Month: April 2022

Twirling Candy Filly Romps in Dazzling Debut

6th-Keeneland, $99,500, Msw, 4-23, 3yo, f, 7f, 1:27.96, ft, 12 3/4 lengths.

CASA DE GOAT (f, 3, Twirling Candy–Senorita Corredora, by El Corredor) never gave her connections any reason to worry on debut here. She broke well from her rail draw to take command as the 4-5 favorite and drew away from the field with every furlong. Five lengths in front at the head of the lane, the Elm Racing homebred expanded her margin to 12 3/4 lengths on the wire over Catwings (Cupid), who bested Please Be Kind (Violence) in a photo for runner-up honors.

Hailing from a productive female family, Casa de Goat is a half to Holiday's Angel (Harlan's Holiday), MSP, $196,096 and two other winners. The mare also produced a 2-year-old colt by Nyquist as well as a yearling full-sister to the victress. Senorita Corredora is expecting a foal by Authentic this season. This is the family of GIII Delaware Oaks winner Dark Nile (Pioneerof the Nile) and GSP Tres Coronas (Chief's Crown).

Lifetime Record: 1-1-0-0, $59,675. Click for the Equibase.com chart or VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.

O/B-Elm Racing LLC; T-Brad H. Cox.

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Champion Letruska Romps Wire To Wire In Second Apple Blossom Win

Letruska, 2021 champion older dirt female, romped to a front-running victory in the $1 million Apple Blossom Handicap (G1) Saturday, taking Oaklawn Park's centerpiece race for older fillies and mares for the second straight year.

Ridden by Jose Ortiz for trainer Fausto Gutierrez, Letruska carved out fractions of :23.77, :47.26, and 1:11.60 for six furlongs, leading by a much as 2 1/2 lengths with Miss Imperial chasing from second early. A mile went in 1:35.95 before daughter of Super Saver crossed the finish line 1 ¼ lengths in front of runner-up Clairiere, who rallied from last.

Letruska covered 1 1/16 miles in 1:42.22 on a track rated as fast and returned $3 as the heavy 4-5 favorite in the five-horse field.

Ce Ce, reigning champion female sprinter and winner of the 2020 Apple Blossom, lacked a closing kick after tracking Letruska from third for the opening half mile, then second through six furlongs, and checked in third.

“This horse is different,” Gutierrez said of Letruska, the 124-pound highweight. “To win the Apple Blossom twice is great. This was a handicap and now we're giving weight, you have to remember that. When we won the Apple Blossom last year, Monomoy (Girl) was giving us weight. That's a difference this year. She ran great. All the time I'm nervous with these races. She's come back in good form and now we're thinking about the next race.”

Letruska improved her record to 19-1-1 in 25 starts and has earned $2,948,529.

I knew Clairiere would be coming late so I used my speed and I was able to hold her off,” Ortiz said. “I felt my filly was in a very nice rhythm. I knew with the way she running the last eighth pole it would take a super horse to go by her. I knew they were there, but when I felt her switch to the left lead I felt she gave me another gear and when I looked, I saw the other filly (Clairiere) there, but I never thought they were going to go by.”

Jockey Victor Espinoza said Ce Ce ran a good race.

“It's the way the race set up because nobody really challenged her (Letruska) in the race, like the first five-eighths. It's hard to catch horses like that in front. But Ce Ce, she ran well.”

Letruska, a 6-year-old St. George Stable homebred produced by the Successful Appeal mare Magic Appeal, is the fourth horse to win multiple runnings of the Apple Blossom, following Hall of Famers Paseana (1992, 1993), Azeri (2002, 2003, 2004) and Zenyatta (2008 and 2010).

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Letruska Joins Elite Company With Apple Blossom Defense

St George Stable's Letruska (Super Saver) added her name to a select group in defense of her title in Saturday's GI Apple Blossom H. at Oaklawn Park, joining the legendary Paseana (Arg), Azeri and Zenyatta as multiple winners of the track's signature event for the dirt distaff set. In winning for a remarkable 19th time in her 25-race career, the 6-year-old reigning Eclipse Award winner held off a late bid from Clairiere (Curlin) and fellow champion Ce Ce (Elusive Quality), herself an ultra-game winner of this race in the early throes of the COVID-19 outbreak two years ago.

Off as the 9-10 chalk, Letruska came out a bit at the break and bothered Clairiere slightly, but was unchallenged for the early lead and took the quintet into the first turn while charting a course three off the inside in advance of 63-1 Miss Imperial (Maclean's Music).

