Letruska, Swiss Skydiver come at Personal Ensign Stakes in opposite ways

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – For Letruska, the 2021 campaign has gone almost flawlessly, with five wins in six starts including a pair of Grade 1 victories while never missing a beat along the way. Just the opposite applies to Swiss Skydiver, who has suffered through a series of hiccups and setbacks since opening the year with an easy victory in the Grade 1 Beholder Mile.

On Saturday, DRF’s Dan Illman’s first- and third-ranked members of the filly and mare handicap division will cross paths for the second time this season as the 124-pound highweights in the $600,000 Personal Ensign on Saturday at Saratoga. The 1 1/8-mile Win and You’re In race for the Breeders’ Cup Distaff lured a stellar field of nine that also includes Dunbar Road, California invader As Time Goes By, Bonny South, Royal Flag, and Harvey’s Lil Goil.

Letruska moved to the forefront of the division by upsetting Monomoy Girl in the Grade 1 Apple Blossom at Oaklawn, winning the Grade 1 Ogden Phipps at Belmont with relative ease, and then dominating the Grade 2 Fleur De Lis at Churchill Downs. Both the Phipps and Fleur De Lis were Breeders’ Cup Challenge races for the Distaff.

“She’s done everything right and finally we’re here for a [Grade] 1 at Saratoga,” said trainer Fausto Gutierrez, who has guided the St. George Stable homebred Letruska to 15 victories in 20 career starts for earnings in excess of $1.6 million. “She’s in good form. She’s a horse who improves every race. I understand why she’s the favorite and I think it’s our obligation to run her here being one of the leaders coming up to the Breeders’ Cup.”

Gutierrez said the combination of Letruska having matured at the age of 5 and that he took the blinkers off at the beginning of the season are why the daughter of Super Saver is in the best form of her career.

“I believe 5 years old is when a horse reaches its peak physically, and when we decided to remove the blinkers it took her to another level because it gave her the opportunity to see the opposition,” Gutierrez explained. “Before, she would just break and run fast against the clock. Now she can see the other horses and do whatever she needs to do. It was a very important change.”

Gutierrez said the strategy on Saturday will be for Letruska to run free at the front, although she can come from behind if another horses beats her to the front, he said.

Swiss Skydiver won 5 of 10 starts and earned nearly $1.8 million last year, with her most notable victories coming here in the Grade 1 Alabama and seven weeks later in the Preakness at Pimlico, when she upset the eventual horse of the year Authentic. This season has not gone as well, with Swiss Skydiver having made just two starts since the Beholder Mile, finishing third behind Letruska in the Apple Blossom and fourth, beaten nearly 11 lengths by Knicks Go, in the Grade 1 Whitney here on Aug. 7.

“Last year was a magical season – all the stars aligned,” said trainer Ken McPeek. “This year has been a bumpy one. She got a skin infection in a hind ankle and I think was affected by the antibiotics in the Apple Blossom. Then she got shipping fever on the truck because there were no flights to New York, and had to scratch from the Phipps.

“I needed to get a run into her before the Personal Ensign, so we went against the boys in the Whitney.”

McPeek said all has gone well for Swiss Skydiver over the last few weeks, and he’s looking forward to getting another shot at Letruska on Saturday.

“I think this is a good spot,” he said. “We’re still pointing for the Breeders’ Cup. There’s nothing we can do if nobody runs with Letruska. We’ll just have to let our mare run her race.”

Dunbar Road has run just twice since her third-place finish in the 2020 Breeders’ Cup Distaff and is winless dating back to her victory in the Grade 2 Delaware Handicap 13 months ago. She won the Alabama here in 2019.

As Time Goes By won the Grade 2 Santa Margarita and Grade 2 Santa Maria stakes last spring at Santa Anita, but was a distant fourth after stumbling at the start of the Grade 1 Clement Hirsch four weeks ago at Del Mar.

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Bonny South rallied to finish second while never threatening Letruska in the Phipps before finishing fifth as the 1-2 favorite in the Grade 2 Delaware Handicap in her most recent outing.

Royal Flag has sandwiched a pair of Grade 3 wins around a near-miss to Bonny South in the Grade 3 Doubledogdare Stakes at Keeneland in her last three starts. She rallied to finish second, just a length behind Letruska, here in the 2020 Shuvee.

Harvey’s Lil Goil has been running in turf stakes. She returns to the dirt for the first time since finishing third, beaten five lengths by Swiss Skydiver, in the 2020 Alabama.