Gamine headed to Kentucky Oaks after romp in Test
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – After a pair of dominant victories in Grade 1 stakes run around one turn, Gamine will now be pointed to the Grade 1, $1.25 million Kentucky Oaks, run at 1 1/8 miles around two turns Sept. 4 at Churchill Downs.
Gamine was most impressive winning Saturday’s Grade 1, $300,000 Test, at seven furlongs, by seven lengths at Saratoga. That victory came seven weeks after she won the Grade 1 Acorn, a one-turn mile at Belmont Park, by 18 3/4 lengths. Gamine earned a 108 Beyer Speed Figure for the Test, which followed the 110 she earned in the Acorn.
“She’s unbelievable what she does, she runs so fast, doesn’t she?” trainer Bob Baffert said Sunday.
Baffert said he doesn’t have any qualms about stretching Gamine back out around two turns, noting that she finished first by a neck in a 1 1/16-mile allowance going two turns at Oaklawn Park in May. Gamine was disqualified from first in that May 2 allowance race because of the finding of a banned substance in a post-race test.
In that allowance, Gamine beat Speech – the subsequent Grade 1 Ashland winner – and her final time of 1:41.91 for 1 1/16 miles was faster than that of Swiss Skydiver’s time of 1:42.00 winning the Grade 3 Fantasy at the same distance the previous day.
“She’s just a superstar,” Baffert said.
Gamine, a daughter of Into Mischief owned by Michael Lund Petersen, was expected to travel back to Southern California on Monday to prepare for the Oaks.
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