and see what happens,” Rader said. “So now we’ll see what happens.”