Tag: Fausto Gutierrez

‘She Knows What She Needs To Do’: Unplanned Workmate Doesn’t Shake Gutierrez’ Confidence In Distaff Favorite Letruska

Much has been made of morning-line favorite Letruska's final workout before the Breeders' Cup Distaff, in which the 5-year-old daughter of Super Saver picked up some unplanned company. 

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.


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.]”

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Breeders’ Cup Distaff Notes: Malathaat ‘Enjoys A Target,’ Shedaresthedevil Fulfilling Plan To ‘Peak In November’

As Time Goes By/Private Mission – Amazingly, for all his success in Breeders' Cup Championships as the winningest with 17 victories, Bob Baffert will be seeking his first victory in the $2 million Longines Breeders' Cup Distaff when he sends out two starters in the nine-furlong event this Saturday.

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.”

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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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From Turf Writer to Trainer: Gutierrez Writes His Own Story

DEL MAR, CA–It's fair to say that former turf writer Fausto Gutierrez does not fit the mold of a typical trainer at the Breeders' Cup World Championships.

While the background in media sets the outgoing 54-year-old Gutierrez apart, he is a veteran horseman with loads of experience and massive success in Mexico. His first starter in the Breeders' Cup is Letruska (Super Saver), the 5-year-old mare who is the 8-5 favorite on the morning line in the $2-million Distaff. Gutierrez has developed the Kentucky-bred for St George Stable LLC, owned by the Mexican billionaire Germán Larrea Mota-Velasco. She has won six of seven starts in 2021, four of them Grade Is, and is the leading contender to win the Eclipse Award as the older female dirt horse.

Gutierrez, the son of a now-retired lawyer, grew up in a family that was not connected to Thoroughbred racing.

“One of my first memories I have about horses was from the Hipódromo de la Zarzuela in Madrid, Spain,” he said. “We lived near there and when I was very, very young, sometimes we would go there.”

During his youth in Mexico City, Gutierrez said he became a fan of the sport at Hipódromo de Las Américas, the one track open in the country.

“I entered with the general public because I liked to see the horses go to the paddock, [handicap] the races, read in newspapers what's happening, who is winning, the selections,” he said. “This is one sport that can get your attention. It isn't important if your family is there. When you have the first contact with the horses, you want to smell all of what is around. And you recognize immediately, too, that the horses are athletes and this is another sport that is different from other ones, because there are human and equine athletes.”

Gutierrez went to college, majoring in communications, figuring that it would lead to a job in television or advertising. It delivered him to racing.

“I had a good friend who liked [soccer] and he started to work for the Periódico 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 with Letruska this summer | Sarah Andrew

As he told the story a few feet from Letruska's stall at Del Mar, Gutierrez laughed about how an unplanned set of circumstances put him on what became his life's professional journey.

“This is the reason I started there,” he said. “At that point of my career, it determined things because if I don't find that job, for sure I had to go another way, maybe something in advertising. At that moment, I had a trainer's license and an owner with one or two horses. At the same time I was writing for the newspaper. This put me 100% into the Mexican racetrack and I had a chance to make a living.”

Gutierrez said he found his way into training in a most unusual way

“The first day I went to the university, my first class, I went with a book for a Mexican sale,” he said. “I put it under my seat and the professor said, 'What is this?' That professor was a partner in a horse that was at sale at that auction. After that he told me, 'Let's go on Saturday to the barn area.' I went with him and he introduced me to a trainer and we became friends. We claimed a horse together and I started to train him. It was a coincidence of life.”

Gutierrez said he believes the first winner he trained was in 1988 when he was 21 years old. About five years later, he was offered the turf writing job.

“When I started to work at the newspaper, I understood the real power of the media,” he said. “Whatever you write has more importance. This was the most important newspaper in Mexico. This helped me to know a lot of the owners and we became friends.”

In the early 1990s, Gutierrez was handling what turned into a career-influencing Kentucky-bred filly named Mactuta (Bates Motel) out of a Little Current mare, who he said won a dozen stakes and Mexican championships in 1993 and 1994.

When his newspaper career, which he said lasted for about 10 years, beckoned, Gutierrez found himself in the unusual situation of writing about some of his own horses. The connections he made with owners led to a foray into Texas racing.

“In 1996, the track was closed abruptly by the government because of the political situation,” he said. “It was supposed to close for one weekend, but it closed for three years. After eight months, we made a group of 24 horses from different owners and we sent them to Texas. We ran at Sam Houston, Lone Star and Retama and after the year of 1999, the track was ready to open again and I moved back to Mexico.”

Equibase stats show him with 20 victories from 182 starts in 1998 and 1999.

Quite by accident, in 2001, two years after returning to Mexico, Gutierrez developed a relationship with Larrea Mota-Velasco, the CEO of Mexico's largest mining corporation and a former horse owner.

