Expecting the 3-year-old filly Gamine to duplicate her previous performance is a rather tall order.
Let's not forget, she did cross the finish line first by an absurd 18 3/4 lengths when she romped to a ridiculously easy victory in the Longines Acorn Stakes (G1) at Belmont Park in the eye-opening time of 1:32.55 for the mile.
"The way she won was crazy," said her trainer, Bob Baffert.
Yet if anyone believes she might bounce like a basketball after such a freakish effort, Baffert has some insight that should put those thoughts to rest while fueling some sky-high expectations that the $1.8 million daughter of Into Mischief has yet to reach her potential.
"Gamine looks great. I think she looks better than she did going into the Acorn," the Hall of Fame trainer said. "She's been filling out. She's been working well and looks great and looks healthy."
The prospect of Gamine actually stepping up her game has to be unsettling to her rivals in the Aug. 8 Longines Test Stakes (G1) for 3-year-old fillies at Saratoga Race Course, though what happened June 20 in the Acorn did a pretty good job of reducing the field to a rather cozy group of six starters.
Michael Lund Petersen's Gamine figures to be an odds-on choice in the seven-furlong Test in what looms as her steppingstone to the Sept. 4 Longines Kentucky Oaks (G1). While there's little doubt that she'll flash plenty of early speed Saturday, as she did in her gate-to-wire win in the Acorn, Baffert has been working on getting her to relax in preparation for a two-turn, 1 1/8-mile challenge in the Oaks.
"She's fast, but she doesn't look like she's going fast," said Baffert, whose filly drew post 5. "Mentally she's maturing and settling in a bit. Last time (in the Acorn) she was a little rank, but she's been working with other horses, which is helping her relax."
Being a little less headstrong will come in handy as Gamine's main rival appears to be Venetian Harbor, who is also blessed with strong early speed. Second in the Central Bank Ashland Stakes (G1) and the Fantasy Stakes (G3) around two turns, the daughter of Munnings last raced in a sprint when she was a frontrunning winner by 10 3/4 lengths in a Dec. 29 maiden special weight race at Santa Anita Park. She handled the 6 1/2 furlongs in 1:15.60 in that lopsided win after covering the opening half-mile in :45.36.
In her three starts, the only time Gamine traveled less than a mile was her March 7 debut when she was a 6 1/4-length winner of a 6 1/2-furlong maiden special weight race at Santa Anita in 1:16.59. Her opening half-mile was :46.17.
Gamine crossed the wire first in each of her starts, but she was disqualified from a May 2 allowance optional claiming win at Oaklawn Park when post-race testing revealed traces of the banned medication lidocaine in her system. Baffert is appealing a 15-day suspension he received for two violations, which involved Gamine and also Arkansas Derby (G1) winner Charlatan , who had the same drug in his system, claiming it happened unknowingly due to a lidocaine patch for back pain worn by assistant trainer Jim Barnes.
Bred by Grace Thoroughbred Holdings out of the Kafwain mare Peggy Jane, Gamine was originally sold to Grand Oaks for $200,000 from the Summerfield consignment at the 2018 Keeneland September Yearling Sale. She then went to Petersen as the record-breaking $1.8 million sale topper from the Bobby Dodd consignment at the 2019 Fasig-Tipton Midlantic 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale.
Owned by Ciaglia Racing, Highland Yard, River Oak Farm, and Dominic Savides, Venetian Harbor has two wins and three seconds in five starts for trainer Richard Baltas. She landed post 6 and will break just outside of Gamine.
Of the other four starters in a race with no show wagering, only Alex and JoAnn Lieblong's Wicked Whisper, the winner of the Frizette Stakes (G1) and a Spa maiden race at 2 for trainer Steve Asmussen, has sharp early speed.
The rest—Allen Stable's Mrs. Danvers, Tracy Farmer's Perfect Alibi, and R. A. Hill Stable and Black Type Thoroughbreds' Up in Smoke—will be hoping to benefit from a brutal early pace. Of the trio, Perfect Alibi, a daughter of Sky Mesa trained by Mark Casse, is the most accomplished with Saratoga stakes wins last year in the Spinaway Stakes (G1) and Adirondack Stakes (G2). Yet in a sign of the times and the task in front of her and the others, she was fifth, 31 lengths behind Gamine, in the Acorn.
Saratoga Race Course, Saturday, August 8, 2020, Race 10Entries: Longines Test S. (G1)
PP Horse Jockey Wgt Trainer M/L 1 1Up in Smoke (FL) Luis Saez 117 George Weaver 12/1 2 2Perfect Alibi (KY) Tyler Gaffalione 121 Mark E. Casse 20/1 3 3Mrs. Danvers (KY) Jose L. Ortiz 117 Claude R. McGaughey III 8/1 4 4Wicked Whisper (KY) Ricardo Santana, Jr. 121 Steven M. Asmussen 20/1 5 5Gamine (KY) John R. Velazquez 123 Bob Baffert 3/5 6 6Venetian Harbor (KY) Joel Rosario 121 Richard Baltas 8/5
