Letruska Demanded More Distance Through Performance

A year ago trainer Fausto Gutierrez suspected he had a top female sprinter in Letruska —until her season didn't work out as planned.

Now openly admitting he likely made some mistakes in 2020, Gutierrez is preparing St. George Stable homebred Letruska for a start in the $2 million Longines Breeders' Cup Distaff (G1) Nov. 6 at Del Mar. The 5-year-old daughter of Super Saver   has won six of seven starts in 2021 and enters on a five-race win streak, with four of those victories coming at the grade 1 level.

MULVIHILL: Letruska Carries Horse of the Year Hopes into Distaff

At this time last year, Letruska's 4-year-old season did not include a trip to the Breeders' Cup when her connections decided to give her a short break instead of taking on the World Championships. Initially last year Gutierrez was thinking she would be a good fit for the Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint (G1) after she won the Added Elegance Stakes going the one-turn mile at Gulfstream Park in late June. Off that effort, Letruska was pointed to the seven-furlong Ballerina Stakes (G1) at Saratoga Race Course where she tracked Serengeti Empress  early but then faded to fifth.

That race sent her connections scrambling a bit. They stretched her out and found a good fit in the Shuvee Stakes (G3) at Saratoga, where Letruska scored a front-end victory in the 1 1/8-mile test. Gutierrez kept her at a route distance for the Beldame Stakes (G2) at Belmont Park where she opened a seven-length lead but faded to last of four.

Not liking the pattern of good start-bad start, Gutierrez opted to not move forward to the Breeders' Cup after the Oct. 4 Beldame. He instead took a bit of time to come up with a plan for 2021. In a 2020 season that saw massive changes to the racing schedule because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Gutierrez thinks he made a mistake early in the season when he ran Letruska in allowance-level races at Oaklawn Park two weeks apart—the first resulting in a win, the second a third-place finish.

Gutierrez noted Oaklawn was one of the few options to race in the spring of 2020 because of COVID-19. Knowing that, he decided to bring her back on quick notice but now believes that was a mistake.

"We just decided to wait another year," Gutierrez said of the decision to halt Letruska's season after the Beldame. "That day I started to work (on the plan) for the next 12 months because I made a couple mistakes last year. I tried not to repeat those mistakes this year."

While Gutierrez thinks Letruska missed some opportunity last year, the difficulties of 2020 have given way to a smooth 2021. Letruska returned in December 2020 to win the one-mile Rampart Stakes (G3) at Gulfstream and then followed with a 3 1/2-length victory in the 1 1/16-mile Houston Ladies Classic (G3) in January at Sam Houston Race Park as her trainer began a pattern of gradually stretching her out in distance. After a memorable runner-up finish to Shedaresthedevil  in the Azeri Stakes (G2) at Oaklawn, Letruska has rolled to five straight wins—a stretch capped by a clear victory in the 1 1/8-mile Juddmonte Spinster Stakes (G1) Oct. 10 at Keeneland.

Gutierrez said his race plans for Letruska in 2021 did include options. He decided to see how she raced and see how she came out of those races each time before finalizing the next start. That approach saw Letruska demand a path to the 1 1/8-mile Distaff. She will enter off three straight wins at the distance as the Spinster followed victories in the Personal Ensign Stakes Presented by Lia Infiniti (G1) at Saratoga and Fleur de Lis Stakes (G2) at Churchill Downs.

"This is a real dream," Gutierrez said of the season and going into the Distaff as the favorite. "Nobody could think this could happen… To be here, it's like another planet."