“After 9/11, he was planning to come to Keeneland to buy some yearlings to go back into racing,” Gutierrez said. “He didn't fly because the airports were closed. He contacted me and asked me if I wanted to come. I took one of the first flights after they opened operations. After that, we have been together all this time.”

Letruska training at Del Mar | Breeders' Cup/Eclipse Sportswire

Larrea Mota-Velasco reinvested in bloodstock in a big way and Gutierrez handled his growing and increasingly powerful stable. It was so dominant, Gutierrez said, that he might saddle 11 of the 12 horses in a stakes race. He won 10 consecutive training titles at the Mexico City track from 2010-19 and twice won the Triple Crown.

Gutierrez found international success and U.S. exposure when the Clásico del Caribe series was relocated to Gulfstream Park in 2017. His victories included Jaguaryu (Mex) (Point Determined) in the 2017 Lady Caribbean; Jala Jala (Mex) (Point Determined) in the 2017 Caribbean Classic and 2018 Confraternity Caribbean Cup; Kukulkan (Mex) (Point Determined) 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 to open a U.S. division and Gutierrez and his family relocated to Florida.

“I moved here in March 2020 and really then I wasn't sure if I wanted to stay in the United States or not,” he said. “I was really planning to go back to Mexico. But after the pandemic, I'm staying here. A trip I had planned for 10 days I have extended until now.”

Letruska has carried Gutierrez's American stable, which has won 16 races with eight different horses this year. He said he has 15 horses based at Keeneland, likes the feel of a less-is-more business and hopes to grow a bit.

“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.”

 

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Breeders’ Cup Distaff Notes: Pletcher Hoping Long-Term Plan Pays Off For Malathaat

As Time Goes By/Private Mission – The once-beaten 3-year-old filly Private Mission and her older stakes-winning stablemate As Time Goes By, the 1-2 finishers in the recent Zenyatta Stakes, were both out for morning gallops on Del Mar's main track Tuesday morning preparing for starts in Saturday's $2 million Longines Breeders' Cup Distaff.             

Blue Stripe (ARG) – Pozo de Luna's Blue Stripe (ARG) galloped before the morning renovation session with Alex Jimenez aboard for trainer Marcelo Polanco.

Polanco, who had Blue Stripe come to his barn in May from Argentina, had penciled in a work for Tuesday morning but opted for the gallop.

“She has done a lot of training before and she is ready to do anything,” said Polanco of Blue Stripe, whose last work was one mile in 1:42 3/5.

Blue Stripe, who will be making her first start in six months in Saturday's Distaff, is a half-sister to 2019 Longines Distaff winner Blue Prize (ARG).

Listed at 30-1 on the morning line for the Distaff, Blue Stripe will be ridden by Frankie Dettori.

Clairiere – Stonestreet Farm's Cotillion winner Clairiere, one of three 3-year-olds in the Distaff field, returned to the track for the first time since working Sunday and jogged once around.

Dunbar Road/Royal Flag – Chad Brown's Longines Distaff duo of Dunbar Road and Royal Flag each galloped one circuit of the Del Mar dirt track Tuesday morning, leaving Barn DD with their trainer following on foot.

Owned by Peter Brant, Dunbar Road drew post 11 under Jose Ortiz in what will be her career swan song. The 2019 Alabama (G1) winner makes her 16th start and seeks her seventh victory overall. Second last out in the Spinster (G1) at Keeneland to Distaff favorite Letruska, she will look to improve upon a fifth-place finish in 2019 and third-place finish in 2020.

Royal Flag drew post two with Joel Rosario and enters off a career-best effort when winning Belmont's Beldame Invitational (G2) by 4¼ lengths. Also a 5-year-old, the daughter of Candy Ride is a homebred of W.S. Farish and seeks her seventh career victory in her 13th start.

“They both are training very well, but both need pace to run at. They need Letruska softened up a bit, but there's also some other very good horses in there …  Shedaresthedevil, who is top class,” Brown said. “The race will be interesting with Horologist (post seven) drawn outside of Letruska (post six).

“Dunbar Road has been great and had an outstanding career,” Brown continued. “Unfortunately, we had a couple derailments with some throat issues, but she's back on track. She was unlucky in this race last year, getting stopped turning for home at the quarter-pole. She would have been right there. She really likes Del Mar's surface, which is another key with her.”

Horologist – The most experienced horse in the Longines Distaff, Bill Mott-trained Horologist will try to time it out perfectly Saturday when she makes her second start in the nine-furlong affair. Owned by There's a Chance Stable, Medallion Racing, Abbondanza Racing, Parkland Thoroughbreds, Paradise Farms and David Staudacher, the New Jersey-bred daughter of Gemologist makes her 27th start and fifth in Grade 1 company. She has yet to break through at the top level.

The 30-1 morning line price galloped one circuit of the Del Mar dirt track Tuesday morning. She drew post seven of 11 fillies and mares in the $2 million race. Last year, she was ninth of 10 at 14-1 odds.

