DEL MAR, Calif. (AP) Coming from Mexico, where he has dominated racing, Fausto Gutierrez is at his first Breeders’ Cup with the best horse he’s ever had in his stable. And the trainer is expecting big things from Letruska.
Bloodlines Presented By Mill Ridge Farm: Letruska Made Mexican Racing History With Apple Blossom Win Sponsored by:
Letruska at Oaklawn
The brave victory of Letruska (by Super Saver) in the Grade 1 Apple Blossom Handicap over champions Monomoy Girl (Tapizar) and Swiss Skydiver (Daredevil) brought forward a couple of important issues. First, this result highlighted the excellent form the mare had shown in her early racing, which was in Mexico, and then her continued development here in the States.
A champion in Mexico and now the victor against a pair of champions at Oaklawn, Letruska has emphasized the quality of racing in Mexico, and she is not the only racer from Mexico to show her form in the more northerly part of North America.
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Fausto Gutierrez, trainer of Apple Blossom winner Letruska
Letruska will remain at Oaklawn for the next few days before possibly heading to Churchill Downs, her trainer, Fausto Gutierrez, said Sunday morning, roughly 12 hours after the Mexican champion edged two-time Eclipse Award winner Monomoy Girl in the $1 million Apple Blossom Handicap (G1) for older fillies and mares at the Hot Springs, Ark., track.
Letruska earned a preliminary Beyer Speed Figure of 102, a career high, for her front-running nose victory under Irad Ortiz Jr. Gutierrez said Letruska came out of the 1 1/16-mile race in good order, but next-race plans are pending for the 5-year-old daughter of 2010 Kentucky Derby winner and Arkansas Derby runner-up Super Saver. Letruska was coming off a runner-up finish, beaten a head by Shedaresthedevil, in the $350,000 Azeri Stakes (G2) March 13 at Oaklawn.
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