Letruska heavily favored in Royal Delta, her 6-year-old debut
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Fausto Gutierrez is proud of what Letruska accomplished last year, just as he is hopeful there is more to come.
“This is a horse that took all the steps to a championship,” said Gutierrez, who trains Letruska for the St. George Stable of German Larrea. “She came from a foreign country and arrived here. She took it step by step and finally last year she won six graded races, four Grade 1. She’s a great horse.”
Newly minted as the champion older female dirt runner of 2021, Letruska makes her first start at 6 as a heavy favorite Saturday in the Grade 3, $150,000 Royal Delta at Gulfstream Park. The Kentucky-bred daughter of Super Saver will have Jose Ortiz aboard breaking from post 6 and will face six other fillies and mares in the 1 1/16-mile race.
Letruska was a distant 10th as the favorite in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff on Nov. 6, ending what otherwise was a brilliant 2021. A winner of her first six starts at 2 and 3 in Mexico, the native land of Larrea and Gutierrez, she went 4 for 7 as a 4-year-old before flourishing at 5, winning the Apple Blossom, Ogden Phipps, Personal Ensign, and Spinster, all of them Grade 1s, invariably employing a front-running style that made her uncatchable.
Those familiar early-going tactics can be expected to be on display Saturday as she returns fresh from a layoff of nearly four months. There’s some opposing speed, perhaps, in the form of Into Vanishing (post 2, Junior Alvarado) and Family Time (post 4, Emisael Jaramillo), but neither of those longshots figure to stick with Letruska to the end.
Instead, the main threat to Letruska figures to come as they leave the far turn, when Crazy Beautiful (post 3, Corey Lanerie) starts building momentum. Winner of the Grade 2 Gulfstream Oaks here last spring, the gray 4-year-old is returning from a three-month layoff for Kenny McPeek, looking to build on a terrific first two seasons during which she was first or second in 10 of 14 starts, including two other graded victories, while earning $855,925.
“She’s just been a good filly all around,” McPeek said. “She’s done really well here this winter since we gave her a little break.”
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Realistically, however, this race figures as a successful starting point for Letruska as she revs back up. Gutierrez said the Royal Delta is serving as a bridge for Letruska to the Apple Blossom on April 23 at Oaklawn Park, and after that, he intends to keep the mare stabled for much of the rest of the year at Keeneland, where another run in the BC Distaff in November is the year-end goal.
“I think this is the perfect spot to come back,” he said.
The Royal Delta, named for the Hall of Fame mare who won 12 of 22 starts and $4.8 million in a career that ended in 2013, goes as the sixth of 12 Saturday races. First post is noon Eastern, with the feature set for 2:27.
The Royal Delta originated as the Sabin in 1991 until being renamed in 2015.
Partly because it has such a heavy favorite, the Royal Delta is not part of a Rainbow 6 being forced out Saturday. The Rainbow 6 (races 7-12) is expected to draw several million dollars in new handle as the actual carryover was on pace to exceed $1 million, assuming the jackpot was not emptied Thursday or Friday by a solo winning ticket.
Early arrivals can bet on simulcasts of the Saudi Derby (11:10), Riyadh Dirt Sprint (11:50), and Saudi Cup (12:40).
Next Saturday brings one of the biggest days of the four-month championship meet with the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth and eight other graded stakes. Saturday entries will be drawn Monday, two days earlier than normal.