Echo Sound victorious in the Myrtlewood (Keeneland Photo)
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Keeneland Press Release
LEXINGTON, Ky.— Gabriel Duignan’s Echo Sound remained unbeaten in three starts when she caught the leaders down the stretch and rolled to a 2½-length victory in the $200,000 Myrtlewood for 2-year-old fillies at Keeneland on Friday, the next-to-last day of the Fall Meet.
Ridden by Irad Ortiz Jr. for trainer Rusty Arnold, the daughter of Echo Town covered 6 furlongs in 1:10.65. She earned $116,250 for the victory to increase her bankroll to $230,495.
Bred in Kentucky by Springhouse Farm, Vision TBs, Bruce Pieratt and Patricia Pieratt, Echo Sound is out of the Fusaichi Pegasus mare Eagle Sound. She is a half-sister to Pick of the Litter, winner of Keeneland’s Hagyard Fayette (G2) in 2014.
Echo Town paid $8.96, $5.34 and $3.52. Praying, ridden by John Velazquez, returned $14.12 and $6.54. Finishing 1¼ lengths behind in third was Trust Fund Philly, who paid $3.24 to show.
Keeneland held two stakes Friday. Race 9 was the 34th running of the $350,000 Bank of America Valley View (G2), won by another Arnold trainee, Poolside With Slim (IRE). A race recap and quotes from winning connections will follow.
Quotes from the $200,000 Myrtlewood
Rusty Arnold (winning trainer of Echo Sound)
“It was a step up in company, and she’s answered every question. Hopefully she’ll move forward into graded stakes.”
Irad Ortiz Jr. (winning rider)
“First of all, I want to say thank you to (trainer George) Rusty (Arnold) and the owner (Gabriel Duignan) for the opportunity. She’s a very nice filly. She’s undefeated. She does everything right and was ready to run.”
John Velazquez (rider of runner-up Praying)
“Perfect trip. She broke out of there in a hurry. My job was to give her a little chance the first part of the race. She settled a little bit and it was time to let her go. The best horse ran her race today. I didn’t have to press early. That’s where she wants to be.”
Jose Ortiz (rider of third-place finisher and beaten favorite Trust Fund Philly)
“It was good. Broke good. Followed the right horse, the winner. I was third best today. (The pace) was a little bit fast early, but I expected that. There were a few horses that had speed and I knew we were gonna go out there. It was a good race overall.”