Allowed to lob them along down the backstretch through a relatively easy half-mile in :47.26, the 6-year-old led the Apple Blossom field into the turn, but soon had to brace for a challenge from Ce Ce, who was niggled along approaching the half-mile marker, but rolled up outside with about 2 1/2 furlongs to travel. In the meantime, last year's GI Cotillion S. heroine Clairiere had quietly crept into contention, followed the move of Ce Ce off the second turn and peeled out with a menacing three-wide challenge of her own in upper stretch. For a few strides, it appeared as if her momentum might carry her by Letruska, but the champ dug in–veering out into the path of Ce Ce, but never causing her to break stride or Victor Espinoza to cease riding–and was home first. Clairiere closed off well for second as the field crossed the wire in odds order.

The 2021 Apple Blossom was a coming-out party of sorts for Letruska, who caught the attention of most racing fans with a nose defeat of multiple champion Monomoy Girl (Tapizar) after losing the lead at midstretch. From there, the homebred rattled off victories in the GI Odgen Phipps S., the GII Fleur de Lis S., the GI Personal Ensign S. and GI Juddmonte Spinster S., locking up a championship prior to Breeders' Cup Saturday. The bay retreated to beat just one home at Del Mar in November after chasing a suicidal pace, but, kept in training for 2022, resumed with a smooth three-length tally in Gulfstream's GIII Royal Delta S. Feb. 26.

“This horse is different,” said winning trainer Fausto Gutierrez. “To win the Apple Blossom twice is great. This was a handicap and now we're giving weight, you have to remember that.”

Letruska carried top weight of 124 pound, three more than both Clairiere and Ce Ce.

“When we won the Apple Blossom last year, Monomoy [Girl] was giving us weight,” he continued. “All the time I'm nervous with these races. She's come back in good form and now we're thinking about the next race.”

Pedigree Notes:

St George Stables acquired the Grade II-placed Magic Appeal carrying the foal that would become Letruska for $100,000 at the 2015 Keeneland November Sale and has since gone on to become the dam of the late Trigger Warning (Candy Ride {Arg}), a two-time stakes winner and third at cricket-score odds behind McKinzie in the 2018 GI Pennsylvania Derby.

Magic Appeal's now 9-year-old stakes-placed daughter American Doll (Tiznow) is the dam of the Glen Hill Farm's twice-raced 3-year-old filly Wandering (Malibu Moon) and the 2-year-old filly Mischievous Doll (Into Mischief), a $275,000 KEESEP purchase by AMO Racing USA, who breezed three furlongs in :37.40 (9/22) at The Thoroughbred Center Saturday morning.

Letruska's 3-year-old homebred half-brother Ocotzingo (Hard Spun) broke his maiden over the Gulfstream synthetic track Apr. 15, and Magic Appeal is also responsible for the 2-year-old colt Prudencio (Arrogate) and a yearling filly by Malibu Moon. The mare was most recently covered by Curlin.

Saturday, Oaklawn Park
APPLE BLOSSOM H.-GI, $980,000, Oaklawn, 4-23, 4yo/up, f/m, 1 1/16m, 1:42.22, ft.
1–LETRUSKA, 124, m, 6, by Super Saver
1st Dam: Magic Appeal (GSP), by Successful Appeal
2nd Dam: Call Her Magic, by Caller I. D.
3rd Dam: Malibu Magic, by Encino
O/B-St George Stables, LLC (KY); T-Fausto Gutierrez; J-Jose L Ortiz. $600,000. Lifetime Record: Ch. 3yo Filly-Mex & Ch. Older Dirt Female-U.S., 25-19-1-1, $2,948,529. *1/2 to Trigger Warning (Candy Ride {Arg}), MSW & GISP, $555,378. Werk Nick Rating: A. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–Clairiere, 121, f, 4, by Curlin
1st Dam: Cavorting (MGISW, $2,063,000), by Bernardini
2nd Dam: Promenade Girl, by Carson City
3rd Dam: Promenade Colony, by Pleasant Colony
O-Stonestreet Stables LLC; B-Stonestreet Thoroughbred Holdings LLC (KY); T-Steven M. Asmussen. $200,000.
3–Ce Ce, 121, m, 6, by Elusive Quality
1st Dam: Miss Houdini (GISW, $187,600), by Belong to Me
2nd Dam: Magical Maiden, by Lord Avie
3rd Dam: Gils Magic, by Magesterial
O/B-Bo Hirsch LLC (KY); T-Michael W. McCarthy. $100,000.
Margins: 1 1/4, HF, 17HF. Odds: 0.90, 1.30, 3.90.
Also Ran: Maracuja, Miss Imperial. Click for the Equibase.com chart, the TJCIS.com PPs or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.

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Classic Hopefuls Turn It Up a Notch

With two weeks remaining until the first weekend of May, several chief protagonists for the GI Kentucky Derby and GI Longines Kentucky Oaks turned in some key breezes in Kentucky and California.

