Walter Wlodarczyk Photo

Zulu Kingdom doubles up on graded wins in G2 Pilgrim

by Mary Eddy

Madaket Stables, Michael Dubb, William Strauss and Michael Caruso’s post-time favorite Zulu Kingdom earned his second graded stakes victory to remain undefeated in Saturday’s Grade 2, $200,000 Pilgrim, a 1 1/16-mile outer turf route for juveniles, at Belmont at the Big A.

For his victory, Zulu Kingdom was awarded a berth into the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf in November at Del Mar as part of the “Win and You’re In” Challenge Series.

Trained by four-time Eclipse Award-winner Chad Brown and ridden by Hall of Famer Joel Rosario, Zulu Kingdom entered from a successful stateside debut in the Grade 3 With Anticipation on August 29 at Saratoga Race Course where he won by a neck with a stalk-and-pounce trip engineered by Flavien Prat. He was a winner of his June debut in France when in the care of conditioner Andre Fabre before being purchased privately and moved stateside.

The son of Ten Sovereigns emerged well from post 4-of-8 as Noble Confessor broke sharpest from the inside and Fully Authorized stumbled significantly to trail in last. Zulu Kingdom was prominent and part of an early four-way scramble for command heading into the first turn, but steadied a touch as the Jose Lezcano-piloted maiden Flying Mohawk assumed control through the opening quarter-mile over the yielding footing.

Zulu Kingdom tracked a patient fifth down the backstretch as Smooth Breeze inched up to race in tandem for the lead with Flying Mohawk, who showed the way to the half-mile call with Noble Confessor under a snug hold from Irad Ortiz, Jr. just behind in third.

Approaching the turn, Zulu Kingdom steadied again as he raced behind a wall of rivals, and Rosario was in need of room as the pair of Concord Green and Fully Authorized ranged up on his outside. Meanwhile, it remained a head-and-head battle at the helm between Flying Mohawk and Smooth Breeze as they reached the three-quarters call, but the Brown-trained Early Adopter loomed large to their outside as they straightened for home.

Rosario made his move and angled Zulu Kingdom out and around the rivals ahead of him, and roused him in the five-path as Noble Confessor attempted to advance to the inside of Early Adopter with Flying Mohawk reluctantly throwing in the towel. There were a few tense moments near the sixteenth pole as an all-out Smooth Breeze veered out sharply to close off the path of Early Adopter, forcing him to steady hard and drift back to fifth.

Despite the commotion to his inside, Zulu Kingdom remained focused inside the final yards to the wire and drove home strongly to collar Smooth Breeze and fend off the bid of Noble Confessor by a neck in a final time of 1:48.67.

"He went on,” Rosario said. “It looked like he was just playing in there, and yeah, just a good effort from him."

The resilient Early Adopter re-rallied under Manny Franco to get his head down for show over Smooth Breeze, who was a head better than Flying Mohawk. Without Caution, Concord Green and Fully Authorized completed the order of finish.

Ortiz, Jr. said a mid-race waning of pace likely hindered the Hall of Famer Todd Pletcher-trained Noble Confessor.

"We broke good and got a good position, but the pace slowed down too much in front of me,” Ortiz, Jr. said. “So, I had to wait. I had no where to go until the end. I got through there and he responded, gave me a good kick."

While Noble Confessor gained on Zulu Kingdom in the final strides, Rosario said his mount was well within himself despite some greenness.

"I think he was just waiting a little bit. He's young,” Rosario said. “He looked a little bit around, but when he's here [by] himself, when he opened up a little bit, he sees himself with nobody around, so we were just looking for some company."

Brown, who won his fourth Pilgrim, praised Rosario’s expert handling as Zulu Kingdom is now well on his way to the Breeders’ Cup in California.

"He ran great even though he got steadied on the backside. Joel did the right thing covering him up and bided his time. It got a little tight in there,” Brown said. “I was happy to see him handle the soft ground - I wasn't sure. It looks like a nice setup for the Breeders' Cup. He's always struck me as a horse that might be even better at a mile with more pace. He's been able to get the job done the last two starts with two good rides and he keeps moving forward. I think we'll see the best of him at a flat mile.”

Bred in Ireland by Ecurie Peregrine SAS, Zulu Kingdom earned $110,000 in victory, boosting his total purse earnings to $222,607. He returned $3.70 on a $2 win ticket.

Brown also had high praise for Klaravich Stables’ Early Adopter, who was making just his second start after a debut win on August 31 at the Spa.

"That was unfortunate that the six came out on him because he looked like he might have been on his way to win as well,” Brown lamented. “They could have been one-two. I was really proud of him the way he kicked on again after that happened. For a lightly raced 2-year-old, he composed himself and was able to restart again with very little race to go and still get up for third in a three-way photo. It was impressive. The horse has a lot of heart. He's not a very big horse, but he's a nice horse.”

Franco, who was aboard for the Early Adopter’s maiden win over firm footing, concluded the son of Lope de Vega likely didn’t relish the wet turf.

"The horse inside came out and the winner was going by, so I checked hard,” Franco explained. “He was running back again but at the same time I feel like he was trying but he wasn't getting over it well. When I put him outside on the turn, I thought he was going to go by, but he was having a hard time getting a hold of it."

Live racing resumes Sunday at the Big A with a nine-race card, featuring the Grade 2, $250,000 Gallant Bloom in Race 2 and the Grade 2, $200,000 Miss Grillo – a “Win and You’re In” for the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf – in Race 8. First post is 1:05 p.m. Eastern.

America’s Day at the Races will present live coverage and analysis of the Belmont at the Big A fall meet on the networks of FOX Sports. For the broadcast schedule and channel finder, visit https://www.nyra.com/aqueduct/racing/tv-schedule/.

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