Multiple Grade 1 winner Echo Zulu headlines a field of six filly and mare sprinters that were entered for the 20th running of the Grade 3, $225,000 Winning Colors at Churchill Downs on Monday.
Echo Zulu, who is set to make the first start of her 4-year-old season, also was entered in Monday’s $100,000 Memorial Day Sprint at Lone Star Park.
The Winning Colors is the featured eighth race on Monday’s nine-race program with a post time of 4:22 p.m. EDT. First post is 12:45 p.m. EDT.
Campaigned by Hall of Famer Steve Asmussen and owned by L and N Racing and Winchell Thoroughbreds, Echo Zulu was the Champion 2-year-old filly in 2021 following victories in the Spinaway (G1), Frizette (G1) and Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1). As a 3-year-old, Asmussen kept Echo Zulu on the Road to the Kentucky Oaks where she was victorious in the Fair Grounds Oaks (G2) prior to her fourth-place effort in the Kentucky Oaks (G1).
The daughter of Gun Runner went to the sidelines following the Oaks but returned in the seven-furlong Dogwood Stakes (G3) at Churchill Downs where easily defeated four rivals by 5 1/4 lengths. Asmussen kept Echo Zulu around one turn in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint and was the runner-up to Goodnight Olive.
Jockey Florent Geroux, who had a storied career aboard Echo Zulu’s sire Gun Runner, will have the call for the first time in the Winning Colors and break from post position No. 5.
Echo Zulu’s Winning Colors rivals include Boone Family Trust and Tillema Family Trust’s multiple stakes winner Marissa’s Lady and Jacks or Better Farm’s speedy Florida-bred stakes winner Spirit Wind.
2023 Winning Colors G3
| Post | Silks | Horse / Sire | Rating | Trainer / Jockey | Last Start / Next Start | HRN |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
|
Spirit Wind
Bahamian Squall |
4.45 |
Ralph E. Nicks
Brian J. Hernandez, Jr. |
2nd, 2022 Princess Rooney G2 | Entered |
| Last Race | 2nd, 2022 Princess Rooney G2 | |||||
| 2 |
|
Scarlet Stripe
Gun Runner |
0.00 |
Whitworth Beckman
Jareth Loveberry |
|
Entered |
|
|
|
|||||
| 3 |
|
Marissa's Lady
Violence |
5.87 |
William E. Morey
Rafael Bejarano |
5th, 2022 Blue Sparkler LS | Entered |
| Last Race | 5th, 2022 Blue Sparkler LS | |||||
| 4 |
|
Last Leaf
Not This Time |
4.59 |
Eddie Kenneally
Corey J. Lanerie |
8th, 2023 Captiva Island LS | Entered |
| Last Race | 8th, 2023 Captiva Island LS | |||||
| 5 |
|
Echo Zulu
Gun Runner |
7.46 |
Steven M. Asmussen
Florent Geroux |
2nd, 2022 Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint G1 | Entered |
| Last Race | 2nd, 2022 Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint G1 | |||||
| 6 |
|
Fire On Time
Not This Time |
0.00 |
Dale L. Romans
Martin Garcia |
6th, 2023 Hurricane Bertie G3 | Entered |
| Last Race | 6th, 2023 Hurricane Bertie G3 | |||||
