Keeping watch over trainer Fausto Gutierrez's stable star Sunday morning at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., groom Jose Diaz reported St. George Stable homebred Letruska emerged from her thrilling victory in Saturday's $600,000 Grade 1 Personal Ensign presented by Lia Infiniti in good order.
Diaz said Letruska will leave Saratoga Monday bound for Monmouth Park, where the South Florida-based Gutierrez also maintains a string of horses. The trainer said Letruska would be pointed to the $500,000 Grade 1 Juddmonte Spinster October 10 at Keeneland Race Course in Lexington, Ky., as a final prep for the $2 million Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Distaff November 6 at Del Mar Thoroughbred Club in Del Mar, Calif.
Letruska led from start to finish and turned back several challengers in the final furlong to capture the 1 1/8-mile Personal Ensign by a half-length, her fourth consecutive victory and 16th in 21 lifetime starts. Nine of her wins have come in graded stakes, five of them against Grade or Group 1 competition.
“She has ability, but more she has a big heart. This a special horse,” Gutierrez said following the win. “To have this speed and to be able to run long distances, and to have the big heart is special. Not for nothing, I think this is one of the best horses in the country.”
The Personal Ensign was Letruska's third victory this year in a “Win and You're In” challenge race for the Distaff, following the Grade 1 Ogden Phipps June 5 at Belmont Park and Grade 2 Fleur de Lis June 26 at Churchill Downs. She has won five of her six starts in 2021, including a defeat of champion Monomoy Girl in the Grade 1 Apple Blossom April 17 at Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, Ark. Her lone loss this year came by a head in Oaklawn's Grade 2 Azeri March 13.
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