Top West Coast fillies Gamine, Venetian Harbor finally meet in Test Stakes
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Before Gamine did what she did in the Grade 1 Acorn at Belmont Park, Venetian Harbor was the top 3-year-old filly in Southern California.
“I think Gamine caught up with us,” Richard Baltas, the trainer of Venetian Harbor, said Wednesday.
Saturday, the two West Coast-based fillies will meet for the first time in the Grade 1, $300,000 Test Stakes at Saratoga. The Test, run at seven furlongs for 3-year-old fillies, drew a field of six.
Venetian Harbor, a daughter of Munnings, won her maiden by 10 3/4 lengths last December and the Grade 2 Las Virgenes by 9 1/4 lengths in February, both at Santa Anita. She is cutting back to a one-turn race after runner-up finishes as the odds-on favorite to Swiss Skydiver in the Grade 3 Fantasy at Oaklawn and Speech in the Grade 1 Ashland at Keeneland in July.
“I definitely think it’s going to benefit her,” Baltas said about cutting back to a one-turn race. “She has so much natural speed. We obviously have to beat Gamine. I think the filly’s doing as good as she’s ever been doing. We’ll see on Saturday.”
Gamine, trained by Bob Baffert, is coming off an 18 3/4-length victory in the Grade 1 Acorn on June 20 at Belmont. She has crossed the finish line first in all three of her starts, though she was disqualified from an allowance victory at Oaklawn Park for the presence of a banned substance in a post-race test.
:: DRF's Saratoga headquarters – Stakes schedule, previews, recaps, past performances, and more
Gamine and Venetian Harbor will line up right alongside of each other with Gamine in post 5 and Venetian Harbor in post 6.
There are two other Grade 1 winners in the Test field in Wicked Whisper, who won the Grade 1 Frizette at Belmont last fall, and Perfect Alibi, who won the Grade 1 Spinaway here last summer.
Up in Smoke, who has won 4 of 6 starts, and Mrs. Danvers, who makes her stakes debut, complete the Test field.