Tag: Racing

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Bill Mott Goes 1-2 In Grade 1 Jaipur With Casa Creed, Chewing Gum

Trainer Bill Mott came away from the Grade 1 Jaipur smiling as his runners Casa Creed and Chewing Gum closed from far back to run 1-2 in the Breeders' Cup Win and You're In for the Turf Sprint. Both Mott trainees lingered at the back of the pack in the early going of the six-furlong contest on Belmont Park's inner turf course. Junior Alvarado guided Casa Creed ahead of his stablemate and began a casual move at the end of the backstretch, creeping up past rivals on the turn.

Bound For Nowhere, Gregorian Chant, and Fast Boat guided the field for the early going, with Bound For Nowhere looking like he was going to hang on for the wire. At the eighth mile pole, Alvarado and Casa Creed still had a lot of work to do but put on a burst of late speed to catch early leader Bound for Nowhere. Casa Creed came flying in the center of the course for a decisive margin at the wire. Chewing Gum was second, Bound for Nowhere third and Stubbins fourth.

The final time for the six furlongs was 1:08.04.

Casa Creed is now undefeated from two career starts under one mile for owners LRE Racing and JEH Racing Stable. His previous credits include a win in the Elusive Quality last out and a victory in the G2 Hall of Fame stakes in 2019.

Casa Creed is a 5-year-old son of Jimmy Creed and Bellamy Road mare Achalaya. He was bred in Kentucky by Silver Springs Stud. Casa Creed was a $15,000 yearling purchase at the OBS Winter Mixed Sale, where he was consigned by Janie Roper and purchased by Amalio Ruiz-Lozano. He was then sold to LRE at Keeneland September for $105,000, where he was consigned by Kelli Mitchell.

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Search Results Snares Acorn Over Fast-Closing Obligatory

Coming off her only career loss in a hard-fought race against Malathaat in the Grade 1 Kentucky Oaks, Klaravich Stables Inc.'s Search Results dropped back to a one-turn mile for trainer Chad Brown and responded with her first Grade 1 triumph in Saturday's Acorn Stakes at Belmont Park in Elmont, N.Y.

The 3-year-old filly by Flatter was ridden to victory by Javier Castellano, named as a substitute for the injured Irad Ortiz Jr., who was involved in a spill on Thursday and will be out about two weeks. Search Results was the fourth winner in the first five races on the Belmont Stakes card that Ortiz had been named to ride, including Drain the Clock in the G1 Woody Stephen Stakes.

“I was at the right place at the right time,” said Castellano. “I was very fortunate to [get the mount from injured Irad Ortiz, Jr.]. I'm thankful to Chad Brown for the opportunity to ride this horse; we've had a lot of success in the past. I'm sorry for Irad Ortiz that he got hurt, but it gave me the opportunity to ride.”

Sent off the 4-5 favorite, Search Results paid $3.80 to win after running the one-mile in 1:35.50 on a track rated fast but which had taken on considerable rainfall Friday afternoon.

Juddmonte's Obligatory, coming off a last-to-first victory in the G2 Eight Belles at Churchill Downs on the same day that Search Results ran second in the Kentucky Oaks, finished a fast-closing second for trainer Brad Cox, falling a half-length short. Make Mischief, third in the Eight Belles, finished a length back in third, with Eight Belles runner-up Dayoutoftheoffice fourth – beaten a nose for third – after setting the pace. Travel Column rounded out the order of finish for the five 3-year-old fillies contesting a race first run in 1931.Miss Brazil was scratched.

Equibase chart of Acorn

This was Brown's second Acorn victory, having won the 2019 running with Guarana.

 “I'm just so proud of her to come back in five weeks after a real dog fight with Malathaat,” said Brown. “To bounce right back and lay it on the line again, this filly has so much talent and so much heart. She's a very rare kind of horse to have, and we're so lucky to have her.”

Search Results was bred in Kentucky by Machmer Hall, which consigned the filly to the 2019 Keeneland September Yearling Sale as part of the Select Sales consignment. She was purchased  for $310,000 by Mike Ryan, agent, on behalf of Klaravich Stables owner Seth Klarman.

Dayoutoftheoffice jumped out to the early advantage in the long run down the Belmont backstretch, leading through an opening quarter mile in :23.50 and a half mile in :47.23. Make Mischief sat to her outside, with Search Results racing three wide into the far turn and just behind the top two. Obligatory, ridden by Jose Ortiz, lagged at the back of the field, never more than five lengths behind the leader.

Into the stretch, after six furlongs in 1:11.00, Search Results drew up alongside Dayoutoftheoffice, and gradually eased past that filly while Make Mischief fought to keep pace with the eventual winner. In the final sixteenth of a mile, with Search Result's victory seemingly assured, Obligatory came roaring down the outside and tried to make a race of a it, falling a half-length short at the wire.

“The pace wasn't fast but she was right there,” said Castellano. “That's the good thing about her. You can put her where you want. You can be a little closer to the pace or you can be a little bit off the pace. I don't think she's a difficult horse to manage. She's very easy and straightforward. I'm just lucky I had the opportunity to ride her.”

Obligatory's rider, Jose Ortiz, said of the filly by Curlin: “She ran huge. The pace was a lot slower today and when they started running at the three-eighths pole, they got the jump on me. It was very hard to keep her engaged with them, but she made a good run down the lane.”

The win was the fourth in five career starts for Search Results, who debuted at Gulfstream Park on Jan. 3, winning a six-furlong maiden race by four lengths. She shipped to New York to win the Busher Invitational on March 6, then won Aqueduct's G3 Gazelle by 2 3/4 lengths. She got a good trip under Irad Ortiz Jr. in the Kentucky Oaks, but came up a neck short of the Todd Pletcher-trained Curlin filly Malathaat in a battle of the unbeatens.

Search Results is by Flatter, a stakes-placed A.P. Indy stallion who stands at Claiborne Farm in Paris, Ky., where his 2021 fee was $35,000. The Acorn winner was produced from Co Cola, a Todd Pletcher-trained stakes-place filly by Candy Ride. Search Results come from the family of Canadian champion Kimchi and G1 winner Mind Your Biscuit, now standing at stud in Japan.

 

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