Letruska coming to Keeneland in advance of BC prep in Spinster

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Letruska, the consensus leader atop the North American filly-mare division, was scheduled to arrive in the wee hours of Sunday morning at Keeneland following a van ride from Monmouth Park in New Jersey.

Trainer Fausto Gutierrez, speaking Friday by phone from the Keeneland September yearling sale in Lexington, said Letruska has “been doing very good” since being sent to Monmouth shortly after she won the Grade 1 Personal Ensign on the Aug. 28 Travers card at Saratoga.

Gutierrez confirmed the Oct. 10 Spinster at Keeneland as the final prep for the Nov. 6 Breeders’ Cup Distaff at Del Mar.

Letruska “has just been galloping at Monmouth since the race at Saratoga, no works,” said Gutierrez. “I don’t like to breeze her a lot. This weekend, it will be three weeks” since the Personal Ensign. “That race was very tough, so I want her fresh again. I am planning to have her make some efforts here at Keeneland, maybe a couple of works, something like that.”

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Letruska, a 5-year-old Super Saver mare owned by the St. George Stable of Mexican billionaire German Larrea, has soared to the top of the division by winning 5 of 6 starts this year. Her front-running half-length triumph as an odds-on favorite in the Personal Ensign earned her a 101 Beyer Speed Figure, her fourth straight race in triple digits.

The only defeat for Letruska this year was by a head in the March 13 Azeri at Oaklawn in a race won by Shedaresthedevil, who was an odds-on morning-line favorite Saturday night in the Grade 3 Locust Grove at Churchill Downs. Shedaresthedevil was third behind Letruska in their only other meeting, the June 5 Ogden Phipps at Belmont Park.

Gutierrez said Letruska was scheduled to leave early Saturday afternoon from Monmouth and arrive at Keeneland some 12 hours later.