"Enormous Heart" Carries Letruska to Championship

With eight starts at seven different tracks from January to November, St. George Stable's homebred Letruska  delivered one of the most consistent campaigns seen in any division in 2021. Although she failed to secure her fairytale ending in the Longines Breeders' Cup Distaff (G1) at Del Mar, her four grade 1 wins and six graded victories all told far surpassed her peers, leading to the Eclipse Award for champion older dirt female.

A dual grade 1 winner in Mexico, where she won six in a row in 2018-19, Letruska came to the United States to win the 2019 Copa Invitacional del Caribe Stakes at Gulfstream Park. She dabbled in the minors through 2020, picking up two grade 3 wins and a black-type event, but as her 5-year-old campaign progressed in 2021, she was clearly a horse on the improve.

In January, trainer Fausto Gutierrez sent Letruska to run away from her competition in the Houston Ladies Classic (G3) by 3 1/2 lengths. In March, Longines Kentucky Oaks (G1) winner Shedaresthedevil  denied her by a head in the Azeri Stakes (G2) at Oaklawn Park. One month later, Letruska went one better with her breakout score of the season, a victory in the Apple Blossom Handicap (G1) by a determined nose over dual champion Monomoy Girl . 

If the Apple Blossom was the win that catapulted the daughter of Super Saver to the spotlight, her Ogden Phipps Stakes (G1) performance served notice that she was a force to be reckoned with. Racing without Lasix for just the fifth time in her career and the first time in the U.S., she showed the way to a 2 3/4-length score at Belmont Park in June.

Next came Letruska's most visually impressive win of the season, when she romped by 5 3/4 lengths against overmatched company in the Fleur de Lis Stakes (G2) at Churchill Downs. The race set her up for a trip to Saratoga Race Course and a victory in the Personal Ensign Stakes Presented by Lia Infiniti (G1) in August, followed by a Juddmonte Spinster Stakes (G1) score at Keeneland in October.

After fading to 10th in the Breeders' Cup Distaff and a brief rest, Letruska has returned to the work tab most recently with a trio of bullets, including a five-furlong move in :59.25 Feb. 9, as she gears up for her 2022 debut in the Feb. 26 Royal Delta Stakes (G3) at Gulfstream.

As to what makes Letruska a true champion, Gutierrez summed it up earlier this season in an interview with BloodHorse.

"She just has an enormous heart," he said.