Clasico winners Kukulkan, Letruska to stick around for more

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – The majority of the horses who competed in Sunday’s Clasico Internacional del Caribe program will be making their way back home this week. But two of the stars of the show, Kukulkan and his stablemate Letruska, will be traveling no farther than up the turnpike to Palm Meadows with trainer Fausto Gutierrez, who plans to run both here again during the Championship meet.

Kukulkan absolutely coasted to a six-length victory in the 1 1/4-mile Copa Confraternidad under jockey Irad Ortiz Jr., pretty much a carbon copy of his easy win in the Clasico del Caribe a year earlier. Gutierrez, who sent out the filly Jala Jala to sweep the same two races in 2017 and 2018, said he would probably look for a graded stakes for Kukulkan this winter.

“We will stay here and run in the stronger races,” Gutierrez said. “At this level, he is a champion of these horses. If we are being honest, the competition was not tough for him. We have to plan to run here in a good race, maybe a [Grade] 3.”

Gutierrez answered with a pretty emphatic no when asked if Kukulkan would try the Pegasus World Cup Invitational again this year. Kukulkan was perfect in 14 lifetime starts before finishing 11th in the 2019 Pegasus.

The 3-year-old filly Letruska stepped up against older males but also made easy work of her competition, winning the 1 1/4-mile Copa Invitacional by 4 1/4 lengths in wire-to-wire fashion. Her final time of 2:04.01 was .18 seconds faster than Kukulkan covered the same distance earlier in the card, although Kukulkan had been geared down by Ortiz through much of the final furlong with the issue no longer in doubt.

Gutierrez said plans to run Letruska last summer in the Monmouth Oaks fell through, after which he nominated her for the Coaching Club American Oaks at Saratoga before deciding to run her on the Clasico del Caribe card instead. Her victory on Sunday was the seventh in as many starts for the Kentucky-bred daughter of Super Saver, who came into the race off a pair of Group 1 wins in Mexico last summer.

“I think she’s a filly with a lot of potential,” said Gutierrez. “She can carry her speed a long distance. I took this chance with older horses off a big layoff and I think she ran spectacular.”

Ortiz’s victory aboard Kukulkan was his fourth on the card and seventh in 15 Clasico Internacional del Caribe races since the series was first run at Gulfstream in 2017.

“I just have the support from the owners and trainers,” Ortiz said. “You can see I ride for Mexico and I’m from Puerto Rico. I get a lot of support from all of them – Venezuela, Puerto Rico, Mexico, Panama, and I appreciate everything they’ve done for me. Doing well on a day like today means so much. All of my people are here and they go crazy when they see me, so I’m just enjoying the moment.”

Ortiz shared riding honors over the weekend with Paco Lopez, who won four Claiming Crown races on Saturday before returning to win a pair of stakes on Sunday’s Caribe program, including the main event, the $300,00 Clasico del Caribe, aboard 45-1 The Brother Slew.