German Larrea | Horse Racing Free Tips

Minutes after another easy win by Letruska (Super Saver), this time in the GI Juddmonte Spinster S. Sunday at Keeneland, trainer Fausto Gutierrez told reporters that the GI Breeders' Cup Distaff, and not the GI Breeders' Cup Classic, would be next for his 5-year-old mare. That was hardly a surprise. Gutierrez and German Larrea, the Mexican billionaire businessman who owns the horse, are looking to play it safe. Letruska is simply better than every other filly and mare in the sport and shouldn't have any problem winning the Distaff. The Distaff is an easier assignment than the Classic. Perhaps much easier.

That's racing in 2021. Don't take a chance. Don't test your horse. Always go for the softest spot.

The problem is that she has nothing to gain by winning the Distaff. That is, outside of the purse money, which can't possibly matter to Larrea. She's already clinched the older filly and mare championship and there's nothing that can happen in the race to embellish her reputation. She's 6-for-7 on the year while racing exclusively against fillies with four Grade I wins and has traveled all over the country. For her, the Distaff is pretty much just another race.

She deserves a chance to prove her greatness and that can only happen with a start in the Classic. Win the Distaff and she's just another very good filly. Win the Classic and she can be mentioned in the same breath as a Rachel Alexandra or a Zenyatta.

It may also be her only real chance of becoming Horse of the Year. Should any of the top three or four horses in the Classic go on to win, they will be named Horse of the Year. For Letruska to win the title, she would need to win the Distaff and have an outsider win the Classic.

This year's Classic is loaded. Knicks Go (Paynter), Essential Quality (Tapit), Hot Rod Charlie (Oxbow), Medina Spirit (Protonico), Art Collector (Bernardini), Max Player (Honor Code) and Maxfield (Street Sense) headline one of the deepest fields ever assembled for the race. There's also the matter of Letruska's running style. She is a front-runner, which means she'd either have to alter her style in the Classic or go to the lead and risk getting into a suicidal early duel with Knicks Go.

No one is saying this would be easy. As talented as Letruska is she simply may not be good enough to beat the very best males. But the potential rewards outweigh the risks and this terrific mare deserves every opportunity to truly show what she is made of. Is Letruska a great horse? Is she among the best fillies of her era? Give her the chance to answer that question.

Win and You're Not In

The “Win and You're In” program leading up to the Breeders' Cup has been a success. Not only are the races important preps for the Breeders' Cup, but several top trainers have said they gravitate toward these races because a win in one of these races cuts way down on the expenses normally involved with getting a horse into a Breeders' Cup race. Win one of the “Breeders' Cup Challenge” races and pre-entry and entry fees are paid and any horse based outside of the home state for that year's Breeders' Cup will have its travel expenses paid.

Most of the races that are part of the program make perfect sense. Obviously, races like the GI Runhappy Travers S., the GI TVG Pacific Classic, the GI Champagne S., etc. belong. But there are some notable races missing from the series.

Saturday's GII Vosburgh S. at Belmont, which attracted just four starters, is a Win and You're In race. But on the same day, the GI Joe Hirsch Turf Classic S. is not. The Sept. 18 Jockey Club Derby Invitational, for 3-year-olds on the grass, qualifies but the Jockey Club Oaks Invitational, run the same day for 3-year-old turf fillies, does not. The other notable omission is the Grade I races at Parx. The GI Pennsylvania Derby has become a very important race, but is not a Win and You're In. Neither is the GI Cotillion S. for 3-year-old fillies. Both deserve to be included.

Lugo Deserved More Than 30 Days

It was announced last week that jockey Carlos Lugo was suspended 30 days by the Gulfstream stewards for failing to persevere when riding Princess Tereska in the fourth race on Oct. 3.

The race was won by Princess Tereska's stablemate Rubysa (Gone Astray), who was hammered down from 15-1 in the morning line to 5-2. Though a $12,500 maiden claiming race, the six-furlong event handled more than any other race on the card. Both horses are trained by Juan Reveriego.

