Bred by David Fennelly's Mountmellick Farm, the filly is out of GIII Torrey Pines S. winner Munny Spunt (Munnings), who sold for $340,000 at Fasig-Tipton Winter Mixed Sale in foal to Justify, subsequently died but not before foaling a colt named Just Munny. Midsummer March's dam is a half-sister to MGSW Blues Street and GSP Beale Street, both by Street Cry (Ire).

Also set for her first start is Cypress Creek Equine's Off the Lam (Curlin). Trained by Fausto Gutierrez, the homebred is out Argentinian multiple group stakes winning mare Sarasota (Arg) (Luhuk), who is responsible for GII Honeymoon H. heroine Sarah's Secret (Leroidesanimaux {Brz}) and GI Carter H. victor Salutos Amigos (Salute the Sarge). TJCIS PPS

2nd-GP, $89K, Msw, 3yo, 5fT, 12:39 p.m. ET.
With the same Hard Spun-Speightstown cross as GI Breeders' Cup Sprint champ Aloha West, firster Refuel makes his inaugural trip to the post for Repole and St. Elias. A $550,000 Keeneland September buy, the chestnut was the second-highest priced Hard Spun yearling in 2022.

The Todd Pletcher trainee is out of SW Quick Flip who went to Spendthrift Farm for $230,000 at the 2017 Keeneland November Sale. At the time, she was carrying GSW/GISP Following Sea (Runhappy), who incidently was third to Aloha West at the Breeders' Cup.

The dam of GSP Gimmick (Into Mischief), Quick Flip is a half-sister to MGSP/SW Qahira (Cairo Prince) and MGSP/MSW Factor It In (The Factor). TJCIS PPS

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When last seen in competition, the 6-year-old mare was running last as the 3-5 favorite in the GI Ogden Phipps S. June 11 at Belmont Park. As usual, she set the pace, but on that afternoon could not finish and was passed by the four others in the field. Gutierrez said that Letruska wasn't herself that afternoon, possibly a nervous reaction to shipping from Kentucky.

“She had a bad race at New York, on Belmont Day,” he said. “But I think this is part of the game.”

Letruska returned to Saratoga this week to see if she can win the GI Personal Ensign S. for the second consecutive year. Two horses have won the race twice: Politely in 1967-68 and Beautiful Pleasure in 1999-2000. She handled the Personal Ensign challenge in 2021, edging Bonny South (Munnings) by a half-length. It was the fourth of five straight graded-stakes victories that carried her to the Eclipse Award for the older female dirt division. Gutierrez said she looks good to him for the nine-furlong race.

“She has come in in very good form and I think she's ready to show it,” he said. “I'm very happy how she's trained and [she] is ready to go.”

Letruska's championship season of six wins and a second in eight starts with earnings of $1.9 million ended with a distant 10th in the GI Breeders' Cup Distaff. That day at Del Mar, she hooked up in a speed duel with Private Mission (Into Mischief)  through brutally fast fractions of 21.84, 44.97 and 1:09.70. The Japanese mare Marche Lorraine (Jpn) (Orfevre {Jpn}) was the lucky beneficiary and held off Dunbar Road (Quality Road) by a nose at 49-1. Private Mission was the only horse Letruska beat that day.

“With that that kind of rhythm or pace for the race, of course, it would help if she's in the middle,” Gutierrez said, noting that horses that go that fast early in a 1 1/8-mile race aren't typically in contention at the end.

“When you are a trainer, you see how it started and you are just waiting for the fractions,” he said. “When you see :21, :22 you know that the race is finished for you.”

Letruska started the 2022 season on Feb. 26 at Gulfstream Park and led from gate to wire in the GIII Royal Delta S. by three lengths. She followed that success with a 1 1/4-length win over Clairiere (Curlin) in the GI Apple Blossom H. Apr. 22 at Oaklawn Park. The Phipps, which she won handily in 2021, was her next start.

“We need to remember to she has been five years in a row running. We have two, three, four, five and now six,” Gutierrez said. “Before the Belmont race, she had one of the most spectacular races that she's had, the second Apple Blossom she won in a row. Big numbers with I think the second- or third-fastest time in the history for the Apple Blossom. And after we had a bad race.”

Gutierrez said that he and his crew noticed that she didn't seem herself in the days leading up to the Phipps.

“She's a very temperamental horse. She's very special,” he said. “And when we arrived to Belmont, she was a little bit [depressed]. It's complicated sometimes to scratch a horse like her. It's not an excuse, but when you live with a horse five years in a row you know when it's not the same horse you know. Something like this happens. I repeat, it is not an excuse. The fractions for that race, the quality for the horses to run in these is the high level and she's a horse who wins and has lost races. That day we had a bad start. Like when you are a pitcher in baseball and one day in the second inning you go out. But you won 19 games before.”

Gutierrez smiled as he used the baseball analogy. He was referring to Letruska's career record of 19 wins in 26 starts.

Since the Phipps, Letruska has worked seven times at Churchill Downs. Four of the breezes were the fastest of the day at the distance. In Friday, she breezed a half-mile in :48, the third- fastest of 107 works that morning.

Gutierrez said that Letruska traveled well from Kentucky and that jockey Gabriel Lagunes, who has ridden her in training this week, told him she is a different horse from the one he was up in June at Belmont Park. Gutierrez said the St. George Stable homebred is ready for the Personal Ensign, which he acknowledged is another stiff assignment.

“She hasn't had an easy race in the last two years,” Gutierrez said. “She just runs [in graded stakes] and races where she is the focus. We run with the most high-quality horses: Clairiere, Malathaat (Curlin), Search Results (Flatter). Any one that wants to run in that group is a tough horse.”

Gutierrez said that he likes Letruska's chances in the $600,000 Personal Ensign. She drew the rail in the field of five.

“I do I have the feeling and the perception that we can see again the same Letruska,” he said. “She has a lot of people who follow her and like her form, that she fights every single race.”

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Kicked straight into the lead by Jose Ortiz, Letruska crossed down onto the rail and relaxed nicely on the engine through an opening quarter-mile that was clocked in a comfortable :24.39. Able to ration her speed evenly through the middle furlongs, Letruska was confidently handled around the turn as she continued to build an imposing advantage and glided home ears-pricked and never out of a high gallop to get back to her winning ways.

Letruska became a household name with a battling defeat of multiple champion Monomoy Girl (Tapizar) in last year's GI Apple Blossom H. and she promptly added front-running tallies in the GI Ogden Phipps S. and GII Fleur de Lis S. A game half-length winner of the GI Personal Ensign S. at Saratoga last August, the bay led them on a merry chase in the GI Juddmonte Spinster S. Oct. 10, but attended the wicked early fractions in the Distaff and hung around to the top of the lane before hoisting the white flag. A return trip to Hot Springs for the Apple Blossom is in the cards, trainer Fausto Gutierrez said following the victory.

