Gamine works half-mile, next start is uncertain

ARCADIA, Calif. - Gamine, the champion female sprinter of 2020, worked a half-mile in 48 seconds at Santa Anita on Sunday, her first major exercise since a win in the Grade 1 Derby City Distaff at seven furlongs at Churchill Downs on May 1.

Owned by Michael Petersen, Gamine is unbeaten in her last three starts, a span that includes the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint at Keeneland last November, and the Grade 3 Las Flores Stakes at Santa Anita on April 4.

Trainer Bob Baffert said earlier this month that he was unsure when Gamine would have her next start. He declined to comment in any capacity when approached at Santa Anita on Sunday morning.

“I’m shut down,” Baffert said. “Sorry.”

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Baffert did not speak to the press over the weekend following developments related to Medina Spirit’s widely publicized positive for the corticosteroid betamethasone after the Kentucky Derby. Baffert did not attend the Preakness Stakes at Pimlico in which Medina Spirit finished third.

Glatt sprinter update

The 2020 Grade 1 winners Collusion Illusion and Dr. Schivel are scheduled to return to racing this summer after recent breaks.

Dr. Schivel, unraced since a win in the Grade 1 Del Mar Futurity last September, worked five furlongs on the main track in 1:03.20 at Santa Anita on Saturday. The time was slower than expected. Shortly after the workout began, a warning siren was triggered indicating a horse was loose on the infield training track, trainer Mark Glatt said.

“The work came back slow, but he finished really strong,” Glatt said.

Luis Mendez trained Dr. Schivel for the Del Mar Futurity. The colt was transferred to Glatt shortly after that race, but has yet to start for his stable.

“I don’t know when I’ll run him,” Glatt said.

Collusion Illusion is a “couple of weeks away” from his first workout since a wintertime rest, Glatt said.

Collusion Illusion won the Grade 1 Bing Crosby Stakes at Del Mar last August, finished 12th of 14 in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint at Keeneland in November, and was third in the Grade 1 Malibu Stakes for 3-year-old sprinters at Santa Anita in December, his most recent start.