Report: Still in recovery, Echo Zulu continues to get better

Eclipse Award winner Echo Zulu, who suffered a life-threatening leg injury last month at Santa Anita, looks well enough in her recovery from surgery that she reportedly may be moved back to her barn in a matter of weeks.

“She’s still continuing to improve,” assistant trainer Scott Blasi told Daily Racing Form. “We’re on a week-to-week basis instead of a day-to-day basis, which is a good feeling.”

Blasi still expressed some caution, saying he would feel more optimistic once the 4-year-old filly trained by Steve Asmussen has made it to two months since her surgery to repair sesamoids that were broken in an Oct. 13 breeze at Santa Anita.

DRF’s Steve Andersen said Echo Zulu, the 2021 champion juvenile filly, has been grazing twice a day and could be moved out of Chino Valley Equine Hospital in Chino Valley, Calif., early this winter. Blasi said Echo Zulu probably would stay in Southern California for the short-term future.

Owned by L and N Racing and Winchell Thoroughbreds, Echo Zulu was a $300,000 yearling purchase who has a race record of 11: 9-1-0 and earnings of $2,640,375. She was being prepared for the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Sprint at Santa Anita when she got hurt.