Pedigree Notes:

Letruska's dam, third for Cobra Farm and Stan Hough in the 2009 GII Adirondack S., is a full-sister to GI Del Mar Futurity winner J P's Gusto and was purchased by St. George Farm for $100,000 carrying the filly that would become Letruska at the 2015 Keeneland November Sale. Magic Appeal is also the dam of the once-raced Ocotzingo (Hard Spun), the 2-year-old colt Prudencio (Arrogate) and a yearling filly by Malibu Moon. She was most recently covered by Curlin.

ROYAL DELTA S.-GIII, $150,000, Gulfstream, 2-26, 4yo/up, f/m, 1 1/16m, 1:43.43, ft.
1–LETRUSKA, 123, 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 Stable LLC; T-Fausto Gutierrez; J-Jose L. Ortiz $92,070. Lifetime Record: Ch. Older Female, Ch. 3yo Filly-Mex, MGISW, 24-18-1-1, $2,348,529. *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–Into Vanishing, 118, f, 4, Into Mischief–Vanishing, by Lemon Drop Kid. 1ST BLACK TYPE, 1ST GRADED BLACK TYPE. O-Augustin Stable; B-George Strawbridge (KY); T-Jonathan Thomas. $29,700.
3–Il Malocchio, 120, f, 4, Souper Speedy–Egbert Bay, by Sligo Bay (Ire). 1ST GRADED BLACK TYPE. O-Franco S. Meli; B-Franco Meli (ON); T-Martin Drexler. $14,850.
Margins: 3, 3/4, 1HF. Odds: 0.10, 31.50, 26.80.
Also Ran: Crazy Beautiful, Key Biscayne, Helping Lisa D. Scratched: Family Time.
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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GI Apple Blossom H. at Oaklawn.

The winner of last year's Apple Blossom, Letruska will attempt to become the first horse to win back-to-back runnings of that event since Azeri, who won it in 2002, 2003 and 2004.

Letruska is currently stabled at Palm Meadows.

“The Royal Delta is here at home at a mile-and-a- sixteenth. It's a perfect race for her to come back in,” Gutierrez said.

Letruska will have her first work of 2022 this Sunday at Palm Meadows.

“She's in good form and never lost condition,” the trainer said. “She's ready to have her first workout. It will be three furlongs.”

Gutierrez did not have any races picked out for Letruska after the Apple Blossom, but said he is interested in running her at Churchill Downs and at Keeneland since she will be stabled at Keeneland after leaving Florida. He ruled out a start against males.

Among the more popular horses in the sport, Letruska, who began her career in Mexico, started eight times last year at seven different racetracks. Her season began in January with the GIII Houston Ladies Classic at Sam Houston and concluded in November in the GI Breeders' Cup Distaff at Del Mar.

“She had a spectacular year,” Gutierrez said. “She ran from January to November. She never stopped. She traveled around all over the country. She won at six different tracks and won four Grade I's. When she was in the best form I tried to go to the most prestigious races with her.”

Letruska finished 10th in the Distaff, where she was done in by a vicious early speed duel.

“There was a lot of speed in the Breeders' Cup,” Gutierrez said. “But that is part of racing. Every race is different and the Grade I's are never easy. I didn't expect her to have an easy race and gallop alone in front.”

After the Breeders' Cup, Gutierrez and owner-breeder German Larrea Mota-Velasco decided to bring her back for another go as a 6-year-old. Gutierrez said Letruska will have a lighter schedule in 2022 than she had last year.

“She is in good form and I think she will have another very good year,” he said. “I need to come up with a calendar with fewer races. She might have six races this year. The Breeders' Cup is in Kentucky at Keeneland, which will be good for her. I prefer that since it means she won't have to travel.”

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7th-GP, $60K, Msw, 3yo, f, 6f, 3:37 p.m. ET

Glen Hill Farm's Customer Driven (Quality Road) is one of a number of well-related firsters signed on here. She is out of MGSW and GISP House Rules (Distorted Humor), who was second by a neck in the GII Gulfstream Park Oaks here in 2014. House Rules was carrying Customer Driven when she brought $750,000 from WinStar Farm at the 2019 Keeneland January sale as part of the dispersal of JV Shields, Jr. Glen Hill subsequently picked up Customer Driven for $470,000 as a KEESEP yearling. House Rules is out of Argentinian MGSW/MG1SP GI Juddmonte Spinster S. third Teamgeist (Arg) (Mutakddim), who also produced MGISP Win the Space (Pulpit).

Brian Lynch will send out two in Jim and Susan Hill homebred Frozen Solid (Frosted) and William K. Werner's I Cross My Heart (Practical Joke). The former is out of Canadian champion grass mare Solid Appeal (Successful Appeal), who in turn is a half to GI Cotillion S. heroine It Tiz Well (Arch); while the latter was an $80,000 September yearling turned $200,000 OBS March juvenile off a :10 1/5 breeze.

St George Stables and trainer Fausto Gutierrez also have a pair of homebreds signed on. Oaxaca (Speightstown) was a $135,000 KEENOV in utero purchase out of a daughter of GSW/GISP Vision in Gold (Medaglia d'Oro). Omixochitl (More Than Ready)'s dam, who is a half to MGSW/GISP Tom's Ready (More Than Ready), cost $175,000 at the same auction.

Lay the Groundwork (Speightstown) will garner attention given she's conditioned by Chad Brown for top owner Klaravich Stables. The $125,000 KEESEP by is out of a stakes-placed mare from the family of GSWs High Velocity, Masseuse, Royal Artillery and Green Mask. Veterans Highway (Quality Road)'s dam is a stakes-placed full-sister to Japanese multiple Group 2 winner A Shin Top (Tale of the Cat) and half to MGISW General Quarters (Sky Mesa). TJCIS PPs

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“She came out of the race good. The first impression is that she will be OK. She scoped clean and ate everything. We need to watch her for a few more days before making a final decision on how she is,” Gutierrez told bloodhorse.com. “It was a very, very tough race on her, but this happens in a race as good as the Breeders' Cup. When I heard the announcer say the fractions, I had the same reaction as all of the fans when they said 'ooh.' I knew she was finished after seven furlongs.”

Letruska had put together an impressive season ahead of the Distaff, winning seven of her six starts including four Grade 1s, and is the likely Eclipse Award champion. Gutierrez, who has trained her since her championship 3-year-old season in Mexico, plans to keep Letruska in training through 2022 with the goal of bringing her back to the Breeders' Cup. He is considering a lighter schedule for the mare next season, perhaps with six starts instead of eight, so she'll be more fresh when she arrives at Keeneland for a second shot at the World Championships.

