Gamine could use Test as prep for Kentucky Oaks

ELMONT, N.Y. – Trainer Bob Baffert had intended for Gamine to sit off another horse in Saturday’s Grade 1 Acorn Stakes at Belmont Park.

Then she drew the rail.

So, Baffert told jockey John Velazquez to let Gamine leave the gate running, and once he did that, Gamine never stopped, rolling to a smashing 18 3/4-length victory over Pleasant Orb in the $300,000 Acorn.

“The way she trains, she’s always shown brilliance,” Baffert said Sunday morning from California. “I’ve been trying to slow her down a little bit. If she had the outside post, she would have sat there. Once she drew the one, he had to send.”

Gamine ran a mile in 1:32.55, the fastest Acorn ever, and just .31 of a second off a 17-year-old track record owned by Najran. Gamine earned a 110 Beyer Speed Figure.

“She still looked like she was doing it easy, that’s the most incredible part,” Baffert said. “This track at Santa Anita has such heavy material they have to really work through it. When they get off this and go there it’s like they took their combat boots off and they fly over that track. She was always a superstar.”

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Gamine earned 50 qualifying points toward the Sept. 4 Kentucky Oaks at Churchill Downs and that 1 1/8-mile race is her target, Baffert said.

Baffert said he would like to run Gamine once more before the Oaks. A race like the Grade 1 Test going seven furlongs on Aug. 8 at Saratoga “would be an option,” he said.

All reports indicated Gamine came out of her race in good order. She was flown back to Southern California on Sunday.

Gamine, a daughter of Into Mischief owned by Michael Lund Petersen, has finished first in all three of her starts. Her allowance win going 1 1/16 miles on May 2 at Oaklawn Park is under review by the Arkansas Racing Commission after Gamine tested positive for a banned substance. Baffert requested a split sample of the test, and officials are awaiting the results.