Letruska will run right back in Fleur de Lis

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Somebody must’ve forgotten to tell trainer Fausto Gutierrez that top-level horses in America usually don’t wheel back in three weeks, at least not when the weather gets this warm.

Not that anyone should mind.

Gutierrez, the dominant trainer in his native Mexico, has confirmed that Letruska, the leader in the North American filly-mare division, will return from her romp in the Grade 1 Ogden Phipps on the June 5 Belmont Stakes undercard to run Saturday in the Grade 2, $300,000 Fleur de Lis at Churchill Downs. The 5-year-old Super Saver mare is owned by her breeder, the St. George Stables of Mexican billionaire German Larrea.

“It is just 21 days from the Ogden Phipps,” Gutierrez said Sunday by phone from Keeneland, “but when a horse is ready to run, we have to let them run.”

The Fleur de Lis will be co-featured with the Grade 2, $600,000 Stephen Foster on a sensational card to end the 38-day spring meet. Both go at 1 1/8 miles on the main track. In all, seven stakes will be run, with mandatory payouts of all wagering pools, including the jackpot pick six. Entries are to be drawn Wednesday.

Letruska returned to Keeneland shortly after winning the Phipps by 2 3/4 lengths under Jose Ortiz, who not only will be in from New York for a return ride on Letruska, but also to reunite with Maxfield, the heavy favorite in the Foster.

Gutierrez said Letruska has thrived in her daily training and he feels comfortable running her back on relatively short rest. She was one of 16 nominees to the Fleur de Lis, which as of Monday was expected to get at least six fillies and mares, including the local standout Envoutante and New York shippers Point of Honor and Spice Is Nice. With temperatures in this region reaching into the 90s in recent days, the early forecast for Saturday calls for a high of 84 and a 50 percent chance of rain.

“She is in good condition to run,” said Gutierrez. “Step by step for now, and this is the next step.”

Gutierrez has the Nov. 6 Breeders’ Cup Distaff at Del Mar as the year-end goal, with the Aug. 28 Personal Ensign at Saratoga and the Oct. 10 Spinster at Keeneland as logical stepping-stones.

While other notables such as Monomoy Girl and Swiss Skydiver have struggled somewhat, Letruska has soared to the top of the division by winning a pair of Grade 1 races, the Apple Blossom at Oaklawn Park in April and the Ogden Phipps. Based in South Florida during the winter before moving briefly to Oaklawn, then Keeneland, her previous races this year resulted in an easy win in the Grade 3 Houston Ladies Classic in January and a head defeat to Shedaresthedevil in the Grade 2 Azeri at Oaklawn in March.

Gutierrez moved his stable in Texas for a brief period in the late 1990s while racing was essentially shut down in Mexico. He returned to the U.S. for the first time for the Carribean Classic series at Gulfstream Park in December 2017 and has since established a foothold, with Kukulkan and Jala Jala being his top runners here until Letruska came along.

Meanwhile, Maxfield had his final pre-race breeze Saturday at Churchill, going a half-mile in 48.80. A winner in six of seven starts, the 4-year-old Godolphin homebred is trained by Brendan Walsh, who said the colt has had no mishaps whatsoever since winning the April 30 Alysheba at Churchill by 3 1/4 lengths with Ortiz up.

A short field was expected for the 40th Foster, with Empty Tomb, Silver Dust, and Warrior’s Charge being the only confirmed opposition as of Monday.

The balance of the Saturday stakes slate is led by the Grade 2, $300,000 Wise Dan, for older turf horses going 1 1/16 miles. The remaining four are all worth $150,000, those being twin turf stakes for 3-year-olds, the War Chant and Tepin, and twin six-furlong races for 2-year-olds, the Grade 3 Bashford Manor and Debutante.

The Stephen Foster being run as the spring-meet finale and during daylight represents a departure from recent times. It had been run for years on the Saturday following the Belmont, with the engraved Kentucky Derby trophy being presented with great fanfare to the winning connections; every running from 2012-19 was under the lights.

Last year, with no fans on hand because of the pandemic, the Foster was run on June 27, the Saturday afternoon after the postponed Belmont (June 20), and the Derby would not be run until Sept. 5. This year, it’s once again being run on the final Saturday of June, but with the official Derby result still pending because of the raging controversy involving Medina Spirit, obviously there will be no trophy presentation.

◗ The penultimate card of the meet on Friday will be highlighted by the 4-year-old debut of Art Collector in the $110,000 Kelly’s Landing, a seven-furlong race that drew nine older horses, including Bango, a last-out winner of the Aristides.