Read more at bloodhorse.com.

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When asked about his thoughts on the race and if he was nervous when he saw the half-mile time of :45, Cox said, “You know, not a whole lot because he wasn't being pressed. He'd kind of cleared off at that point, and established maybe a two-length lead, so I felt comfortable about that. It's one thing being pressed. It's one thing going fast and being pressed, but it's different when you're going fast and you're kind of doing it by yourself. The opening quarter was on a straightaway, so I felt like it was relatively reasonable. I was almost thinking he wasn't going fast enough. Then I think Joel (Rosario), may have let him out a notch around the turn because like I said, he always runs around turns really well. I felt like he was in pretty good position.

“He had been doing extremely well. Both horses had been doing extremely well. Obviously, I do think the race, as it unfolded, played to Knicks Go's advantage, just the way it unfolded into the first turn. And, up the backside, I felt pretty confident that he would have enough to finish with. Obviously, the mile and a quarter is not an issue. I've never really thought it would be just based on his mile and an eighth performances this year. Just a huge performance.”

“Essential Quality, I thought he ran huge. I kind of thought we were in a little bit of a tough spot just with the fact that you know there was Knicks Go obviously, then everyone else was battling for position up the backside. The next group of horses were well bunched and we had some very good horses in front of us and he was able to pass several of them. He ran extremely well. We did a good job of saving ground to stand on the inside. At the three-eighths pole, I really thought he had a shot at winning, but Knicks Go and Medina Spirit just weren't backing up. I was very proud of what he was able to accomplish over the last year and a half and I'm looking forward to training his babies.”

Knicks Go, who could make at least one more start in the G1 Pegasus World Cup Jan. 29 at Gulfstream Park, is all but assured himself Champion Older Dirt Male and Horse of the Year honors with his victory in the Classic, but there will likely be a tight race between Classic runner-up Medina Spirit, winner of the Kentucky Derby, and Essential Quality for Champion 3-Year-Old Male honors.

“I think he deserves to be champion 3-year-old,” Cox said. “He has two big Grade 1s, two very prestigious wins in the Belmont and Travers. He was able to have a campaign all year. It started in the Southwest, he ran a big one in the Blue Grass. The Derby, obviously didn't work out quite the way we would have liked, but he was able to follow it up with a spectacular summer at Saratoga. And, then to come in here and I really think he performed very well. I thought about this this morning when I woke up. 'Is there anything I could have done different with him to prepare for this?' I wouldn't have prepared him any different.”

While Knicks Go and Essential Quality remained in California Sunday morning, their stablemate Shedaresthedevil was already en route to Kentucky after her sixth-place finish in the G1 Longines Distaff. She is scheduled to be sold Tuesday night at the Fasig-Tipton sale.

“I thought she was in a fantastic spot at the half-mile mark,” Cox said. “I thought we looked like a winner, although the fractions were incredibly hot. It was hard to believe that any of those horses could keep going with those fractions. I thought she ran a good race. I guess you could say she ran the best race of the speed horses. She was the one that faltered the least amount. I do feel like she was really ready to run.

“We're excited about going to the sale with her. It's a possibility, you know, someone could purchase her and she could return to racing. She has no issues and is a very sound filly. We'll see how it plays out on Tuesday for her.”

On Friday, Juju's Map finished second in the G1 NetJets Juvenile Fillies (G1) and will now set her sights on the G1 Kentucky Oaks next May.

“We're excited about her,” Cox said. “We'll take her to the Fair Grounds and run in either the Fair Grounds or Oaklawn series for 3-year-old fillies. We'll probably run where (Juvenile Fillies winner) Echo Zulu doesn't. But, a huge congratulations to her team. They did a fantastic job.”

Medina Spirit/Gamine – Zedan Racing Stables' Medina Spirit and Michael Lund Petersen's once-beaten Gamine emerged from their respective races fine, trainer Bob Baffert reported Sunday morning.

“I was really proud of his race,” Baffert said about his Kentucky Derby-winning Medina Spirit, who was runner-up in the Breeders' Cup Classic behind Knicks Go. “We just got beat by a better horse. We hadn't planned to be as far back early, but he did kind of a stutter step just after the break and it cost us position. He ended up having a rough, wide trip. That's horse racing. He tried to make a run at the winner through the stretch, but that's a really nice horse that beat him

“He was best of all the others and he beat those same 3-year-olds (alluding to both Hot Rod Charlie and Essential Quality) again by about the same margin.”

Baffert indicated that while no specific plans had been mapped out for Medina Spirit for 2022, he mentioned that the horse's owner was keen on potentially running in the Saudi Cup next February.

No decision has been made about Gamine's racing future in the wake of a disappointing third-place finish in the Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint (G1) for which she was the defending champion. The brilliant daughter of Into Mischief suffered only her second career defeat and first around one turn.

“I probably should have given her a prep race before the Breeders' Cup. She just got tired.” Baffert said. “We knew there was a lot of speed in the race and we thought about taking her back, but when she broke great, we had no choice.”

Hot Rod Charlie – Roadrunner Racing, William Strauss, Boat Racing, and Gainesway Stable's Hot Rod Charlie came out of his fourth-place Classic finish in good order according to trainer Doug O'Neill.

“He came out of the race fine and scoped clean,” said O'Neill, who has no immediate plans for Hot Rod Charlie. “We will sit down and discuss it, but right now nothing is targeted. He's only 3 and it is very exciting to think about the possibilities for him.”

O'Neill also did not have a target in mind for ERJ Racing, Madaket Stables, and Dave Kenney's Mackinnon, who finished third, beaten less than 2 lengths, in Friday's G1 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf.

“He's got a lot of options,” O'Neill said of the three-time winner on grass. “He has shown a lot this year and he will get a little time off.”

Stilleto Boy – Steve Moger's Stilleto Boy, who finished fifth in the Classic at 51-1 odds, came out of the race well according to trainer Ed Moger Jr.

“Everything is good,” Moger said of the 3-year-old who finished ahead of three Grade 1 winners, earned a $180,000 check Saturday and has made back more than half of his $420,000 purchase price in four starts for the Mogers. “We are pointing for the Malibu (Dec. 26 at Santa Anita).”

Letruska – Though St. George Stable's 5yo filly ended her outstanding season on a down note as the 8-5 favorite in the Longines Distaff, trainer Fausto Gutierrez said Sunday that she came out of the race fine and will stay in training in 2022.

After attending a torrid early pace, Letruska ended up 10th of 11 under Irad Ortiz Jr. She was second to Private Mission through opening fractions of :21.84, :44.97, and 1:09.70.

“That race was very, very fast in the beginning,” Gutierrez said, “and we saw the result. The five horses that were in the back were the five horses that arrived in the front. That's what happened.”

