Letruska

St. George Stable's Letruska (Super Saver), the expected favorite for the GI Breeders' Cup Distaff next week, had a somewhat eventful final breeze at Del Mar Saturday. Scheduled to work a solo five-eighths, the four-time Grade I winner broke off behind 2-year-old filly Brandon'smylawyer (Astern {Aus}), and hooked that runner near the half-mile pole. The other filly continued on with Letruska, and finished her half-mile work several lengths to the good of Letruska, who was credited with five furlongs in 1:01.20 (2/7) (Click for video). Brandon'smylawyer, a $340,000 OBS April...

Champion Essential Quality (Tapit), GI Kentucky Derby winner Medina Spirit (Protonico), MGISW turf star Domestic Spending (GB) (Kingman {GB}), defending GI Breeders' Cup Turf heroine Tarnawa (Ire) (Shamardal), top distaffer Letruska (Super Saver) and GI Kentucky Oaks victress Malathaat (Curlin) are among the 196 horses entered in the Nov. 5-6 Breeders' Cup World Championships to be held at Del Mar. This will be the second time the SoCal venue plays hosts to the Breeders' Cup, with the first being in 2017. The 56 international horses are a record number of...

In less than three weeks, Shedaresthedevil (Daredevil--Starship Warpspeed, by Congrats) will follow the path of fellow Kentucky Oaks victress Monomoy Girl as she makes her way to the ring for the Fasig-Tipton 'Night of the Stars' Sale on Nov. 9. as a broodmare or racing prospect. But like her Brad Cox-trained predecessor, she will first give her current owners the chance to get to the winner's circle one last time in the GI Longines Breeders' Cup Distaff. Cox, who saddled Monomoy Girl to victory in last year's edition of the...

As one of the most recognizable television personalities in racing, Laffit Pincay has a front-row seat to some of the grandest spectacles in the sport, and as the son of one of the greatest jockeys who ever lived, he also has had first-hand experience with some of racing's most iconic moments from a very young age. Wednesday, the excellent broadcaster for NBC and the New York Racing Association joined the TDN Writers' Room presented by Keeneland as the Green Group Guest of the Week to preview next month's Breeders' Cup, relive...

The GIII Houston Ladies Classic and GIII John B. Connally Turf Cup headline Sam Houston Race Park's 2022 stakes Thoroughbred schedule, which will offer $2,275,000 in total purses. The expanded 50-day meet will begin Thursday, Jan. 6. With track officials expressing hopes that the North American Graded Stakes committee will boost its status from Grade III for 2022, the purse for the Houston Ladies Classic has been increased from $300,000 to $400,000. Slated this year for Jan. 30 as part of the Houston Racing Festival, the Ladies Classic has been...

Minutes after another easy win by Letruska (Super Saver), this time in the GI Juddmonte Spinster S. Sunday at Keeneland, trainer Fausto Gutierrez told reporters that the GI Breeders' Cup Distaff, and not the GI Breeders' Cup Classic, would be next for his 5-year-old mare. That was hardly a surprise. Gutierrez and German Larrea, the Mexican billionaire businessman who owns the horse, are looking to play it safe. Letruska is simply better than every other filly and mare in the sport and shouldn't have any problem winning the Distaff. The...

Popular star distaffer Letruska (Super Saver) took another step toward a potential Horse of the Year trophy Sunday at Keeneland, rolling to her fourth Grade I victory and sixth graded stakes win overall on the year as a heavy favorite in the GI Juddmonte Spinster S. A dual Group 1 winner in Mexico for Fausto Gutierrez in 2019, Letruska stamped herself as a horse to watch with an impressive wire-to-wire score in last summer's GIII Shuvee S. at Saratoga and, after disappointing when finishing a well-beaten fourth in Belmont's GII...

With the retirement of both Monomoy Girl (Tapizar) and Swiss Skydiver (Daredevil), Letruska (Super Saver) stands head and shoulders above the older mare division and is currently ranked second behind only Knicks Go (Paynter) among all runners in the country on the latest NTRA Top Thoroughbred Poll. She'll look to put her raw brilliance on display over her home track Sunday in Keeneland's GI Juddmonte Spinster S., a "Win and You're In" qualifier for the GI Breeders' Cup Distaff. The powerful 5-year-old bay beat both Monomoy Girl and Swiss Skydiver...

A quartet of horses headed towards engagements at the Breeders' Cup World Championships at Del Mar Nov. 6 were out for serious workouts Saturday morning at both major Kentucky venues. Champion Essential Quality (Tapit) worked five furlongs in the company of Ellis Park allowance winner Colonel Bowman (Curlin) just after the track opened for business shortly after 5:30 Saturday morning. The duo broke off at the half-mile pole, crossing the wire in :46.80 before completing the move around the clubhouse turn in :59.20. Essential Quality outgamed Midnight Bourbon (Tiznow) to...

Everything that top-class racing should be was on display over the last weekend. The six Grade l races at Saratoga on Saturday featured most of the leading horses in each division except older dirt males, and as a group they didn't disappoint, did they? Nor did their trainers. One race after another was dramatically decided at or close to the wire, and some of the runners-ups, including the Steve Asmussen-trained Midnight Bourbon (Tiznow) in the Gl Runhappy Travers S. and the Todd Pletcher-conditioned Life is Good (Into Mischief) in the...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, NY - Though he quickly conceded that things could change, trainer Fausto Gutierrez said Sunday that GI Personal Ensign winner Letruska (Super Saver) is headed to the GI Breeders' Distaff, not the GI Breeders' Cup Classic. "I think it will be with the mares. I think this is the correct decision," he said. "I think there is a group where she is the leader. Anyway, this can change in any moment. You never know." The Personal Ensign was Letruska's fourth-straight graded stakes victory, three of them Grade Is,...

Letruska (Super Saver) continued her domination of the distaff division with determined triumph in Saratoga's GI Personal Ensign S. Saturday, a "Win and You're in" for the GI Breeders' Cup Distaff at Del Mar in November. Favored at 3-5 to score her fourth straight win, the bay rushed up challenge champion Swiss Skydiver (Daredevil), who broke like a shot and was hustled away from the stalls by her pilot Jose Ortiz. His elder brother Irad Ortiz charged past the chalk exiting the first turn and Swiss Skydiver settled back in...