Letruska Readies for Breeders' Cup in Spinster

St. George Stable's Letruska  has not needed advantages during an ongoing four-race win streak, stretching from spring through summer, but Oct. 10 in the $500,000 Juddmonte Spinster Stakes (G1) at Keeneland, she might just have one.

The race is a home game of sorts for the homebred 5-year-old Super Saver   mare. Though she has never run locally, it has been her principal base for training since she won the Apple Blossom Handicap (G1) at Oaklawn Park in April. During that stretch, she has taken a few trips out of Lexington, shipping to win the Ogden Phipps Stakes (G1) June 5 at Belmont Park, the Fleur de Lis Stakes (G2) June 26 at Churchill Downs, and the Personal Ensign Stake Presented by Lia Infiniti (G1) Aug. 28 at Saratoga Race Course.

"I like to spend a lot of time here, and she knows this track very well," Letruska's trainer, Fausto Gutierrez, said of Keeneland.

Now comes her final tuneup before the Breeders' Cup, the 1 1/8-mile Spinster, which serves as a "Win and You're In" qualifier for the Longines Breeders' Cup Distaff (G1).

That bonus is particularly valuable to her rivals, a group led by stakes winners Dunbar Road , Bonny South , Envoutante , and Crystal Ball . Letruska has already qualified for the Distaff, three times, no less.

Gutierrez said the Spinster fit into the campaign he drew up for her this year, one that leaves her as the frontrunner for championship honors as older dirt female.

Also on the racetrack, frontrunner is the proper term of Letruska. She regularly takes charge early, and whether she sets a quick or slow pace, she responds in the lane. This year, her only loss came when she was off sluggishly and narrowly missed to Shedaresthedevil  after stalking the pace in the Azeri Stakes (G2) at Oaklawn Park in March.

Giving her opponents hope is that her most recent score in the Personal Ensign didn't result in as clear a victory as earlier triumphs in the Fleur de Lis and Phipps. She prevailed by a half-length over Bonny South with Dunbar Road running fourth, just three-quarters of a length behind the winner.

Still, Letruska was gritty in victory. Within reach of her rivals in midstretch, she found the necessary reserves under Irad Ortiz Jr.

She again looms the controlling speed on Sunday, though Envoutante and Crystal Ball have led at times in their races and figure to be in close pursuit.

She schooled in the Keeneland paddock Oct. 8 and jogged once around the main track Oct. 9.

"That is normal for her," Gutierrez said. "We like to school two or three days before a race and on race day, she is good."

Juddmonte is more than a sponsor of the Spinster; it's also a participant.

Bonny South carries the farm's green and pink colors in search of her first grade 1 victory. Besides her runner-up finish to Letruska in the Personal Ensign, she ran second to her in the Phipps, losing by 2 3/4 lengths. The 4-year-old Munnings   filly, also bred by her owner, captured the Baird Doubledogdare Stakes (G3) at Keeneland in the spring after rallying from fourth.

The Brad Cox trainee ran once at Keeneland as a 3-year-old, finishing fourth in the Central Bank Ashland Stakes (G1) in the summer of 2020.

Peter Brant's Dunbar Road has also run well at Keeneland previously, though in defeat. She was third in the 2019 Spinster and third in last fall's Breeders' Cup Distaff.

The 5-year-old Quality Road   mare has two fifths and a fourth in three graded stakes starts this year for trainer Chad Brown and will need to sustain her rally to triumph Sunday. In her losses this year, she has made stretch bids, only to flatten out in the closing stages.

Three Spinster participants last competed in the Locust Grove Stakes (G3) Sept. 18 at Churchill Downs, where Crystal Ball ran second, Envoutante third, and High Regard  sixth.

The Spinster's remaining entrant is Town Avenger , who leaps into graded stakes company after splashing her way to a 9 1/4-length victory in the slop at Churchill Downs Sept. 19 in a first-level allowance race.

Absent from the Spinster is Robert Slack and Daniel Walters' Bajan Girl , who had been considered a possible entrant by Keeneland officials over the past week.

On Oct. 1, Rohan Crichton, her trainer, was suspended under house rules at tracks owned by The Stronach Group. He was one of five trainers at Gulfstream Park who had horses test positive for the prohibited bronchodilator clenbuterol in out-of-competition testing.

Though his suspension did not have to be honored by Keeneland, the track in a statement said it "let him know it was likely his entry at Keeneland would be denied pending our review. We appreciate Rohan's acceptance of the potential consequences of any action that risks integrity in our sport and at Keeneland.

"We look forward to the implementation of the Horse Racing Integrity Act, which will put in place a central authority to oversee the equitable application of uniform rules."

Entries: Juddmonte Spinster S. (G1)

Keeneland, Sunday, October 10, 2021, Race 9

• Grade I
• 1 1/8m
• Dirt
• $500,000
• 3 yo's & up Fillies and Mares
• 5:15 PM (local)

PP	Horse	Jockey	Wgt	Trainer	M/L
1	1Dunbar Road (KY)	Flavien Prat	124	Chad C. Brown	5/1
2	2Bonny South (KY)	Florent Geroux	124	Brad H. Cox	9/2
3	3Town Avenger (KY)	Julien R. Leparoux	121	Brian A. Lynch	20/1
4	4Letruska (KY)	Irad Ortiz, Jr.	124	Fausto Gutierrez	4/5
5	5Envoutante (KY)	Brian Joseph Hernandez, Jr.	124	Kenneth G. McPeek	6/1
6	6Crystal Ball (KY)	Tyler Gaffalione	124	Rodolphe Brisset	5/1
7	7High Regard (KY)	Rafael Bejarano	124	Victoria H. Oliver	20/1