Letruska won six of eight starts in 2021, four of them Grade 1 races, and is the leading contender for the Older Dirt Female Eclipse Award. Gutierrez said the mare will have some time to recover from her busy campaign and that he will develop a schedule for next year.

Life Is Good/Malathaat – Life Is Good, whose 5 ¾-length victory in the Dirt Mile was the biggest winning margin of the 14 Breeders' Cup races, will get a vacation at WinStar Farm in Kentucky before launching his 4-year-old campaign.

Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher said the Into Mischief colt was fine Sunday morning and that a start in the $3 million Pegasus World Cup Jan. 29 at Gulfstream Park could be on the schedule.

“That's what we'd spoke about prior to the race that our sort of two-race plan was the mile and then stretch him out further in the Pegasus,” Pletcher said Sunday. “He certainly ran well enough to proceed in that direction if everything goes smoothly, but we haven't really had any time to really firmly discuss our entire plans yet. I'm sure once everybody gets back to their headquarters, we'll have that conversation.”

Life is Good came into the Dirt Mile with a big reputation and he delivered a strong performance, leading from gate to wire under Irad Ortiz Jr. He completed the mile in 1:34.12 after opening fractions of :21.66, :44.94 and 1:08.76.

“It was everything that we were hoping for and then maybe even more,” Pletcher said. “The horse had trained spectacularly coming into the race and I felt like he was sitting on a big race. When he broke cleanly, you could tell they were going quickly and there was some other horses trying to be involved. My first concern was just, hopefully, he hadn't gone too fast, but it seemed like he was relaxed and settled. In spite of the fact that he was rolling right along, he was doing it comfortably. I think that's kind of what we've come to expect from him. It's one of those horses that's extremely fast, has a very high cruising speed and the ability to continue doing it. What was even more impressive to me than, than the :21 and four and 44 and change and 1:08 and change, is that he essentially won geared down. Then Irad had to reach up and grab a hold of him in the middle of the turn. Galloping out, he was still full of horse. I don't think he could have been any more impressive.”

Pletcher said that Shadwell Stable's 3-year-old filly Malathaat came out of her third-place finish in the Distaff in good order and will continue racing in 2022. The winner of the Ashland, Kentucky Oaks, and Alabama is a top contender for the Eclipse Award.

Malathaat was a half-length back at the wire of the Distaff, which had extremely fast early fractions of :21.84 and :44.97 that ultimately melted the speed horses.

“I thought she ran a great race,” Pletcher said. “She, unfortunately, didn't come out on the winning side, which is frustrating when you have one as talented as she is, and you're not able to win. It was really a strangely run race. There was such a blazing opening quarter and half and things got kind of tricky for the closers in the far turn, because the pack was coming back so rapidly as the closers were starting to build up momentum.”

Malathaat, the 7-2 second choice in the wagering, was well off the pace early, and rallied with the other closers.

“Being on the inside, she kind of had to encounter some traffic there and got in some tight quarters, turning for home” Pletcher said. “She bumped with the runner-up (Dunbar Road) a little bit. And then finally regained some momentum late and was only beaten a nose and a half a length. Maybe with a slightly different trip, it could have altered the outcome. As always, she showed up and ran a big race and I think proved that she's the best 3-year-old filly in her crop.”

Pletcher said that Malathaat will ship to Shadwell Farm in Kentucky for a rest and rejoin his stable in Florida this winter.

Spendthrift Farm's homebred Following Sea emerged from this third-place finish in the Sprint under John Velazquez in good order, Pletcher said, and will ship back to Belmont Park this week.

Pletcher said the Cigar Mile and the Malibu are being considered for the son of Runhappy.

“I thought he ran a terrific race,” Pletcher said. “Drawing the rail in the Sprint you're always concerned and I think that that ended up perhaps costing us the race. He was making a really good move at the top of the stretch and for a brief moment, there was a hole open that closed before he could get there. He had to check lost all of this momentum and then re-rallied to be third. Johnny (Velazquez) felt pretty strongly that if he had gotten through, when that gap was open, that he could have won. A little frustrating with the outcome, but very, very pleased with his performance. I think we made the right decision to bring him because he ran a winning race. We just didn't quite get the job done, but he proved that he belongs with that group.”

Pletcher said that his two Juvenile runners, Commandperformance, who was fourth, and Double Trouble, who was eighth, will be prepared for their 3-year-old seasons.

CeCe/Smooth Like Strait – Bo Hirsch's Ce Ce and Cannon Thoroughbreds' Smooth Like Strait, who combined to give trainer Michael McCarthy a memorable Breeders' Cup Championship afternoon, were vanned back to the McCarthy's main stable operation at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, Calif., Saturday night. Ce Ce was the upset winner of the Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint, while her barnmate Smooth Like Strait was a strong runner-up in the Breeders' Cup Mile five races later. For CeCe, a daughter of Elusive Quality, the victory marked her fourth in six starts and third stakes triumph this year. Smooth Like Strait has been a gem of consistency, finishing first or second in five consecutive graded turf stakes races.

Aloha West – Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners' G1 Qatar Racing Sprint winner Aloha West exited his 11-1 victory in fine order, per trainer Wayne Catalano.

“He looks great to me,” Catalano said Sunday morning. “He's some horse. He's a monster. We'll chill out for a little bit after this and get him back to Lexington. We'll put him in the hyperbaric chamber for a few days and then I'll talk to Aron Wellman and Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners and make a plan for him for next year.

“Everybody keeps bringing up that I got a good Breeders' Cup record, but all I know is I've won four,” he continued. “We have been fortunate enough to have some runners who could get the job done. It really is satisfying to win with an older horse. With the younger horses, they come along and do their thing and the other horses aren't quite caught up to them. That's the way that works. But I'm just very grateful for the opportunity to develop this horse and run in and win another Breeders' Cup race. It's unbelievable.”

The dark bay 4-year-old colt became the sixth Maryland-bred to win a Breeders' Cup race, joining Cigar, Safely Kept, Knicks Go, Concern, and Sharing. Dirt Mile winner Knicks Go would go on to add a seventh trophy to the Free State mantle when taking the Classic later Saturday afternoon.

“My assistant trainer Lacy Pierce got on him when he first came to us off the farm and she said 'this is a runner.' She really liked him immediately,” Catalano continued. “He kept getting better. The other day after his breeze for the race when he came home in 22 and change and came back like he had a morning jog, I told Aron (Wellman, principal of Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners) that this horse was training unbelievable and just might be the best horse I've ever had my hands on. He was blown away by it. This horse should have won the Phoenix, but was slammed out of the gate and went wide around.

