Both Echo Zulu and Bolshoi Ballet turned in impressive performances that secured paid berths in the 2023 Breeders’ Cup World Championships on a Travers Stakes undercard that was marred by the loss of New York Thunder to a catastrophic breakdown in the Grade 1 H. Allen Jerkens Memorial Stakes and the death of Nobel earlier on the Aug. 26 card at Saratoga Race Course.

Echo Zulu Much the Best in Ballerina

Shaking off pressure from Goodnight Olive, who had beaten Echo Zulu in their only prior meeting in the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Sprint at Keeneland last fall, Echo Zulu powered away from her rival to score a 2 1/2-length victory in the $500,000 Ballerina Handicap at Saratoga.

Matareya edged Caramel Swirl in a distant show photo, 6 1/4 lengths behind Goodnight Olive.

The winner raced seven furlongs in 1:20.95 under Florent Geroux over a freshly-harrowed track still rated by Equibase as muddy. She paid $3.20 to win as the favorite. Early splits in the race were moderate, 22.45 and 45.23, before becoming quicker-than-par late. After six furlongs in 1:08.72, Echo Zulu ran her final eighth in :12.23.

Echo Zulu winning Ballerina (Eclipse Sportswire)

“When you ask her down the lane, you feel she is just changing speed and can go even faster,” Geroux said. “It’s amazing. She’s a true champion.”

Echo Zulu, the champion 2-year-old filly of 2021 and now 4-year-old daughter of Gun Runner, races for L and N Racing and Winchell Thoroughbreds.

Steve Asmussen, the winningest trainer in North American racing history and a Hall of Famer, conditions the filly, who improved to 3-for-3 this year. She won the Grade 2 Honorable Miss Handicap earlier in the Saratoga meet, earning a 112 Beyer Speed Figure and 111 Equibase Speed Figure.

“Obviously her prep race for this race she ran phenomenal. We were expecting a little bit of the same,” Ron Winchell of Winchell Thoroughbreds said.

“Last year we were trying to get her ready and kind of push her into getting into the Breeders’ Cup, and it wasn’t like she was 100% fit,” he added. “Coming to this year, we had enough time to get her right, and now we are here today where we think she is at her best.”

As a juvenile, she won a maiden race and the Grade 1 Spinaway Stakes in 2021 at Saratoga. Her 3-year-old campaign was interrupted when she was scratched by New York stewards in the post parade before the Acorn Stakes in June 2022 on the advice of a regulatory veterinarian. Her connections regrouped with her and she returned to race in the fall.

“The development that she has shown is so much like her father Gun Runner,” Asmussen said. “The longer you had him, the faster he was and that’s how she’s been. As great as she ran in the Honorable Miss and coming out of her first triple-digit Beyer, you’re confidence was it was a prep. She’s 4-for-4 here at Saratoga and has another Grade 1 win on her resume. Obviously, she’s as fast as a horse can go.”

Saturday’s race provided Echo Zulu with an automatic, paid berth into the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint, hosted this year at Santa Anita Park in Southern California on Nov. 4.

The Chad Brown-trained Goodnight Olive earned that berth last year before capturing the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint and later earning Eclipse Award honors as champion female sprinter.

Bolshoi Ballet Shines in Sword Dancer

Coolmore’s Bolshoi Ballet, winless in his last nine starts, made his return to New York State a victorious one in the $750,000, Grade 1 Resorts World Casino Sword Dancer Stakes.

An impressive winner of the 2021 Belmont Derby Invitational as a 3-year-old in his American debut, Bolshoi Ballet was then fourth in the Saratoga Derby before shipping back overseas to the yard of trainer Aidan O’Brien. The once auspicious runner then failed to live up to his potential in Europe and appeared to struggle to regain the form he had shown in the United States.

Bolshoi Ballet winning Sword Dancer (Eclipse Sportswire)

Squaring off against his former stablemate Stone Age, who had been transferred to New York-based conditioner Chad Brown earlier this year, Bolshoi Ballet was dismissed at 5.50-1 in the field of six.

Ridden for the first time by John Velazquez, the 5-year-old was unhurried early in third position as Bowling Green Stakes winner Channel Maker cruised through quarter-mile fractions of :23.65, :49.58, and 1:15.93. As Stone Age took over at the half-mile marker, Velazquez was beginning to get to work on Bolshoi Ballet and the pair vied in between horses into the turn for home.

“Aidan [O’Brien] told me, ‘he’s going to be lazy, so you are going to have to ride him, he doesn’t give you anything, so make sure you keep him busy,’ ” Velazquez said.

Under a steady stream of encouragement from Velazquez, Bolshoi Ballet surged clear of Stone Age at the top of the stretch and strolled to the wire 4 1/2 lengths in front.

Soldier Rising, the trailer throughout, launched a wide move down the center of the course to run on well for second. Pioneering Spirit was a distant third.

Bolshoi Ballet ($13) ran the 1 1/2 miles over a yielding turf course in 2:29.29.

“Stone Age was a horse of ours as well. The two of them were very good horses,” said T.J. Comerford, O’Brien’s assistant. “Today, he beat the likes of Stone Age who was second in the Breeders’ Cup [Turf in 2022].

“He’s a much better horse over quicker ground, and he probably wants quicker ground than this. We’d only call that good ground in Europe, you’d probably call that soft.”

Sixth in the 2021 Breeders’ Cup Turf, Comerford said it was likely Bolshoi Ballet would return for the 2023 edition with his all-expense-paid berth into the race earned in the Sword Dancer. The Sword Dancer is a Breeders’ Cup Challenge Series: “Win and You’re In” race for the Nov. 5 $4 million Longines Breeders’ Cup Turf at Santa Anita Park.—Molly Rollins