That the Gulfstream stewards took action against Lugo is commendable. A lot of tracks would have just looked the other way. But, under the circumstances, 30 days doesn't seem like enough. And what about Reveriego? If there was a betting coup and he was in on any part of it, he would certainly seem to deserve some sort of stiff penalty.

Runco, Bocachica on a Roll at Charles Town

Though the West Virginia Breeders' Classic card at Charles Town was overshadowed by the many preps run the same day for the Breeders' Cup, it featured one of the standout training and riding feats on the year.

Trainer Jeff Runco won seven races on the nine-race card, all of them stakes. The list includes a win by Muad'dib (Fiber Sonde) in the $300,000 West Virginia Breeders' Classic S. The 4-year-old is 8-for-8 lifetime.

And Runco's regular rider, Arnaldo Bocachica won eight races, a Charles Town record. Bocachica finished fourth in the third race aboard Aaron's Tap (Northern Afleet) for his only loss on the night. It was also a big night for owner David Raim, who had five winners.

Runco is largely unknown outside of West Virginia, but his numbers are noteworthy. He has 4,494 career wins from 20,992 starters, 12th best among all trainers.

Medina Spirit and the Eclipse Awards

If a horse were to win the GI Kentucky Derby, the Shared Belief S, the GI Awesome Again S. and the Breeders' Cup Classic would that be enough to be named Horse of the Year or, perhaps, 3-year-old champion? Normally, the answer would be yes. Four horses have won the Kentucky Derby and the Classic in the same year and three (Authentic, American Pharoah and Sunday Silence) were named Horse of the Year and 3-year-old champion. The fourth, Unbridled, was named 3-year-old champion, but lost out on Horse of the Year to Criminal Type.

So what should voters do with Medina Spirit in the case that he wins the Classic? The way things are dragging along with his betamethasone positive from the Derby, it's entirely possible that the matter will be unresolved by the time voters must make their choices for the Eclipse Awards. That would mean that, technically, Medina Spirit would still be the winner of this year's Derby.

Would that mean he should be given credit for winning the Derby, at least until the matter is resolved? Most voters will likely assume that he will eventually be disqualified from the Derby and vote for someone else. But a case could be made that Medina Spirit would at least deserve serious consideration for year-end honors.

The post The Week in Review: Letruska Belongs in the Classic appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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The brave victory of Letruska (by Super Saver) in the Grade 1 Apple Blossom Handicap over champions Monomoy Girl (Tapizar) and Swiss Skydiver (Daredevil) brought forward a couple of important issues. First, this result highlighted the excellent form the mare had shown in her early racing, which was in Mexico, and then her continued development here in the States.

A champion in Mexico and now the victor against a pair of champions at Oaklawn, Letruska has emphasized the quality of racing in Mexico, and she is not the only racer from Mexico to show her form in the more northerly part of North America.

Recently, Kukulkan (Point Determined) won 14 races on the trot before finishing unplaced in the 2019 Pegasus behind City of Light. In addition, Kulkulkan won a pair of black-type stakes in the U.S. and was second in a G3 stakes. Jala Jala, another champion in Mexico, ventured to Gulfstream to win the Caribbean Cup, and from two subsequent U.S. starts, was second in the G3 Royal Delta.

Both of those were owned by St. George Stable, which also owns and stands their sire, the Point Given horse Point Determined.

Although bred in Kentucky, Letruska was likewise bred by St. George Stable LLC. That is the nom de course of German Larrea, a man of vast wealth who lives in Mexico City, where he oversees operations of Mexico's train service, as well as copper interests in Mexico and South America.

Larrea is also the leading breeder and owner in Mexico, where he races a stable of top horses. Letruska was one of these, winning each of her six starts at Hipodromo de las Americas. The last two of her races there were the G1 Clasico Esmeralda and Clasico Diamante.

Then the filly was shipped to the States, where she won her first start at Gulfstream in the Copa Invitacional del Caribe Stakes. In her 11 races since, Letruska has won six, including the G3 Shuvee at Saratoga and G3 Rampart at Gulfstream.

