Letruska will be one to catch

If speed holds on Breeders’ Cup Saturday, Nov. 6, at Del Mar, the favorites in all five BC dirt races that day should be in good shape, including the favorite in the $2 million Distaff.

Letruska, the traveling front-runner who has won seven graded stakes on seven tracks in her last eight starts, hopes to cement a championship season by wiring the Distaff in her first start at Del Mar. Her style is appropriate. Speed is the theme on BC Saturday.

Letruska runs 1 1/8 miles in the Distaff on a card rife with front-running chalk. Gamine (Filly and Mare Sprint), Life Is Good (Dirt Mile), Jackie’s Warrior (Sprint), and Knicks

Go (Classic) each is expected to set the pace as the favorite.

Same with Letruska, 8-5 on the early odds line by Daily Racing Form. The 5-year-old mare tops a strong field in the Distaff, scheduled as race 10, following the Mile (race 9) and positioned in front of the Turf and Classic (races 11 and 12).

There were no surprises or defections among the 11 Distaff pre-entries announced Wednesday. The longshot As Time Goes By, whose status was uncertain, did pre-enter. She is one of three pre-entrants who finished second in her most recent start; eight others enter the Distaff off a win.

Favorites have won five of the last 10 Distaff editions, and the Fausto Gutierrez-trained Letruska arrives as the clear choice based on an outstanding campaign that includes four Grade 1 wins. But Letruska, a St. George Stables homebred, is far from a cinch under Irad Ortiz Jr.

The Distaff pre-entry list is deep and includes She dares the devil, the only horse to defeat Letruska this year. She dares the devil, a multiple Grade 1 winner who won at Del Mar in summer, is the 4-1 early second choice as trainer Brad Cox and jockey Florent Geroux seek their third Distaff win in four years. They won with Monomoy Girl in 2018 and 2020.

Royal Flag enters off a smashing victory in the Grade 2 Beldame for trainer Chad Brown. Malathaat has all but clinched an Eclipse as outstanding 3-year-old filly with a campaign that includes Grade 1 wins in the Kentucky Oaks and Alabama Stakes. She is trained by Todd Pletcher.

The 3-year-olds Clairiere, trained by Steve Asmussen, and Private Mission, trained by Bob Baffert, scored careerbest victories last out in graded stakes. Dunbar Road, As Time Goes By, and Horologist each finished second in a graded stakes last out.

The Distaff pre-entries include two making their U.S. debut. Blue Stripe, an import from Argentina whose sibling Blue Prize won the 2019 Distaff, will race for the first time since May. Marche Lorraine arrives from Japan, where she won 8 of 20.