Apple Blossom | Horse Racing Free Tips

Letruska Goes Back-To-Back, Puts On Tour De Force In Ogden Phipps

Picking up the mount from his injured brother, jockey Jose Ortiz made it look easy this Saturday aboard 6-5 favorite Letruska in the Grade 1 Ogden Phipps Stakes at Belmont Park. Taking the lead from the start on the 5-year-old daughter of Super Saver, Ortiz controlled the race throughout for a facile 2 3/4-length victory. Trained by Fausto Gutierrez for owner/breeder St. George Stable, Letruska completed 1 1/16 miles over the fast main track in 1:41.25.

The victory earns Letruska an expenses-paid berth to the Breeders' Cup Distaff, scheduled for early November in Del Mar.

It was the second Grade 1 win for both Letruska and Gutierrez; the mare defeated champion Monomoy Girl last out in the Apple Blossom at Oaklawn Park.

“Today, she confirmed what we saw in the Apple Blossom,” Gutierrez said. “She's progressed with age and taking the blinkers off. She ran like a big horse. When she would run on the lead, she never saw the other horses. She has improved so much more. She has this class to her. She really likes to run.

“Now we need to focus on the Breeders' Cup with the form that we have. These races are really tough. We'll check how she does. She's a very sound filly and I hope she continues like this.”

The anticipated speed duel with Kentucky Oaks winner Shedaresthedevil did not materialize as Letruska was able to clear away from that rival down the backstretch, setting measured fractions of :23.49 and :45.87. Ortiz held a 1 1/2 length advantage heading into the turn, and Letruska extended that lead to nearly three lengths without being asked to mark three-quarters in 1:10.26.

Shedaresthedevil was unable to match strides with the winner down the lane, and late-running Bonny South moved up from last to gain second. At the finish, however, Letruska was all alone and geared down to win by 2 3/4 lengths. Queen Nekia filled out the super, while Water White finished last of the five. Both Swiss Skydiver and Valiance were scratched.

“She was breaking a little bit slow, but she broke good today,” Ortia said. “I was able to put her on the lead and make the other horses chase me. Florent [Geroux, aboard Shedaresthedevil], if he wanted to beat me, he had to run with me. She couldn't keep up with me by the three-eighths pole. When I looked back and saw her three lengths behind me, I was very happy.”

Bred in Kentucky by her owner, Letruska is out of the graded stakes-placed Successful Appeal mare Magic Appeal, a half to Grade 1 winner J P's Gusto. Letruska is a half-sister to the Grade 1-placed Trigger Warning; St. George purchased the dam, Magic Appeal, with Letruska in utero for $100,000 at the 2015 Keeneland November sale. She began her career in Mexico, winning a pair of G1 races, then came to the United States with her trainer in late 2019. Letruska has blossomed this year as a 5-year-old, winning three of her four starts including back-to-back Grade 1's. Overall, the mare's record stands at 14 wins from 19 starts for earnings of over $1.4 million.

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Champion Monomoy Girl Gets A Break, Expected To Return For Second Half Of 2021

Dual champion Monomoy Girl, a gallant second in the G1 Apple Blossom at Oaklawn Park last out, will be given some time away from the racetrack, MyRacehorse announced via email over the weekend. The two-time Breeders' Cup Distaff winner will be turned out for 30 days at WinStar Farm.

Monomoy Girl was sold to Spendthrift Farm for $9.5 million at the conclusion of her 2020 racing season, and MyRacehorse leased her 2021 racing rights. MyRacehorse then sold shares in that experience to 10,200 individuals earlier this year. The 6-year-old daughter of Tapizar won the G3 Bayakoa and was second to Letruska in the Apple Blossom thus far this season.

The full statement from MyRacehorse is as follows:

“MyRacehorse, after collaborating with our partners, Spendthrift Farm, and trainer Brad Cox, have decided to give Monomoy Girl a brief break from training, with the expectation of the 6-year-old mare returning for a second-half of the year campaign on the racetrack.

“The two-time Eclipse Award champion didn't bounce out of her gutsy second-place finish in last month's Grade 1 Apple Blossom Handicap as quickly as we would have hoped. While there are no serious physical issues with Monomoy Girl, she recently has been experiencing some minor muscle strains and hamstring soreness.

“After a thorough veterinary work-up, Dr. Wes Sutter of Kentucky Equine Hospital advised us that giving Monomoy Girl a short break from training would be very beneficial for the mare.

“Monomoy Girl will receive her freshening at WinStar Farm in Kentucky, where she will be turned out for 30 days while being hand-walked. Dr. Sutter has also cleared Monomoy Girl to begin a swimming regime in two weeks' time.

“'We fully expect Monomoy Girl to return for a second-half of the year campaign and anticipate more terrific performances to come from our wonderful mare,' said Spendthrift general manager, Ned Toffey. 'We're happy that she will be spending her turnout time at WinStar, which has an amazing facility for horses who are getting a break from training. We look forward to getting Monomoy Girl back to Brad's barn after this brief respite, which we believe will do her a world of good.'”

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Irad Ortiz’ Apple Blossom Ride Earns Jockey Of The Week Title

Billed as “Champion vs. Champion,” the Grade 1 Apple Blossom at Oaklawn Park was widely considered a two-horse race between Monomoy Girl and Swiss Skydiver. Irad Ortiz, Jr. and Letruska, however, had another idea which earned him Jockey of the Week for April 12 through April 18. The award, which is voted on by a panel of racing experts, is for jockeys who are members of the Jockeys' Guild, the organization which represents more than 950 active riders in the United States as well as retired and permanently disabled jockeys.