The Apple Blossom was the 5-year-old mare's first Grade 1 that is recognized by the International Cataloging Standards, which is the sales industry standard for recognition and uniformity of black type in sales catalogs.

The Cataloguing Standards Committee was formed in 1981 to create a policy and designation for black type in sales cataloging that was implemented in parts over succeeding years. This also was very nearly the apex of the international Thoroughbred market, and the desire to compare racing form and stakes qualifications from country to country was intense because a great deal of money was dependent upon buyers feeling confident that a G1 winner from one country was comparable to a G1 winner from another country.

Representatives of the four member nations (England, France, Ireland, and the U.S.) have also been joined by a member from South America and from Asia, and this committee then makes recommendations to the Society for International Thoroughbred Auctioneers (SITA), which publishes the “cat standards” that determine black-type recognition in catalogs.

The point of all this is to make black type and graded stakes accomplishments as consistent as possible, and the Part I countries that receive full recognition of their graded stakes programs include the four member nations and a dozen more such as Argentina, Australia, and South Africa.

For inclusion in sales catalogs, Part II countries get black-type designation for their graded or group stakes races but the grades are “for information only,” and black type does not apply to their other stakes events in countries such as India, Italy, and Korea. Part III countries do not receive black-type designation for any races, and among those designated Part III is Mexico.

Thoroughbred consultant Tom Thornbury said: “Cataloging is at the center of the industry. It is essential to the sales avenue, and there's worldwide interest in it. This drives the valuation of racehorses and bloodstock, and in Letruska you've found a gem really, a small part of that population of racehorses from Part III countries that has shown she is able to race with the very best.”

In fact, as Frances J. Karon writes in the Who's Hot, Who's Not blog at Werk Thoroughbred Associates, “Letruska is the first Thoroughbred racehorse from Mexico — either bred there, which she wasn't, or raced there — to win an internationally recognized G1 race.”

And there is no more disputing the form of Letruska's victory than quibbling with the grade; it's a supremely legitimate G1. Not only did the mare win the Apple Blossom against exceptional champions in Monomoy Girl and Swiss Skydiver, but in Letruska's most recent previous race, she finished second by head to Shedaresthedevil (Daredevil), winner of the 2020 Kentucky Oaks over no less than 2020 Eclipse champion filly sprinter Gamine and 2020 Eclipse champion 3-year-old filly Swiss Skydiver.

That's serious form.

Letruska has now won 13 of her 18 starts and more than $1.1 million. That's a handsome advance over the $100,000 that St. George Stable paid to acquire Magic Appeal, a stakes-placed daughter of Successful Appeal, at the 2015 Keeneland November sale. At the time, Magic Appeal was in foal to Kentucky Derby winner Super Saver and carrying Letruska.

Foaled on May 9 the following year, Letruska was the fifth foal from her dam and the third earner of black type. At the time of sale, however, none of those horses were on the dam's page. Her second foal, the Tiznow daughter American Doll, finished second in a stakes at Parx in 2016, and Magic Appeal's fourth foal, a yearling at the time of her sale, was Trigger Warning (Candy Ride).

Trigger Warning won a pair of stakes and was third in both the G1 Pennsylvania Derby and the G3 Ohio Derby, earning more than a half-million.

Magic Appeal has a 2-year-old colt named Ocotzingo (Hard Spun), a yearling colt by Arrogate, and is in foal to leading sire Malibu Moon for 2021.

Magic Appeal was the second-best racer by her dam, stakes winner Call Her Magic (Caller I.D.), and the best was full brother J.P.'s Gusto, winner of the G1 Del Mar Futurity and second in both the G1 Norfolk and Hollywood Futurity.

This family has plenty of quality, but Magic Appeal and her daughter Letruska have now added a footnote to history with their Grade 1 success at Oaklawn Park.

The post Bloodlines Presented By Mill Ridge Farm: Letruska Made Mexican Racing History With Apple Blossom Win appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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