Champion Letruska Romps at Gulfstream; Ontario Bred 'Malocchio 3rd

St. George Stable LLC’s Letruska made an emphatic statement while winning Saturday’s $150,000 Royal Delta (G3) at Gulfstream Park: She’s back!

The multiple Grade 1 stakes winner, who finished off her 2021 championship season with a subpar effort in the Nov. 6 Breeders’ Cup Distaff (G1) at Del Mar. returned to winning form in the 1 1/16-mile stakes for older fillies and mares with a dominating three-length front-running victory with no need for encouragement from jockey Jose Ortiz.

Just over three lengths back in third was the gritty Ontario-bred filly IL MALOCCHIO (Souper Speedy), owned and bred by Franco Meli of Orangeville and trained by Martin Drexler. Il Malocchio, winner of the Bison City Stakes last year at Woodbine, was making her season debut. This was her first graded stakes placing.

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As for Letruska, the big mare is unbeaten in four races at Gulfstream.

“I think this is important. Now, she is six years old, and she made it look easy. It’s not easy. It’s a Grade 3. To win you have to make this kind of effort,” trainer Fausto Gutierrez said. “She looks in very good form and ready for the next race.”

Letruska ($2.20) broke cleanly from the starting gate and took the lead leaving the turn into the backstretch. Ears pricked throughout the remainder of the race, the 6-year-old daughter of Super Saver set comfortable fractions of 24.39 and 48.63 seconds for the first half mile and continued on to capture her 2022 debut while being geared down inside the final sixteenth of a mile.

“She broke well. I put her on the lead, and she relaxed well. Around the three-eighths pole I just smooched at her a little bit. I knew the race was over. She was full of herself. On the straight you could see I was just easing her up,” Ortiz said. “She was looking around at the people inside the track and the photographers and stuff. She did everything very easy.”

Letruska ran 1 1/16 miles in 1:43.43. Into Vanishing finished second, three-quarters of a length ahead of Il Malocchio. Crazy Beautiful finished fourth another 1 ½ lengths back.