“Yesterday, when he started down the backside and passed a couple of horses, I thought 'OK he's putting in his run and we might have a chance,' and then I thought as he's coming down the lane that he could maybe get there, but at the wire, I wasn't too sure. Then they showed (the finish replay) three times – the first time I thought we didn't get there; second time I wasn't sure; third time I thought 'maybe I got there!'

“He was closing so fast and Jose (Ortiz) rode a great race. He did the job you're supposed to do. Once he leveled off, it was 'Katy bar the door.' I was not worried about the race until they hit the wire. At my age, having to sweat those things out, that was a little hard – but we got the nod. Obviously, we all knew how good Jackie's Warrior and the others were, but like I say, they don't give you these races. They line them up in the gate and you have to go get them.”

Aloha West is the second Breeders' Cup winner for Darley stallion and 2007 Classic runner-up Hard Spun, following 2019 Dirt Mile winner Spun to Run, and improved Catalano's record to four wins from 15 starters, amassing just short of $4 million in prize money. Aloha West improved his own record to 9-5-2-0 with a career bankroll of $1,311,068 and won his first graded stakes in his second try, following a runner-up effort in October's G2 Phoenix Stakes at Keeneland Race Course in Lexington, Ky. He is Catalano's first older horse to win a Breeders' Cup, as his previous three were in 2-year-old races.

“We have wound it down a bit with my barn, but I'm hoping I get another couple of horses like him and win a couple more Breeders' Cups – but this is the one right now,” Catalano concluded. “I'm looking to have some good ones and enjoy my family and my grandkids – three boys and one baby girl on the way. Life is shorter than you think.”

Golden Pal – On Sunday morning, Wesley Ward was pleased with how star pupil Golden Pal exited his second Breeders' Cup victory. Last year's G2 Juvenile Turf Sprint winner doubled up by taking the G1 Turf Sprint in brilliant gate-to-wire style under Irad Ortiz Jr. Ward confirmed that the Coolmore-owned 3yo colt will ship out late Monday night and focus on two major goals in 2022, Royal Ascot and a Breeders' Cup return.

“He's great. He's ready to go home,” Ward said. “I'm feeling good. I'm happy this horse won. I've been singing his praises for a long time and he's the best one we had running. I'm excited to run him in the Breeders' Cup next year at Keeneland. He's going to be a four-year-old and faster. We'll point to Royal Ascot with him and the (Group 1) King's Stand (Stakes) and prep at Keeneland in April in the Shakertown. If he can win in England, he can really stamp himself as a stallion, hopefully.

“He's a lot like (former trainee and current Coolmore stallion) No Nay Never, who would have won (the Turf Sprint) if it were a five-furlong race, instead of down the hill,” Ward continued. “They're both mentally so composed and never turn a hair. Yesterday, you could see him in the paddock just getting himself prepared mentally and getting focused.”

A son of 2010 G1 Juvenile winner Uncle Mo and 2015 Turf Sprint runner-up Lady Shipman, Golden Pal earned a third Breeders' Cup trophy for his sire, who also begat 2015 Juvenile winner Nyquist. Ward earned his sixth Breeders' Cup trophy and second of the weekend, following his third consecutive Juvenile Turf Sprint victory with Twilight Gleaming (IRE). It was his first win in the Turf Sprint after 11 losses.

Foreign Horse Report

The Breeders' Cup World Championships lived up to its name with a phenomenal weekend of racing. Japan and England led the way for the international challengers.

Trainer Charlie Appleby, jockey William Buick, and owners Godolphin were the stars of the show over the weekend recording three wins.

Space Blues (IRE) (Mile) won in impressive fashion and will now finish his career on a high and be retired to stud.

Yibir (GB) (Turf) completed a hat trick of winners for team Appleby after Modern Games' (IRE) (Juvenile Turf) big win Friday.

Yibir stayed on strongest to hit the wire hard and win by half a length. He will now have a break before connections map out a campaign for next year.

Loves Only You (JPN) (Filly & Mare Turf) recorded a win for Japan in the hands of Yuga Kawada. Marche Lorraine (JPN) (Distaff) completed the Japanese double on the day when causing a shock for U.K. champion jockey Oisin Murphy. Future plans for both horses are yet to be decided, but a trip to Keeneland next year for the Breeders' Cup looks high on the agenda.

Arguably the most impressive winner of the day was Golden Pal (Turf Sprint) who showed electric speed from the gates. In behind were Emaraaty Ana (GB) and who were the nearest international challengers finishing fourth and fifth A Case of You (IRE). Emaraaty Ana is finished for the season, but connections of A Case of You are considering a trip to Hong Kong in December for the Hong Kong Sprint. Trainer Adrian McGuinness stated he would see how A Case of You travels home before firming up a trip to Sha Tin.

Teona (IRE) (Turf) ran a huge race to finish third for trainer Roger Varian and jockey David Egan who was having his first Breeders' Cup ride. She will now have a break and be aimed at the major races in Europe next season before a possible return to the Breeders' Cup Turf. Aidan O'Brien drew a blank this year, but hit the cross bar with Broome (IRE) (Turf) finishing second. He has been invited to run in the Hong Kong Vase and that trip looks to be a big possibility after yesterday's big run.

Plans for Tarnawa (IRE) (Turf) who was disappointing are still not confirmed. Irish champion jockey Colin Keane reported she ran flat with her previous run in the Prix de l'Arc Triomphe taking its toll.

It was also a good day Saturday morning at Del Mar for international runners the day after Modern Games (IRE) led the way by winning the G1 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf. Albahr (GB) was scratched after going to the ground in the gates but he was fine Saturday morning. Both horses will have a break now with big plans ahead of next season.

Go Bears Go (IRE) who finished a gallant second in the G2 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint also has come out of his race well according to trainer David Loughnane.

“It's a dream come true even though we didn't win,” Loughnane said. “To have a horse perform like that in a race as big as Friday is just amazing. He's a real star who has a huge heart and he'll be back next year when we'll have big plans. Hopefully, he travels home well.”

Malavath (IRE) second in the G1 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf also came out of her race well. Trainer Francis-Henri Graffard said, “All is good. I'm very proud of her performance and it's exciting times ahead.”

Cachet (IRE) who led most of the way in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf looked the winner for a long time but couldn't quite last home. Trainer George Boughey said, “She ran a massive race. She did us all proud. She's as tough as they come and has a big future. The Saudi Derby could be her next target in February.”

All international horses seem to have come out of their races in good shape before they embark on their journeys back to England, France, Germany, Ireland, and Japan.

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Blue Stripe (ARG) – Pozo de Luna's Blue Stripe (ARG) visited the paddock and then jogged 2 ½ times around the main track under exercise rider Alex Jimenez.

Blue Stripe will represent the fifth Breeders' Cup starter for trainer Marcelo Polanco and first since 2005 when Island Fashion finished 10th in her second try in the Distaff.

