SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Gamine used her class edge and pace advantage to score a workmanlike 1 3/4-length victory in Saturday’s Grade 1, $500,000 Ballerina Handicap at Saratoga. Breaking from the rail under John Velazquez, Gamine was able to make the front through an opening quarter in 23.20 seconds, after which she had a half-length lead on Estilo Talentoso. She maintained the margin after a half-mile in 45.68 seconds. Gamine, with her head cocked toward the inside as usual, was shaken up by Velazquez turning for home as she turned aside an inside challenge from Lake Avenue. With a couple of taps of Velazquez’s right-handed whip, Gamine edged clear for the victory. Lake Avenue finished second by 1 1/4 lengths over Ce Ce. Sconsin was fourth, followed by Estilo Talentoso, Truth Hurts, and Casual. Gamine, a 4-year-old daughter of Into Mischief owned by Michael Lund Petersen and trained by Bob Baffert, covered the seven furlongs in 1:21.61 and returned $2.70 as the overwhelming choice and getting a 104 Beyer Speed Figure. “She’s not a run-off horse, so I just let her drop out of there and see where she was – loose rein – she relaxed really well,” Velazquez said. “And from then on I was just waiting. By the quarter pole I asked her to do whatever she needed to do and she got it done.” Baffert, who watched the race from Southern California, said he felt comfortable once Gamine - the 126-pound highweight - got out of the gate cleanly from the rail. “I saw 23, I was a little worried,” Baffert said. “She likes to rip. We were prepared for anybody taking us on early. She’s just workmanlike. She gets it done.” Gamine wore an aluminum pad on her left front foot. Baffert said Gamine bruised her frog - the bottom part of a horse’s foot - earlier in the year. Baffert said he trained Gamine in the pad since her victory in the Grade 2 Great Lady M. at Los Alamitos on July 5, but the filly did not wear it in her race that day. “It’s real thin,” said Baffert, who noted that he used the same type of pad on 2015 Triple Crown winner American Pharoah. “I was going to take it off for the race, but she was moving really well.” :: DRF's Saratoga headquarters – Stakes schedule, previews, recaps, past performances, and more The win was the ninth from 10 career starts for Gamine, last year’s female sprint champion who also won the Grade 1 Test here last August. Saturday’s victory earned her a fees-paid berth into the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint at Del Mar on Nov. 6. Baffert said Gamine was scheduled to ship back to Southern California on Tuesday. He said he would decide later whether or not to run her again before the Breeders’ Cup.