Apple Blossom H.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, NY - By trainer Fausto Gutierrez's calculation, a clunker every once in a while surely does not tarnish champion Letruska (Super Saver)'s glittering string of accomplishments. When last seen in competition, the 6-year-old mare was running last as the 3-5 favorite in the GI Ogden Phipps S. June 11 at Belmont Park. As usual, she set the pace, but on that afternoon could not finish and was passed by the four others in the field. Gutierrez said that Letruska wasn't herself that afternoon, possibly a nervous reaction to...

St George Stable's Letruska (Super Saver) added her name to a select group in defense of her title in Saturday's GI Apple Blossom H. at Oaklawn Park, joining the legendary Paseana (Arg), Azeri and Zenyatta as multiple winners of the track's signature event for the dirt distaff set. In winning for a remarkable 19th time in her 25-race career, the 6-year-old reigning Eclipse Award winner held off a late bid from Clairiere (Curlin) and fellow champion Ce Ce (Elusive Quality), herself an ultra-game winner of this race in the early...

Trainer Rob Atras reports that GI CCA Oaks upsetter Maracuja (Honor Code) is training nicely at Oaklawn Park, but will miss an intended engagement in next Saturday's GII Azeri S. and will likely be trained up to an appearance against the likes of Eclipse Award winner Letruska (Super Saver) in the GI Apple Blossom H. Apr. 23. "She's doing really well but we had setbacks with how the weather has gone and we're not anticipating making the Azeri," Atras told the New York Racing Association notes team. "We've played it...

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...

Fausto Gutierrez can remember staring up at the television two years ago watching the GI Apple Blossom Handicap. He was back home in Mexico as Mike Smith piloted Midnight Bisou into the winner's circle with Steve Asmussen looking on. Midnight Bisou would go on to claim championship honors that year, joining the impressive list of Stellar Wind, Forever Unbridled, Untapable, Close Hatches, Havre de Grace, Zenyatta, Azeri and Gourmet Girl as Apple Blossom heroines of this century to also hold an Eclipse title. Gutierrez knew it was a race exclusively...

The Ken McPeek shedrow is flush with fillies, two of which--Tabor Hall (Candy Ride {Arg}) and Trapeze S. winner Oliviaofthedesert (Bernardini)--are set to represent the stable in this weekend's GIII Honeybee S. at Oaklawn Park. "They're both two-turn fillies," McPeek told the Oaklawn notes team. "I think it's ideal timing for both of them to see where they fit in the scheme of the Oaks and the 3-year-old filly division. Olivia won a nice little race out at Remington and Tabor Hall's shown quality. They're both doing well and the...

With divisional heavies the likes of Midnight Bisou (Midnight Lute), Serengeti Empress (Alternation) and the comebacking Eclipse Award winner Monomoy Girl (Tapizar) all eye-balling a potential clash in the GII Fleur de Lis S. at Churchill Downs in two weeks' time, Saturday's GI Ogden Phipps S. may lack a 'marquee' name, per se, but it remains a competitive affair that offers the winner a fees-paid berth into the GI Breeders' Cup Distaff at Keeneland Nov. 7. Ollie's Candy (Candy Ride {Arg}), winner of last year's GI Clement L. Hirsch S.,...

The pickings are reasonably slim during this period of virus-restricted racing, but horses carrying the silks of Aron Wellman's Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners have prospered in recent weeks at Oaklawn Park, with placings in some of the tracks major stakes events. The suddenly fragmented Racing Festival of the South kicked off Apr. 18 with the running of the GIII Count Fleet Sprint H., won for the third time by Whitmore (Pleasantly Perfect), and the GI Apple Blossom H. Apr. 18. Eclipse's Point of Honor (Curlin), wide-trip winner of the GII Black-Eyed...

Oaklawn Park, which continues to be Thoroughbred racing's headline act in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, hosts the Apple Blossom H. this Saturday, the first of the track's two Grade I events. While 2019 GI Kentucky Oaks victress Serengeti Empress (Alternation) figures a warm favorite off her course-and-distance romp in the GIII Azeri S. Mar. 14, trainer Larry Jones is hopeful that Street Band (Istan) return to same form that saw her beat Serengeti Empress into sixth in last year's GI Cotillion S. "She's doing well, everything seems to...

Grade I winner Come Dancing (Malibu Moon), who has been staying in the D. Wayne Lukas barn after being shipped from Carlos Martin's outfit in New York, will remain with Lukas as she targets the Apr. 18 GI Apple Blossom H. for her seasonal debut. "Carlos Martin sent her in in beautiful shape, so my job is to keep her happy and move her forward," Lukas told the Oaklawn notes team. Lukas said fellow trainer Dale Romans suggested Martin, grandson of the late Hall of Fame trainer, Frank "Pancho" Martin,...

Oaklawn Park has announced significant purse increases to a number of its 2020 stakes as the Arkansas oval will for the second year host a meet that stretches into May. Four stakes at meet, which runs from Jan. 24 to May 2, will feature $1-million purses: the Mar 14 GII Rebel S., Apr. 11 GI Arkansas Derby, Apr. 18 GI Oaklawn H. and Apr. 18 GI Apple Blossom H. Both the Oaklawn H. and Apple Blossom have been pushed back on the calendar and given $250,000 purse bumps. The purse...

Fans at Monmouth Park for Saturday's GI TVG.com Haskell Invitational will be treated to a look at a multiple Grade I winner on the undercard, as Bloom Racing Stable, Madaket Stables and Allen Racing's Midnight Bisou (Midnight Lute) towers over seven rivals in the GIII Molly Pitcher S. Never out of the trifecta in 15 outings, the dark bay captured the GI Santa Anita Oaks before running third in last spring's GI Kentucky Oaks. Romping in the GII Mother Goose S., she rebounded from a dull third in the GI...