“It is exciting to be back (in the Breeders' Cup),” Polanco said. “The filly is doing real good. However, this is all about timing. Your horse has to be 100 percent. You can have the best horse, but if something goes wrong …”

Clairiere – Stonestreet Stable's Cotillion (G1) winner Clairiere had an easy gallop Thursday as she prepares to give her trainer Steve Asmussen his second Breeders' Cup Distaff victory with a 3-year-old filly. He also won the race in 2014 with Untapable, who secured champion sophomore filly honors after winning the Distaff and Kentucky Oaks.

Dunbar Road/Royal Flag – Both of trainer Chad Brown's Distaff contenders, W. S. Farish's Royal Flag and Peter Brant's Dunbar Road, galloped easy circuits of the Del Mar main track Thursday morning.

Dunbar Road, who was Brown's final of 12 gallopers on the morning, was out just past 9 o'clock, while Royal Flag went out about 20 minutes prior.

Grade 1 winner Dunbar Road will make her final start in the Distaff, while G2 winner Royal Flag's plans have not been decided, per Brown. Both are five years of age.

Horologist – Bill Mott reported that his Distaff contender Horologist galloped about a mile and a quarter of the Del Mar main track Thursday morning. Owned by There's a Chance Stable, Medallion Racing, Abbondanza Racing, Parkland Thoroughbreds, Paradise Farms and David Staudacher, the Grade 2 winner is a 30-1 longshot in the Distaff.

“She's good,” Mott said.

Letruska – St. George Stable's 8-5 morning line favorite for the Distaff Letruska, continued her preparation for the $2 million race Thursday with a 1 ½-mile gallop under Roger Horgan at Del Mar.

Trainer Fausto Gutierrez, 54, discovered racing as small child in Spain, became a fan while growing up in Mexico, and moved toward a training career while in college. He spent about a decade working as a turf writer at a Mexico City newspaper before turning to training on full-time basis.

Gutierrez has developed the Kentucky-bred Letruska for St. George Stable LLC, owned by the Mexican billionaire German Larrea Mota-Velasco. She has won six of seven starts in 2021, four of them Grade 1, and is the leading contender to win the Eclipse Award as the older female dirt horse.

Gutierrez majored in communications in college and thought it would lead to a job in television or advertising. As a college freshman, one of his professors noticed that he had a sales catalogue with him. The professor, who had a horse in the sale, invited him to visit the backstretch with him and introduced him to a trainer. That meeting led to the start of his training career and a few years later into journalism

“I had a good friend who liked (soccer) and he started to work for the Periodico Reforma. It is one of the most important in Mexico,” he said. “When the newspaper started, he called me. We are very good friends from the university, we finished together, and he told me 'I'm looking for a person to write about the horses.' A special (contributor), or something like that. I thought, 'why not?'

Gutierrez balanced the unusual combination of training and journalism for several years and often had to write about his own horses. He spent 1998 and 1999 training horses in Texas for Mexican owners while the track in Mexico City was closed. Gutierrez's association with Larrea Mota-Velasco began in 2001 when the CEO of Mexico's largest mining company asked him to represent him at the Keeneland sales following the 9/11 attacks.

The owner-trainer partnership grew into a massive, powerful stable and Gutierrez was the leading trainer at the country's only track for 10 consecutive years. He twice won Mexico's Triple Crown.

Gutierrez found international success and U.S. exposure when the Clasico del Caribe series was relocated to Gulfstream Park in 2017. His victories included Jaguaryu (MEX) in the 2017 Lady Caribbean; Jala Jala (MEX) in the 2017 Caribbean Classic and 2018 Confraternity Caribbean Cup; Kukulkan (MEX) in the 2018 Caribbean Classic and 2019 Copa Confraternidad del Caribe and Letruska in the 2019 Copa Invitacional del Caribe, facing older males as a 3-year-old filly.

Larrea Mota-Velasco decided that he wanted a division in the U.S. and Gutierrez brought Letruska and some other runners to Florida early in 2020. Letruska is the leader of his current 15-horse stable and his first Breeders' Cup runner. He hopes to stay in the U.S. and keep building a bigger, but not too large, stable.

“Any trainer to continue to be competitive needs to have material, to have horses,” he said. “I want to have an operation that I can control very closely. Maybe I can have 30 to 40 horses that I can pay attention to. In Mexico before I trained nearly 200 horses at the same time. It's different. At this point, I prefer to be closer to the horses and make more decisions.”

Malathaat – In her first start since a victory in the Alabama on Aug. 28 at Saratoga, Malathaat could become the 12th 3-year-old filly to win the $2 million Distaff – being run for the 38th time – and the fourth Kentucky Oaks winner to complete the double with the Distaff in the same year.

Monomoy Girl (2018), Untapable (2014) and Ashado (2004) are the only fillies to win both races in the same season. All three won the Eclipse Award as the division champion.

Royal Delta (2011) is the only Alabama winner to double in the Distaff as a 3-year-old, which led to a division title.

Malathaat, owned by Shadwell Stable and trained by Todd Pletcher, has won six of her seven career starts. She will face older horses for the first time in an eagerly anticipated showdown with speedy Letruska, who has a five-race winning streak.

“We would benefit from a good, honest pace,” Pletcher said. “Letruska is a forwardly placed filly, although I think she's also had success when she's not on the lead, but she's usually going to be close. Hopefully we get a good, honest pace and a clean trip and we'll see. It's always a challenge running against older mares for the first time, but she's put together a pretty impressive resume herself. We're excited about it.”

Malathaat's lone loss, by a head to Maracuja, came at Saratoga Race Course in the Coaching Club American Oaks. Marcuja, who was 14-1, pressed the 1-5 Malathaat early, retreated for a while under jockey Ricardo Santana Jr. while Clariere presented the challenge, and rallied in the stretch.

“It was a tricky race,” Pletcher said. “There was a four-horse field. She drew the rail. There was no obvious speed on paper. And then they kind of ran relays at her. Santana made what turned out to be a smart decision and one that most of the time guys go to, to let their horse fall back in the middle part of the race and then come on again. It was one of those things that just nothing, nothing really went the way we wanted it to. She still ran courageously off the layoff and just couldn't get her head down on the wire, but certainly made amends in the Alabama.”

Thursday morning Malathaat galloped 1 ¼ miles.

Pletcher has a 2-1-4 record with 20 starters in the Distaff. His winners were Ashado (2004) and Stopchargingmaria (2015). Hall of Fame jockey John Velazquez has the mount. Velazquez has a 2-0-3 record in 18 starts in the Distaff. His winners were Ashado (2004) and Forever Unbridled (2017).

