2021 Eclipse Award Champion Older Dirt Female
Letruska was a brilliant champion mare with one of the most international stories in modern American racing. She was foaled in 2015 and trained by Fausto Gutierrez for St. George Stable, the racing operation of Adolphe Pedro. Her sire was the 2010 Kentucky Derby winner Super Saver, and her dam was Magic Appeal, a daughter of Successful Appeal. She was a Kentucky bred horse who started her career in Mexico, where she dominated the racing scene before coming north of the border.
Letruska crushed her competition at the Hipodromo de las Americas in Mexico City and won races like the Mexican Triple Crown for fillies. Her connections decided she was too good for that level and shipped her to the United States, where she joined the top division of older mares. She quickly proved she belonged. She broke through in 2020 with a Grade 2 win in the Houston Ladies Classic at Sam Houston Race Park, and she just kept improving from there.
Her 2021 campaign was the year she became a champion. She rolled to victories in the Apple Blossom Handicap at Oaklawn Park, the Ogden Phipps Stakes at Belmont, the Personal Ensign Stakes at Saratoga, and the Spinster Stakes at Keeneland. She faced the best older mares in the country and beat them all, including Malathaat and Letruska's longtime rival Royal Flag. The 2021 Breeders Cup Distaff at Del Mar did not go her way, but the rest of her year had been so dominant that voters named her the 2021 Eclipse Award Champion Older Female.
She came back in 2022 and added another Apple Blossom Handicap win at Oaklawn, making her one of just a few mares to win that historic race in back to back years. She also took the Personal Ensign Stakes for the second straight time at Saratoga. Letruska retired with 21 wins from 35 starts and earnings of over 4 million dollars. She has gone on to a career as a broodmare. Letruska is remembered as a tough, classy mare who carried Mexican racing pride to the very top of the sport in America and who beat the very best in the country during a brilliant championship run.
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