ANTICIPATION was high before last Saturday’s Grade 1 Apple Blossom Handicap in Oaklawn Park as two of the top females in the US took each other on for the $1 million prize. The race gave us the promised battle royal, but the two participants were not as expected.
In a six-horse field, Irad Ortiz Jr. wasted no time on the third betting choice Letruska. The dual Eclipse Award winner Monomoy Girl chased outside her, with last year’s top three-year-old filly Swiss Skydiver along the inside in second.
On the final turn, Monomoy Girl went after the leader as Swiss Skydiver found no extra.
Monomoy Girl took a slim lead into the stretch but did not get clear. The two older mares engaged in an battle to the wire as Letruska on the inside would not give in. Monomoy Girl looked like she stalled a bit when hitting the front and in the final strides, Letruska stuck her nose in front. Swiss Skydiver finished six and a half lengths behind Monomoy Girl in third. The five-year-old Letruska was timed in 1m 43.14secs for the mile and a sixteenth.
“I never dreamed of running at Saratoga and now we won the Apple Blossom. I need to wake up,” said trainer Fausto Gutierrez. “It’s so sensational. This sport is incredible.”
Letruska, a five-year-old by Super Saver was bred in Kentucky but campaigned in Mexico through her first seven starts. She moved back to the US in December of 2019 and had three Grade 3 wins in a total of 13 wins from 18 runs.
She had decent form coming into the Apple Blossom off a head loss to 2020 Longines Kentucky Oaks winner Shedaresthedevil in the March 13th Grade 2 Azeri Stakes at Oaklawn.
“This horse started her career in Mexico. We had the confidence to send her here and she started to improve, improve and improve,” Gutierrez added.
Monomoy Girl was meeting defeat for only the third time in an illustrious 17-race career. “She ran hard. It was a tough beat. I was surprised Letruska came back at her and you start wondering why,” said Monomoy Girl’s trainer, Brad Cox.
“I won’t cry about it. But if you look at it, she had a significant amount of ground loss, and while she was beaten by a better filly today, she gave 6lbs. I don’t want to say she’s lost a step at the age of six but even if you lose a half-step, in a Grade 1 race that’s tough to overcome,”
Cox has yet to decide on a next start for Monomoy Girl. “We’ll talk it over with everyone and get a game plan. We have some work to do against the mares. I hear people say we have to face the boys; we don’t have to face the boys. We’re going to do what’s right for Monomoy Girl.”
On Swiss Skydiver, trainer Kenny McPeek commented: “She just didn’t fire her best shot. I’m questioning a list of things. We will regroup and pick a next spot.”
NEXT Friday sees the Kentucky Oaks back in its traditional slot with the current favourite the Brad Cox-trained grey Travel Column.
The Steve Asmussen-trained Clairiere got the best of Travel Column in a tough stretch battle to open their 2021 seasons in the Grade 2 Rachel Alexandra, but Travel Column easily won last time in the Grade 2 Fair Grounds Oaks.
Todd Pletcher’s unbeaten Malathaat is another well-bred daughter of Curlin out of the talented Dreaming Of Julia and unbeaten in four starts, showing determination to get up in the Grade 1 Ashland Stakes at Keeneland.
Search Results won the Grade 2 Gazelle at Aqueduct, a third win in three starts for the Chad Brown filly while Kenny McPeek’s Crazy Beautiful took the Grade 2 Gulfstream Park Oaks.
THE disqualifications of two Bob Baffert-trained horses from the Oaklawn card last May has been overturned by the Arkansas Racing Commission.
Charlatan won a division of the Grade 1 Arkansas Derby and champion sprint filly Gamine won an allowance race.
The stewards had disqualified Gamine and Charlatan after a metabolite of lidocaine was discovered in the post-race samples of each horse at a level higher than the 20-picogram threshold.
Baffert had been suspended for 15 days by the stewards, but the racing commission also wiped out the suspension and instead imposed a pair of $5,000 fines against Baffert.
In last year’s stewards’ hearing, transfer from a pain patch worn by assistant trainer Jimmy Barnes was suggested as the source of the horses’ lidocaine positives
But this week Baffert suggested that with testing down to extremely precise levels, the positives could have been caused by environmental contamination and that the finding was not necessarily caused by anyone in his stable as his other runner on the day Nadal had tested clear.
THE former Willie Mullins-trained Arkle Trophy winner Footpad made his debut in the US last Sunday, finishing fourth at Loudoun point-to-point in a hurdle race over two and a quarter miles with Sean McDermott on board.