HOT SPRINGS -- There might be a shakeup in the rankings.
Letruska, the 3-1 third choice, outran North America's top-two ranked older female dirt horses to win the $1 million Apple Blossom Handicap for fillies and mares 4 years old and up before an estimated crowd of 8,000 at Oaklawn Racing Casino Resort on Saturday.
Letruska won the 1 1/16-mile race in 1:43.14.
Monomoy Girl, currently ranked No. 1 in this category by Daily Racing Form, finished second, a nose back. Swiss Skydiver, the second-ranked superstar, finished third, 6 1/2 furlongs behind the winner. Getridofwhatailesu finished fourth, 7 3/4 lengths off the pace.
"To me, this race was a big chance," Letruska's trainer Fausto Gutierrez said. "I didn't have anything to lose to run against these two horses. Really, I have absolutely nothing to lose."
The Apple Blossom was set as a race between Monomoy Girl and Swiss Skydiver, two of the best female horses of theirs or any other generation of racing. They each brought extraordinary credentials to the race.
Consider Swiss Skydiver's.
The Triple Crown of racing consists of the Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes and Belmont Stakes. Since 1867, there have been a total of 443 Triple Crown races. Only 12 fillies have won a jewel, or 2.71%.
Swiss Skydiver is the latest in that group after her win in the Preakness on Oct. 3. Before her, no filly had won a Triple Crown race since Rachel Alexandra won the Preakness in 2009.
Then there is Monomoy Girl.
Whereas she has yet to attempt a run against male horses, her superlatives otherwise compare to any female horse to have raced. Her overall record through four months of her fourth season of competition stands at 17 14-3-0 with purse earnings of $4,776,818.
She is 2 for 2 in the Breeders' Cup Distaff. She has won Eclipse Awards as champion 3-year-old dirt filly and older dirt female. Monomoy Girl is 8 6-1-0 in Grade I starts, all performances that have essentially come from two separate careers.
Letruska outran them both.
As expected, Letruska led from the start, although an equally-as-expected interruption came throughout most of the homestretch.
"The instructions were, 'We are the speed of the race,' '' Gutierrez said. "She started a little bit slow in the last races. I told Irad, 'No matter if this happens, you try to move and go in front and set the pace and make the others think: What do you have to do?' "
Letruska led through the first quarter-mile in 23.56 and the half in 47.96, with Swiss Skydiver just off her right flank, 1 length back. Monomoy Girl was in third, 1 1/2 lengths off the lead.
Letruska still led through three-quarters in 1:12.26, but Monomoy Girl and Swiss Skydiver had reversed order as the three leaders -- 6 1/2 lengths clear of the three other entrants -- approached the head of the stretch.
Monomoy Girl, ridden by Florent Geroux, moved out and passed Letruska as they straightened for home. Ortiz said he thought a second-place finish against such stars would suffice.
"I thought, 'OK. At least we'll get second,' '' he said.
Gutierrez thought the same.
"When [Monomoy Girl] took the lead and I saw Swiss Skydiver start to go a little bit back, in my mind, I thought second is very good," Gutierrez said. "We finished close."
Instead, it was Monomoy Girl who finished close.
As the two neared the wire, Monomoy Girl appeared to struggle, and Letruska extended a nose in front to win a photo finish.
"We just made the lead, she started wandering around at the end," Geroux said. "Done that pretty much all her career. It's too bad we got caught today."
As a result, Letruska, 18 13-1-1, picked up her career highlight.
"She started to come back and come back," Gutierrez said. "I didn't see the picture very clearly. Someone said, 'I think you might have won.' I went carefully to check the replay and I thought, 'Oops, we won.'
"For me, this is incredible because I come from a small racetrack in Mexico City. This horse started her career there. We had the confidence to send her here [United States], and she started to improve, improve and improve.
"She's run at different tracks. She's run at Houston, Saratoga, Gulfstream. She's a very tough horse, but this is the best result she's had in her career."