“It's a good race and we're a big price in there — we know that,” Mott said. “We're reaching out in a couple spots with horses like (Breeders' Cup Mile runner) Casa Creed and her. If everything goes well and they have a big day, maybe we can get a piece of it.”

Letruska – St. George Stable's 8-5 favorite for the Distaff, the 5-year-old Letruska, schooled at the gate Tuesday and galloped a mile and a half at Del Mar.

Trainer Fausto Gutierrez's first Breeders' Cup starter has won five consecutive graded stakes, four of them Grade 1 – and was made the 8-5 favorite in the Distaff. Under Irad Ortiz Jr. she will start from post six in the 11-horse field.

Letruska shipped from Keeneland to Del Mar on Oct. 24 and had her final timed work Saturday, 5f in 1:01.20. She walked Sunday, jogged with a pony Monday and resumed galloping Tuesday.

“I think she did it very easily,” Gutierrez said. “The exercise rider was very happy and told me she feels very, very good. That's what any trainer wants to know about the horse. With the travel, the training, the situations, sometimes you have to be around some problems. Right now, we are in very good form.”

Gutierrez said he might change up her gallops a bit this week, but said she is ready for the Distaff.

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

Gutierrez, 54, is a superstar trainer in Mexico, winning 10 consecutive training titles at Hipodromo de Las Americas Racetrack in Mexico City from 2010-19. He said he typically trained 200 horses a year in Mexico. Gutierrez has been training in the U.S. since March 2020 and is based in Florida.

Letruska won the first six starts of her career in Mexico. Since being imported to the U.S. in December 2019, she has a record of 11-1-1 from 16 starts. This year, she has six wins and one second from seven starts and earnings of $1,925,540.

Malathaat – Much was expected of yearling filly to be named Malathaat when Shadwell Stable purchased her for $1,050,000 at the 2019 Keeneland September sale. She has delivered.

With six wins in seven starts and more than $1.5 million in earnings, the 3-year-old daughter of two-time Horse of the Year Curlin enters the Distaff as a serious contender to Letruska, the 8-5 favorite in the field of 11.

Like her dam, Dreaming of Julia, who also was trained by Todd Pletcher, and her second dam, Dream Rush, Malathaat is a Grade 1 winner. She has the highest-level trifecta for 3-year-old fillies on her resume: the Ashland, the Kentucky Oaks and the Alabama.

By design, the Distaff will be Malathaat's first start since her 1 ½-length victory in the Alabama, in which she stumbled at the start. Pletcher said that he and her connections have stuck to a careful schedule that began with a perfect record in three starts as a 2-year-old.

“She won the Ashland and then the Kentucky Oaks, and we gave some thought to running her in the Belmont (Stakes),” Pletcher said. “But we felt like she just lost a little bit of weight during the Ashland and the Oaks campaign. At that point we decided when we weren't going to run in the Belmont to kind of come up with a plan for the rest of the season. We decided to go to the Coaching Club and Alabama and then not run between the Alabama and the Distaff.

“That's kind of been the plan since May and fortunately everything is going according to plan minus winning the Coaching Club. I think she's trained as well as ever and just seems like she's coming into the race in good shape.”

Malathaat was upset by Maracuja in the Coaching Club American Oaks on July 24 at Saratoga. She was pressed throughout in the four-horse field and was not able to hold off late-running Maracuja at the wire.

Pletcher resumed her timed works on Sept. 18 at Belmont Park and she had seven, including a bullet 5f in 1:01.23 on Friday, before shipping from New York to Del Mar over the weekend.

“We've had a really good schedule with her,” Pletcher said. “She's been breezing terrific, like she always does.”

Pletcher sent Malathaat out for a routine gallop Tuesday morning and said she has settled in well at Del Mar. He was satisfied with her post position.

“She's (post) three, which hopefully gives her the opportunity to get to the first turn and save a little ground.”

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.

Marche Lorraine (JPN) – U. Carrot Farm's Marche Lorraine galloped on the main track before the morning track renovation session.

Shedaresthedevil – Shedaresthedevil, the winner of Del Mar's Clement L. Hirsch Stakes in August, had an easy jog Tuesday morning under exercise rider Edvin Vargas, one day after arriving from Kentucky with her six stablemates.

Shedarethedevil and Letruska, the Distaff favorite, have each beaten the other once this year and Cox believes his filly would be worthy of championship honors should she top her rival once again. Shedaresthedevil easily bested Letruska in the Azeri Stakes at Oaklawn in March, but had to settle for third when the two met in the Ogden Phipps Stakes at Belmont in June.

“I don't have a vote, but I'd think (Shedaresthedevil) would be the champion if she wins the Distaff,” Cox said. “It would be her third Grade 1 this year and she would have beaten Letruska twice.”

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