It doesn't happen often when three-time Eclipse Champion jockey Irad Ortiz, Jr. isn't on either the favorite or second favorite but the end result was a familiar one. Riding Letruska for the first time, Ortiz, Jr. went to the lead after the start and led the field through fractions of 23.56 for the opening quarter, 47.96 for the half and 1:12.26 for six furlongs. Swiss Skydiver and Monomoy Girl tracked the leader entering the stretch. Monomoy Girl grabbed a narrow lead but Ortiz, Jr. and Letruska dug in and fought back bravely along the rail to prevail by a nose at the wire in the final time of 1:43.14 for 1-1/16 miles over the fast track. Swiss Skydiver finished 6-1/2 lengths back in third.

“I got the right trip,” said Ortiz, Jr. “She likes to be on the lead, I let her go, let her make the lead. She relaxed and I was able to save something for the end. She responded really well.”

The Apple Blossom was Ortiz, Jr.'s fifth Grade 1 and twelfth graded stakes to date this year.

Ortiz, Jr.'s weekly stats were 20-7-6-3 for a 35% winners and 80% in-the-money.

He led all jockeys in purses won with $1,137,435.

Ortiz, Jr. out-polled jockeys Javier Castellano who won two stakes at Aqueduct, Paco Lopez who was second in number of wins for the week, Flavien Prat who won two graded stakes at Santa Anita and Luis Saez who won a stakes race at Keeneland and led all jockeys by number of wins.

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Week in Review: Irad’s Magic on Display in Apple Blossom

It happened again on Saturday, just as it seems to happen on every big day at the track. Irad Ortiz, Jr. won a race he wasn't supposed to win. When a race, in this case the GI Apple Blossom H., comes down to a nose at the wire and Ortiz is on the winning end, he probably made the difference. He's that good.

Ortiz picked up the mount on Letruska (Super Saver) for Saturday's race, riding her for the first time. Still, it looked like the best the 5-year-old mare could hope for was a third-place finish. The Apple Blossom was supposed to be a two-horse race between superstars Swiss Skydiver (Daredevil) and Monomoy Girl (Tapizar). Letruska had solid credentials and a couple of Grade III wins on her resume, but it didn't appear that she had the ability to defeat either of the Eclipse Award winners. Or so everyone thought.

Midway on the far turn, it was clear that Letruska was going to put up a fight. She clung to a narrow lead over Monomoy Girl as Swiss Skydiver started to back out if it. But when Monomoy Girl poked her head in front past the quarter-pole, the race appeared to be over. She was the favorite, the class of the field and had all the momentum.

For the next 20 seconds, Monomoy Girl held the lead. It was not until the last three jumps or so that Letruska drew even before putting her nose in front at the wire. It seemed that Ortiz knew that Letruska had just enough left to make one well-timed surge before the wire.

“I go the right trip,” he said. “She likes to be on the lead. I let her go, let her make the lead. She relaxed and I was able to save something for the end. She responded really well.”

As an analyst on the “America's Day at the Races” show on the Fox Sports networks, former rider Richard Migliore has seen Ortiz win hundreds of races, many of them coming when he was not necessarily aboard the best horse.

“You have to have natural ability to begin with, which he has in spades,” Migliore said.”He has incredible natural ability. He's very strong, so, from the physical side he is gifted. When it comes to the mental side, he has the mentality of a champion, which is very hard to maintain over an extended period of time. He's done that. He loves what he is doing and he's always enthusiastic, and it doesn't matter if it's $10,000 claimer or a Grade I. You can see the enthusiasm whenever he is riding. I am a firm believer that horses feed on the energy from the people around them, and when that happens a horse will give his very best. Irad brings that to the table on a daily basis.”

Migliore said that in the Apple Blossom Ortiz made all the right moves at the right time.

“I understand that this is horse racing and you need the horse underneath you, but this was one of those races where the rider totally made the difference,” he said. “It was a matter of him not getting in Letruska's way. Did you see how comfortable she was down the backstretch? He was allowing her to run at her natural gait, where she's just very happy and very efficient. At the same time, he was saving horse. He is not getting in her way and he was not using her.

“Most good riders know the habits of the horses around them and the other riders around them. Monomoy Girl does have a tendency, when she gets to the front, to idle a little bit. Irad, I am sure, knew that. When he really set Letruska down was when Monomoy Girl got in front of her. He anticipated that she was going to idle and bit and when that happened he was able to get Letruska to impose her will on Monomoy Girl.”

Ortiz, 28, has been on top for a while. He's won the Eclipse Award as the nation's top jockey three years in row and has led the nation in both wins and earnings every year since 2018.

Yet, he seems to have taken things to another level this year. At the Gulfstream championship meet, where he was riding against many of the best jockeys in the country, he demolished the competition, winning 140 races, 42 more than runner-up Paco Lopez. On his first day back in New York, he won six races on the card topped by the GII Wood Memorial S. He's winning at a rate of 28% this year, a career best for him. He's on a pace to win 480 races this year, which would also be a career best.

He's by far the best jockey in the country, and in the Apple Blossom he showed you why.

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