Breeders' Cup Distaff

Pozo de Luna's Blue Stripe (Arg) (Equal Stripes {Arg}), a Group 1 winner in her native country, scored her first top-level win in the big leagues of American racing Saturday, conquering odds-on defending champion Shedaresthedevil (Daredevil) and three other rivals in Del Mar's GI Clement L. Hirsch S. The victory in the Win and You're In qualifier punched Blue Stripe's ticket to the GI Breeders' Cup Distaff. Annexing the G1 Criadores last May Hipodromo in Argentina for trainer Nicolas Martin Ferro, the bay was ambitiously spotted in the Distaff in...

Saturday's GI Ogden Phipps S. may have only attracted five horses, but it was the "right" five with champions Malathaat (Curlin) and Letruska (Super Saver), Grade I winners Clairiere (Curlin) and Search Results (Flatter) and MGSW Bonny South (Munnings). After a knock down, drag out fight on the front end between Letruska and Search Results, it was left to the two Stonestreet Stables-bred fillies, Clairiere and Malathaat, to decide it in the lane. In the end, it was Clairiere, carrying her breeders' famed gold and burgundy silks, who got her...

Letruska (Super Saver), who will be named 2021's champion older mare next month, will kick off her 6-year-old campaign in the Feb. 26 GIII Royal Delta S. at Gulfstream, reports trainer Fausto Gutierrez. The race will serve as a prep for the Apr. 23 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...

The TDN Writers' Room presented by Keeneland produced its third annual comprehensive Breeders' Cup preview show Wednesday, analyzing and handicapping all 14 World Championships races in depth, and welcomed trainer Wesley Ward later as the Green Group Guest of the Week to discuss his five combined Breeders' Cup starters in the GI Turf Sprint and GII Juvenile Turf Sprint and future goals for his barn. Asked whether he's happy with the niche he's carved out for himself as mainly an elite 2-year-old and turf sprint trainer or if he has...

DEL MAR, CA - With trainer Peter Miller looking on--and sporting a hoodie from his two-win performance at the 2018 Championships at Churchill Downs--streaking GI Breeders' Cup Mile contender Mo Forza (Uncle Mo) took a stroll through the Del Mar paddock on a brisk and cloudy Wednesday morning just before 7 a.m. Del Mar President and General Manager Joe Harper made his way to the well-attended WinStar and Fasig-Tipton Trackside Breakfast Marquee as GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies co-second choice Juju's Map (Liam's Map) galloped strongly with her neck arched....

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...

Popular star distaffer Letruska (Super Saver) took another step toward a potential Horse of the Year trophy Sunday at Keeneland, rolling to her fourth Grade I victory and sixth graded stakes win overall on the year as a heavy favorite in the GI Juddmonte Spinster S. A dual Group 1 winner in Mexico for Fausto Gutierrez in 2019, Letruska stamped herself as a horse to watch with an impressive wire-to-wire score in last summer's GIII Shuvee S. at Saratoga and, after disappointing when finishing a well-beaten fourth in Belmont's GII...

Lightly raced Private Mission handled older foes with aplomb Sunday, earning a guaranteed spot in the starting gate for the GI Breeders' Cup Distaff in the process. A debut winner sprinting here nearly a year ago, the bay was a speed-and-fade fourth at odds-on in the following month's Desi Arnaz S. at Del Mar and subsequently went missing. She reappeared to annex a local optional claimer in June, and took to two turns emphatically when romping by 6 1/2 lengths in Del Mar's GIII Torrey Pines S. Aug. 21. Keeping...

Two-time champion Monomoy Girl (Tapizar--Drumette, by Henny Hughes) has been retired from racing after she was discovered to have sustained an injury during training Tuesday at Churchill Downs, co-owner Spendthrift Farm announced Wednesday. "Monomoy Girl went out for a routine gallop Tuesday morning and came back a little off in her right front leg. We had it x-rayed and found a non-displaced fracture of the sesamoid. Obviously, we're very disappointed," said trainer Brad Cox. "She's walking sound today and it's not anything that will require surgery. It's just unfortunate that...

A pair of Belmont-based Grade I winners turned in works over the last few days and will be trained up to the Breeders' Cup at Del Mar Nov. 5 and 6, their trainers confirmed Sept. 19. Shadwell Stables' 'TDN Rising Star' Malathaat (Curlin) breezed an easy four furlongs over the Belmont training track Sept. 18 in :49.49, her first breeze since winning the GI Alabama S. at Saratoga Aug. 19. She will not have another start prior to the GI Longines Breeders' Cup Distaff at Del Mar Nov. 6. "It...

Divisional leader Letruska (Super Saver) looks to continue her domination of the distaff division as the heavy favorite in Saturday's GI Personal Ensign S., a "Win and You're In" for the GI Breeders' Cup Distaff in November. Opening 2021 with a victory in the GIII Houston Ladies Classic, she suffered her only loss this season when a head second to GI Kentucky Oaks victress Shedaresthedevil (Daredevil) in the GII Azeri S. at Oaklawn Mar. 13. Out-nosing two-time Eclipse winner Monomoy Girl (Tapizar) in the GI Apple Blossom H. Apr. 17,...

Shedaresthedevil (Daredevil) sat off a quick early pace, pounced at the five-sixteenths pole and edged clear in the lane to capture the GI Clement L. Hirsch S. Sunday at Del Mar, punching her ticket to the GI Longines Breeders' Cup Distaff in the "Win and You're In" qualifier with her third Grade I victory. Bought into by Qatar Racing out of a debut victory for Norm Casse in June of 2019 and transferred to Simon Callaghan, the bay went winless in three subsequent starts as a juvenile, but still hammered...