Gamine works at Del Mar; Baffert plotting path to Kentucky Oaks

DEL MAR, Calif. – Gamine, the runaway winner of the Grade 1 Acorn Stakes at Belmont Park last month, worked a half-mile Sunday morning at Del Mar in 48.80 seconds as trainer Bob Baffert continues to map out a plan to get her to the Kentucky Oaks on Sept. 4 at Churchill Downs.

One thing he knows for sure. “She’s not going to the Coaching Club American Oaks,” Baffert said, referring to the Grade 1, 1 1/8-mile race next Saturday at Saratoga.

One race seriously under consideration is the Grade 1 Test, at seven furlongs on Aug. 8 at Saratoga.

“That could be the next spot,” Baffert said.

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The Test will be run the same day as the Travers, which is the intended spot at the moment for Baffert’s unbeaten, late-developing colt Uncle Chuck, winner of the Los Alamitos Derby on July 4.

Gamine is coming off one of the most-impressive races of the year, in which she romped by 18 3/4 lengths in the one-turn mile Acorn while earning a Beyer Speed Figure of 110.

“She ran so fast, I’m taking my time with her, trying to get her to relax,” Baffert said.

Gamine has worked twice since the Acorn, with an easy half at Santa Anita in 51.40 seconds prior to relocating to Del Mar.

Gamine has raced once around two turns, finishing first in an allowance race May 2 at Oaklawn from which the runner-up, Speech, has subsequently finished second in the Santa Anita Oaks and won the Ashland Stakes. The result of that allowance race could be in jeopardy, though, owing to Gamine having tested positive for excess of a legal medication; a ruling is expected from Oaklawn stewards this week, a spokesman for the Arkansas Racing Commission said last week.

If Gamine makes her next start around one turn in the Test, the Kentucky Oaks would mark her next time around two turns, and the 1 1/8-mile distance of the Oaks would be the longest race of her career.

“The Kentucky Oaks is what we’re looking at,” Baffert said.

It’s just a matter of how to get there.