Jeff Drown's Zandon (Upstart), who cemented his spot in the Derby field with an eye-catching victory in the GI Toyota Blue Grass S. at Keeneland Apr. 9, has remained in Lexington to train up to the big race and went a half-mile in :48.60 (see below). The $170,000 Keeneland September graduate covered his opening furlong in :12.80, then gradually picked up speed through subsequent splits of :25.20 and :37 flat, with trainer Chad Brown and big-race rider Flavien Prat observing from the grandstand. Zandon galloped out five furlongs in 1:00.80, three-quarters of a mile in 1:13.80 and was up seven panels in 1:27.80.

“He was moving super; just what we wanted to see,” Brown said. “We just wanted to maintain where he is. He does not have to get any fitter. I was impressed with how he galloped out.”

Zandon is scheduled to ship to Churchill Sunday morning and will have his final Derby drill next Saturday.

 

WATCH: Zandon breezes a half-mile at Keeneland

 

Among those working beneath the Twin Spires Saturday was Blue Grass runner-up and 'TDN Rising Star' Smile Happy (Runhappy), who worked five furlongs in the company of his GIII Jeff Ruby Steaks-winning stable companion Tiz the Bomb (Hit It a Bomb). Smile Happy, whose docket includes a second-out victory in Churchill's GII Kentucky Jockey Club S., began the work about one length ahead of Brian Hernandez, Jr. and Tiz the Bomb (1:00.20), who moved to the outside of Smile Happy (1:00.40) and finished on even terms.

“We were just looking for an easy move today and we got that,” trainer Kenny McPeek said. “We'll probably do the same thing again next week.”

A day after stablemate and 'TDN Rising Star' Zozos (Munnings) sizzled six furlongs in 1:12.40, Gold Square's GI Arkansas Derby hero Cyberknife (Gun Runner) followed suit Saturday morning. Working at 5:15 a.m. with Florent Geroux at the controls, the Gold Square colorbearer went the same distance a tick quicker, then galloped out an extra furlong in :12.40, according to noted Churchill clocker John Nichols. Geroux also breezed Zozos on Friday, but retains the call on Cyberknife for the Derby.

“It was a really strong move and he's a really good work horse,” Geroux said. “He continues to improve as time goes on and he showed that winning the Arkansas Derby. Even going back to his allowance win before the Arkansas Derby he showed a new level of class.”

 

WATCH: Brad Cox discusses Cyberknife's work with Jennie Rees

 

The one-eyed Un Ojo (Laoban) was also out for a serious move Saturday morning at Churchill, working five furlongs in :59.40 for trainer Ricky Courville in splits of :11.60, :23, :35 and :47.60 before galloping out six panels in 1:12.20.

“It's amazing being here at Churchill Downs,” said Courville's son Clay. “I've been here before but nothing like this. [Un Ojo] is getting over the track really well.”

At Santa Anita Saturday morning, 'TDN Rising Star' Messier (Empire Maker) went five furlongs in :59.80 for trainer Tim Yakteen, galloping out six furlongs in 1:12 and change, per a tweet from the ownership group's Tom Ryan. The Ontario-bred works again next Friday before shipping to Kentucky.

Expected to work Sunday are the Steve Asmussen duo of GII Louisiana Derby winner Epicenter (Not This Time) and Echo Zulu (Gun Runner), each among the favorites for the Derby and Oaks, respectively.

 

 

 

Kathleen O. Leads Oaks Workers…

Winngate Stables' Kathleen O. (Upstart), undefeated winner of the GII Gulfstream Park Oaks and also among the top fancies for the GI Longines Kentucky Oaks, prepped for that engagement Saturday at Keeneland, breezing a measured half-mile in :48.80  (see below) for her Hall of Fame conditioner Shug McGaughey.

“She picked it up and galloped out strong,” said assistant trainer Anthony Hamilton. “We are in good shape. She's a happy horse–that's what you look for.”

Kathleen O. ships across to Churchill Monday or Tuesday, according to Hamilton.

Candy Raid (Candy Ride {Arg}), upset winner of the Bourbonette Oaks at Turfway Park Apr. 2, went four furlongs in :49.20 (video) with Rafael Bejarano in the irons.

“This was her last work here,” said Bejarano, who rode Candy Raid for the first time in the victory at Turfway. “She's feeling good. I got her out five-eighths in 1:02 and change.”

Candy Raid is scheduled to ship to Churchill on Thursday and have her final pre-Oaks work there.

Oaks workers at Churchill included GIII Pocahontas S. winner Hidden Connection (Connect, 5f in 1:00.60); GIII Gazelle S. victress Nostalgic (Medaglia d'Oro, 4f, :48.80); and Busher S. romper and Gazelle runner-up Venti Valentine (Firing Line, 4f, :47.40).

 

WATCH: Kathleen O. breezes towards the Oaks at Keeneland

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