Letruska takes long way to get to Grade 1 Personal Ensign

How did you spend your summer vacation? If only Letruska could answer that question on her own.

She has bounced from Keeneland to Churchill Downs and back. And then to a farm near Keeneland. And then to Monmouth Park. And then to upstate New York.

That is a lot of travel for a division-leading mare who has not raced in two months – and who is likely to be favored Saturday against fillies and mares such as Swiss Skydiver in the Grade 1, $600,000 Personal Ensign Stakes at Saratoga.

“I’ve been surprised at how she has adapted and how good she is to travel,” her trainer Fausto Gutiérrez told Horse Racing Nation Monday. “Two or three days after she arrived after long travel, she acted like it was nothing.”

Whether Gutiérrez wanted to take Letruska express rather than local was immaterial. Speaking by phone from his hotel room in Albany, N.Y., he said circumstances forced his hand.

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“We had to go out from Keeneland last month because the stable area was closed for the September sale,” Gutiérrez said. “Then we went to the training center at Silver Springs Farm (also in Lexington) for about eight days. I think this helped her, because she could walk around the paddocks, get some exercise and even gallop at the track.”

Eventually, Gutiérrez and Letruska had to go east. But rather than move all 800 miles in one trip to Saratoga, they went first to the Jersey Shore.

“She got about three or four days at Monmouth with the other six or seven horses in the operation that I have concentrated at Monmouth,” Gutiérrez said. “Then Monday or Tuesday (last week) we moved to Saratoga.”

That is where Irad Ortiz Jr., who will ride Letruska in the Personal Ensign, breezed Letruska five furlongs Saturday in 59.02 seconds. It was the fastest of 18 workouts over that course and distance that morning.

All the moving around is something Gutiérrez has had to get used to since he moved north from his native Mexico. His early career was spent at the Hipódromo de las Américas in Mexico City, where he won 10 training titles.

“I come from a place where horses run all their lives at the same racetrack,” he said. “Here you have to move, and horses have to adapt to different places. With the character that Letruska has, I think this helps her to have these distractions. She has more patience and is more experienced with all these moves.”

Bred and owned by Mexican mining billionaire Germán Larrea Mota-Velasco, the 5-year-old Super Saver mare has made herself at home by winning at least once at all seven racetracks where she has competed. Including a pair of Grade 1 scores, she carries a three-race winning streak into Saratoga. That was where she earned her first U.S. victory last August in the Shuvee Stakes (G3).

“Saratoga is a place that she likes a lot,” Gutiérrez said.

Letruska will see a familiar face Saturday when she is rematched against 2020 Preakness winner and champion filly Swiss Skydiver. In her boldest statement of what might be her own championship season, Letruska defeated two-time Eclipse Award winner Monomoy Girl and Swiss Skydiver on April 17 to win the Apple Blossom Handicap (G1) at Oaklawn.

While Monomoy Girl is still on a break, Swiss Skydiver is expected to be healthier for Saturday’s encore.

“She had a minor infection on a hind ankle on the Sunday prior to the Apple Blossom,” Swiss Skydiver’s trainer Kenny McPeek said early this month. “We treated her with a light antibiotic. I basically made the decision to go, and in hindsight I wished I hadn’t.”

Swiss Skydiver also carried four more pounds than Letruska for that race. On Saturday they will carry 124 pounds each.

“They both have a lot of class and big wins,” Gutiérrez said. “Ultimately, the races are races. I can tell you right now Letruska is in good form, and she’s ready to continue to run like she did in her last races.”

Yes, plural. Only three weeks apart, it is easy to think of them as one.

Letruska delivered as the 6-5 favorite, defeating two-time graded-stakes winner Bonny South and 2020 Kentucky Oaks victor Shedaresthedevil in the Ogden Phipps (G1) on June 5 at Belmont Park. Letruska came right back June 26 at Churchill Downs, carrying 7-10 odds when she won by 5 3/4 lengths against an overmatched field in the Fleur de Lis (G2).

In the two months and all the miles of travel since, Letruska looks even better to Gutiérrez than she did when the public last saw her.

“If you ask me how many points she has out of 10, I will tell you she is very, very near to 10,” Gutiérrez said. “In the last year she has changed a lot physically. She is like a boxer. She doesn’t have fat. She just has muscle and is more athletic, a bit more long, and very, very strong. Even her face has more spirit. What can I tell you? She is in great race form.”

Gutiérrez plans to race Letruska one more time before the Breeders’ Cup. His first choice is the Spinster (G1) on Oct. 10 at Keeneland, but he did not rule out the possibility of the Locust Grove (G3) on Sept. 18 at Churchill Downs.

As for which division of the Breeders’ Cup he may choose? Last month Gutiérrez sounded as though he was leaning hard toward the Distaff. Now he has gone back to entertaining the idea of taking on males in the Classic.

“That’s a decision that we have to make nearer to the race,” he said. “What do we need to go to the Classic? First, an extraordinary performance in the Personal Ensign. After that, it’s a possibility, yes. But to go to the Classic? That’s a decision that we need to make when it is very clear what horses are going to the Classic and what horses are going to the Distaff. What is the best for us at that moment?”

The moment Gutiérrez wants to seize now arrives Saturday at Saratoga. His hope is the Letruska he has seen every day for the last two months is at least as excellent as the Letruska everyone else has seen earlier this year.

“We are near the end of the season, but we need to go step by step,” he said. “The time goes very fast. Today I am very happy with the situation and all the motivation. I know we have a very strong race Saturday. I hope everything continues like this. After Saturday we can speak about what is next with her career.”