Echo Zulu has it tough late but still wins Fair Grounds Oaks

New Orleans

The champ is back after fighting back.

Undefeated Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies winner Echo Zulu held off Hidden Connection by a nose on Saturday in the Grade 2, $400,000 Fair Grounds Oaks to run her unbeaten streak to five and cement herself as one of the favorites for the Kentucky Oaks.

“There was a lot of tension coming into this race,” said racing manager David Fiske of winning owner Winchell Thoroughbreds. “Would she be fit enough? Is she as good as a 3-year-old as she was at two? The answer is, she seems to be.”

Echo Zulu won her four starts as a 2-year-old by a combined 22 lengths, notching three Grade 1 victories at three different racetracks en route to an Eclipse Award as champion juvenile filly.

“She earned a break,” Asmussen said of of the Gun Runner filly’s 141 days (20 weeks) between starts. “There was a lot of build up, though, and I’m extremely proud of what we accomplished. Thankfully we were in a spot where she didn’t need to get better. We just needed the same brilliant filly to return as a 3-year-old.”

Echo Zulu set the pace under Joel Rosario, going six furlongs in 1:11.70 before holding on by a desperate nose over Hidden Connection in 1:42.69 for 1 1/16 miles.

“I thought we got our head down,” said Hidden Connection’s trainer Bret Calhoun. “Obviously you want to win, but we’re very proud of our filly nearly winning this race against a champion. There will be a lot of discussion going forward about whether we go to the Kentucky Oaks (at 1 1/8 miles) or the Eight Belles (at seven furlongs). It’s nice to have options.”

Both those races are Kentucky Derby week at Churchill Downs, but there will be no such discussion in the Echo Zulu camp, as she is certainly on the path to the Kentucky Oaks. In fact, the bigger source of drama could be what she does after the Oaks, as she is nominated to the Triple Crown.

“If she won the Oaks like Rachel Alexandra did then we’d owe it to her to consider the Preakness,” said Asmussen, who pulled that double after Stonestreet Stables purchased Rachel Alexandra privately following her 20-length Kentucky Oaks win. “We’re just excited to have her back, though. She answered the bell today, and I’ve won (the Fair Grounds Oaks) with a lot of talented fillies, but I’ve never won it without a prep, so this makes her special.”

Added Fiske: “It’s a little far off to think about males. We want to get through this and then of course focus on the Oaks. I think as an undefeated champion we owed it to her to nominate to the Triple Crown, but we’re focused on the Oaks right now.”