Letruska using Houston Ladies Classic as launching pad for 2021 campaign

Letruska embarks on what could be the most important campaign of her career Sunday when she launches her 5-year-old season in the Grade 3, $300,000 Houston Ladies Classic at Sam Houston Race Park.

The 1 1/16-mile race for fillies and mares drew seven, including defending winner Lady Apple. It’s the centerpiece of the Houston Racing Festival, a card of six stakes worth a cumulative $950,000. First post is 1:45 p.m. Central.

Letruska ascended to the top of her division as a 3-year-old in Mexico, when she won two-thirds of that country’s Triple Crown for fillies. She now is working her way up the ranks in the United States. Letruska came here late in her 3-year-old season in 2019, and promptly defeated older male rivals over 1 1/4 miles in the Copa Invitacional del Caribe at Gulfstream.

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Trainer Fausto Gutierrez then brought Letruska to Oaklawn for her 4-year-old debut, and she won an allowance. He said after the race his goal was to seek out some graded opportunities for the Super Saver filly, who races for her breeder, St George Stables. Letruska went on to win the Grade 3 Shuvee at Saratoga and the Grade 3 Rampart at Gulfstream on Dec. 12.

“The last performance in the Rampart, where she won by nearly seven lengths with a competitive field, I think she’s now to the point she can show exactly the potential she has,” said Gutierrez.

He hopes to keep the momentum going in the Houston Ladies Classic, which was a launching pad for Midnight Bisou’s championship campaign in 2019. Midnight Bisou’s path included the Apple Blossom at Oaklawn, and that Grade 1 is a goal for Letruska, said Gutierrez.

Letruska is coming off a career-high Beyer of 98 for the Rampart, a one-turn mile. She is moving back to two turns Sunday.

“I think the two turns I like more,” Gutierrez said. “She has more chance to relax. She’s a filly that prefers two turns.”

Letruska arrived at Sam Houston last Sunday. Gutierrez said she’s adapted well to her new environment, and noted the turns of the track are similar to the ones she raced around in Mexico. Letruska will break from post 7 under Jesus Castanon.

“In the Rampart we removed blinkers, and she was looking more relaxed and was strong on the end,” Gutierrez said. “I think it’s better if she can check the competition. Normally, she’s going very fast fractions, she’s alone in front, and doesn’t have a chance to see the other [horses]. I think she responded very good.”

Lady Apple, a four-time graded winner, is making her second start off the layoff. She exits the Broussard Memorial at Fair Grounds on Dec. 26.

“She was third in the Fair Grounds stakes and I thought she kind of needed it,” trainer Steve Asmussen said. “I love how she’s training. She’s working really well.”

The field also includes stakes winners Motion Emotion, Jeweled Princess, Ujjay, and Shes Our Fastest.