Letruska turns in final work for Royal Delta

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Newly minted Eclipse Awards champion Letruska was sent through her final pre-race work ahead of her 6-year-old debut when drilling five furlongs in 1:00.40 at the Palm Meadows training center Friday morning.

Letruska, the top filly-mare dirt runner of 2021, will be heavily favored next Saturday at Gulfstream Park in the Grade 3, $150,000 Royal Delta going 1 1/16 miles.

Fausto Gutierrez, who trains the Super Saver mare for St. George Stable, said the long-range plan is to make the Nov. 5 Breeders’ Cup Distaff at Keeneland “without all the moving around this year.”

“We moved her 17 or 18 times last year,” he said. “We want a campaign with less efforts this time.”

Gutierrez said the Grade 1 Apple Blossom on April 23 at Oaklawn Park likely would follow the Royal Delta and that Keeneland would be her primary base for much of the year after leaving Florida in late March or early April.

From eight starts in 2021, Letruska won six times, including four Grade 1 races. After ending her year with a 10th-place finish in the BC Distaff at Del Mar, she got about six weeks’ rest at an Ocala, Fla., farm before moving down to Palm Meadows. Her Friday work was her fifth since returning.

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Opposition appears to be scarce in the Royal Delta, for which entries will be taken Wednesday. Only 12 fillies and mares were nominated, and a chief would-be rival Envoutante will pass the race in favor of the Grade 1 Beholder Mile on March 5 at Santa Anita, according to Kenny McPeek. Crazy Beautiful, a second McPeek filly, is “possible” for the Royal Delta, the trainer said Friday from New Orleans. The McPeek pair worked together early Friday at Gulfstream.

The Saturday card could be subject to a mandatory disbursement of another big Rainbow 6 pool, according to track officials, but only if the jackpot is not emptied in the meantime. The Rainbow 6 has not been swept by a solo ticket since being forced out Jan. 30.

Vasquez averts a disaster

Jockey Miguel Vasquez put his riding skills on display when somehow managing to stay aboard a 3-year-old filly named Bitty Baby entering the clubhouse turn in the first race Thursday.

Bitty Baby stumbled badly about 150 yards into the 1 1/16-mile Tapeta race, throwing Vasquez in the air and causing the jockey to lose both stirrups. As the filly dropped back to trail in a field of 10, Vasquez managed to recover both irons and calmly guided her to a distant third-place finish.

Vasquez, 26, has become a perennial top-10 rider on the year-round Florida circuit since moving to the U.S. from his native Panama in 2014.

◗ Trainer Dale Romans said he hopes to run Giant Game and Howling Time in the Fountain of Youth after both colts incurred recent setbacks. Giant Game was back training several days after undergoing minor throat surgery Feb. 8, while Howling Time “only missed a couple days of training with a cough,” said Romans, and was scratched from the Sam F. Davis at Tampa Bay Downs last Saturday.