Marche Lorraine (JPN) – U. Carrot Farm's Marche Lorraine (JPN) visited the starting gate and paddock Thursday morning and galloped on the main track.

Shedaresthedevil – Flurry Racing Stable, Qatar Racing Limited and Big Aut Farm's Shedaresthedevil had an easy gallop under Edvin Vargas and visited the starting gate Thursday morning in her second to last day of training before the Distaff.

The connections of the Daredevil filly have had the Distaff circled on their calendar since last October when they made the decision to bypass the 2020 edition following a third in the Spinster Stakes at Keeneland.

“We made a plan and it has worked out to T,” co-owner Staton Flurry said. “We mapped out our strategy and we stuck to it, including sending her here for the Clement Hirsch. It's exactly what we did last year as well leading into the Oaks. Once we knew the rescheduled date, we just worked backward. It's a testament to (trainer) Brad's (Cox) and his team with how well it's worked out.”

Shedaresthedevil is scheduled to be sold the Tuesday following the Breeders' Cup at the Fasig- Tipton sale and the Distaff could be her last race.

“In this business, you have to lead with your head and not your heart,” Staton said. “There's a lot of money on the table, so I think we're doing the right thing. But, it will be bittersweet.”

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Though she usually breezes on her own, a timing snaffu saw Letruska hook up with the lightly-raced Richard Baltas-trained 2-year-old Brandon'smylawyer in her Oct. 30 workout at Del Mar. Workmates can cause horses to work faster than their connections might otherwise want, but instead that younger filly went on by her rival, out-finishing Letruska down the stretch.

Letruska's response to the challenger leaves handicappers to puzzle out the significance just a week ahead of her biggest test of the season.

“It wasn't really what you want to see,” offered Letruska's trainer, 54-year-old Breeders' Cup first-timer Fausto Gutierrez. “When you wake up in the morning, this isn't something you think might happen. But she came back in good form, breathing normally. That's what is most important.

“You know, she's traveled 17 times this year. She knows when the race is getting close, and what she needs to do.”

Exercise rider Roger Horgan agreed that while the workmate was unplanned, the mare handled it with her usual aplomb.

“I was not planning on company; it was not ideal,” Horgan said. “She did relax. I was a bit concerned, but she switched off and let her do it on her own. I was very proud of her the way she relaxed.”

Letruska was officially credited with a time of 1:01.20 for five furlongs, while Brandon'smylawyer was clocked over four furlongs in :47.20.

Letruska puts in her final work moments ago in preparation for the Longines @BreedersCup Distaff @DelMarRacing.

Coming up next on @TVG, we'll hear thoughts from Trainer Fausto Gutierrez! Watch Breakfast at the Breeders' Cup: https://t.co/JnDfgd2kLJ pic.twitter.com/c26ihwGBeH

— TVG (@TVG) October 30, 2021

Another somewhat unusual training activity saw Gutierrez send Letruska to the track with just a pony – no rider on her back – on Monday morning. For the 10-time leading trainer in Mexico, ponying his horses on their own every so often is a normal part of the routine.

“When the horse doesn't feel the jockey, they can relax their body more,” the trainer explained, adding that the mare resumed galloping under a rider on Tuesday morning.

It's tough to argue with the results: Letruska has put together an impressive campaign this season, winning six of her seven starts, including the Grade 1 Apple Blossom, G1 Ogden Phipps, and G1 Personal Ensign. 

“The only point now is that she arrives concentrated and happy,” Gutierrez concluded. “We don't have anything else to do.”

Should Letruska prevail in the Distaff, a race against males could be on her calendar. Gutierrez plans to race the mare again in 2022, and the Pegasus World Cup in January is on the radar.

No matter what happens on Saturday, Gutierrez is enjoying the journey. He's come a long way from his origins in Mexico, where he got into horse racing as a turfwriter and built up his training operation to the leading one in the country. Letruska's career also began in Mexico: Gutierrez conditioned her to a 3-year-old championship there in 2019. The filly won the first six starts of her career, and then traveled to Gulfstream Park to win the 2019 Copa Invitacional del Caribe. 

That success helped encourage Gutierrez to make the move to training in the United States; he now keeps a string year-round in South Florida.

“This is a real dream, because nobody can think this could happen,” he said. “When I had this horse in Mexico City I understood she's a special horse, a horse who could run fast. But to be here, it's like another planet.

“I try to do the best work. I don't have a lot of horses with this quality. I just have one. Sometimes I feel like Rambo – I have to go with all the other ones, horses who have seven or eight horses [like this.]”

“This is a horse to change the life of any person. She's a superstar and she proves it every second, every race.” – Fausto Gutierrez on Letruska #BC21 pic.twitter.com/eNRIBD50zt

— Breeders' Cup (@BreedersCup) October 30, 2021

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Private Mission, a once-beaten sophomore, will be facing older opponents for the first time.

“I didn't like her drawing the rail,” Baffert said. “She's going to need to break well.

“I turned her out for a while after her only loss (last November). She's such a royally bred filly and she should only get better with both age and racing distance.”

She galloped once around the main oval this morning.

Baffert's other entrant, the 4-year-old filly As Time Goes By who will get a new rider in Luis Saez, was also out for a morning gallop of a mile this morning.

“Both of my fillies are training well, but I think As Time Goes By might prefer more distance, maybe a mile and one-quarter,” Baffert said. “This is a very tough race. It's a deep field.”

Blue Stripe (ARG) – Pozo de Luna's Blue Stripe (ARG) jogged twice around the main track with exercise rider Alex Jimenez aboard for trainer Marcelo Polanco.

The half-sister to 2019 Longines Breeders' Cup Distaff winner Blue Prize (ARG) will be making her U.S. debut in Saturday's $2 million Distaff. It will be her first start since winning the Group 1 Gran Primo Criadores at Hipodromo Argentino De Palermo on May 1 going 1 1/4 miles.

Polanco said there have been no setbacks for Blue Stripe since arriving in his barn in May.

“The plan all along was to wait and run in the Distaff,” Polanco said of Blue Stripe, who has had 18 works since first appearing on the Santa Anita work tab June 30.

Frankie Dettori, a 14-time Breeders' Cup-winning rider, will have the mount on Blue Stripe in the Distaff and possibly may have a get-acquainted session with the 4-year-old filly before Saturday's race.

“It is not likely, but still a possibility,” Polcano said.

Clairiere – Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen has a lot of confidence in Stonestreet Stable LLC's 3-year-old filly Clairiere heading into the Distaff. The filly is a daughter of Curlin, his 2007 Classic winner and two-time Horse of the Year also owned by Stonestreet.

“I'm extremely excited about Clairiere in the fact that she has always been a quality filly, always kept or stayed in the highest level of competition and has continuously gotten better from it,” Asmussen said. “She had solid races over the winter in New Orleans, including the victory in the Rachel Alexandra and then the placing in the Fair Grounds Oaks and the fourth in the Kentucky Oaks. From there, the Mother Goose, Coaching Club and Alabama, just solid runs, getting a little better all the time. And, then for her to break through in her last start in the million-dollar, Grade 1 Cotillion, closing the way she did behind a slow pace.

“She has trained lights out since she's been out here in California. Obviously, we're well aware of the quality of the field of this year's Distaff, but Clairiere gives us a tremendous amount of confidence in her. We believe her best race to date will be this Saturday. It's special it is to train a filly like her for Stonestreet. It means everything as far as why you do this. A millionaire, a Grade 1 winner and a daughter of Curlin after what he meant to us. And, then she's out of the unbelievably brilliant race mare Cavorting trained by Kiaran McLaughlin. It's just a great reason to be in horse racing.”

Dunbar Road/Royal Flag – The Chad Brown-trained Longines Breeders' Cup Distaff (G1) duo of Dunbar Road and Royal Flag each went out for one-mile gallops of the Del Mar main track Wednesday morning just after the break.

W. S. Farish homebred Royal Flag is fresh off a dominant 4¼-length win in the Beldame Invitational and seeks her first Grade 1 victory. She will break from post two under Joel Rosario in the field of 11 and was assigned a morning line of 8-1.

“She's training very well and I like how she's coming in,” Brown said. “Her Beldame was very good.”

Peter Brant's Dunbar Road will make her final start in the Distaff and will be reunited with jockey Jose Ortiz, who piloted her to her biggest win, Saratoga's Alabama (G1) in 2019. Ortiz also teamed with the daughter of Quality Road to win Belmont's Mother Goose (G2), Churchill Downs' Shawnee Stakes and broke the six-time winner's maiden in March 2019 at Gulfstream Park.

“I'm looking forward to riding her one more time,” Ortiz said. “I'm getting back on her and I have a lot of respect for her and have some big wins on her. For this race, I'm excited because she's coming into the race in good form.”

Horologist – Bill Mott-trained Longines Breeders' Cup Distaff (G1) contender Horologist galloped just over one mile of the Del Mar dirt track on Wednesday morning and, per her conditioner, has trained well for her formidable Breeders' Cup Distaff (G1) test on Saturday.

Owned by There's a Chance Stable, Medallion Racing, Abbondanza Racing, Parkland Thoroughbreds, Paradise Farms and David Staudacher, she enters off pace-setting runner-up effort in the Beldame Invitational (G2), a race she won last year prior to finishing ninth of 10 in the Distaff.

Letruska – Early in 2020, trainer Fausto Gutierrez thought Letruska might be a sprinter good enough to compete in the Breeders' Cup at Keeneland. One race later, he changed his mind and put the 5-year-old mare on a course that has brought her to Del Mar as the 8-5 favorite in the $2 million Distaff.

During the early part of her career in Mexico and in the 2019 Copa Invitacional del Caribe Stakes she was unbeaten in distances from 5 ½ furlongs to 1 ¼ miles. An impressive win in the Added Elegance on June 27 at Gulfstream Park made Gutierrez think he had found her best distance.

“She ran one mile, just one turn, and she crossed the six furlongs in 1:08 and change,” Gutierrez said. “At that moment, I thought that maybe we had a spot for the Breeders' Cup, the Sprint.”

To test his theory, Gutierrez took her to Saratoga for the seven-furlong Ballerina. When she finished fifth, beaten 6 ¼ lengths, after contesting the first half-mile in 43.74 seconds with eventual winner Serengeti Empress, Gutierrez said he realized that his Breeders' Cup plan would not work and stretched her out again to nine furlongs.

“We switched our plans and went to the Shuvee, three weeks after,” he said. “I reconsidered very quickly and we moved again to the long distances.”

Letruska has run nine times since the Shuvee, all at a mile or more and has a 7-1-0 record. Using her speed, she has flourished at two turns and has won five straight races.

“If we go a mile and a quarter, I think it is even better for her,” Gutierrez said. “The more distance, she has the chance to go a little bit more relaxed.”

Letruska galloped 1 ½m Wednesday morning with exercise rider Roger Horgan aboard.

Malathaat – Words of praise for come easily from Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher for Shadwell Stables' 3-year-old filly Malathaat, who is testing older horses for the first time Saturday in the $2 million Distaff.

Purchased for $1,050,000 as a Keeneland yearling in 2019, Malathaat has won six of seven starts, including the Kentucky Oaks.

“She's a very special filly,” Pletcher said. “Part of it is that we trained the dam. Secondly, she has a tremendous personality. A very kind filly. Very professional. Really easy. She is a pleasure to have in the barn.”

Pletcher handled the dam, Dreaming of Julia, during her two-season, eight-race career. She was third in the 2012 Juvenile Fillies, her lone appearance in the Breeders' Cup.

The Distaff has drawn a field of 11, but a lot of the attention figures to be focused on the first meeting between the speedy 5-year-old mare Letruska, who has won five consecutive stakes, and Malathaat, the most-accomplished 3-year-old in the country. Letruska is the 8-5 morning line favorite, while Malathaat is the co-second choice with Shedaresthedevil at 4-1.

“It's what you would expect from any Breeders' Cup Distaff,” Pletcher said. “It's a collection of the best fillies and mares in the country. You've got some speed in there. You've got some closers. You've got some 3-year-old fillies, the best older mares. It's what you'd expect to see in the Distaff. Hopefully, there is a good, honest pace to run at and we can let our filly do her thing. She is kind of ideally suited to be a stalker. She enjoys a target.”

Malathaat drew post three and will be ridden by Hall of Fame jockey John Velazquez.

Marche Lorraine (JPN) – U. Carrot Farm's Marche Lorraine (JPN) had a walk day following a three-furlong breeze Tuesday.

Shedaresthedevil – Flurry Racing Stable, Qatar Racing Limited and Big Aut Farm's Shedaresthedevil had an easy gallop under Edvin Vargas Wednesday morning before what is likely to be her last race in the Breeders' Cup Distaff. She is scheduled to be sold at the Fasig Tipton November sale a few days after the race. However, first she will try to secure championship honors in a race that has been the plan since skipping the race last year after she finished third in the Spinster Stakes at Keeneland. One race earlier, she pulled the upset in the Kentucky Oaks at odds of 15-1.

“This is obviously a bigger, tougher race this time around than the last one, but she's training really well,” trainer Brad Cox said “And we've been waiting for this. I told someone earlier, we've been pointing for this race with her basically since the day after the Spinster last year. We decided to pull the plug on her, give her a break and campaign this year in an attempt to get her out here and have her peak in November. So far, that plan is working.”

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