Ballerina Stakes | Horse Racing Free Tips

Gamine Waltzes into Ballerina

Michael Lund Petersen's Gamine (Into Mischief), last year's Eclipse champion female sprinter, aims for her fifth straight victory in the GI Ketel One Ballerina S.–a Win and You're In event for the GI Breeders' Cup F/M Sprint–at Saratoga Saturday. Gamine capped her championship campaign with a 6 1/4-length romp in last year's F/M Sprint and she has been largely unchallenged in three starts so far this term. The bay filly opened 2021 with a five-length score in the Apr. 4 GIII Las Flores S. and added the May 1 GI Derby City Distaff S. at Churchill before a 10-length victory in the July 5 GII Great Lady M S. last time out.

“She's filled out and she looks good and she's been working well, so we wouldn't send her unless we thought she was doing really well,” trainer Bob Baffert said. “We're excited about it. She always runs well when she goes back East. She likes the Eastern tracks.”

Gamine, a 'TDN Rising Star,' is a perfect three-for-three at the Ballerina's seven-furlong distance and romped home a seven-length winner of last year's GI Test S. in her only previous start at Saratoga.

“She's just brilliant, just a brilliant filly,” Baffert said. “She's fun to watch and people like watching her run. Fans love those kinds of horses, and they count on them.”

Also invading from the West Coast for the Ballerina is Bo Hirsch's Ce Ce (Elusive Quality). Fifth in last year's GI Breeders' Cup Distaff, the 5-year-old mare opened 2021 with an optional-claimer win going seven furlongs at Santa Anita in April. She bobbled at the break before tiring to fourth in the 1 1/16-mile GII Santa Maria S. May 22 and cut back and returned to the winner's circle with a 3 1/4-length win over Estilo Talentoso (Maclean's Music) in the July 3 GII Princess Rooney S. last time out.

“She came out of her race in Florida in good order and has trained forwardly,” trainer Michael McCarthy said. “This is a race we've had on her calendar for a while.”

Ce Ce won last year's GI Beholder Mile and GI Apple Blossom H. and will be chasing a third Grade I tally Saturday. She comes into the race off a bullet five-furlong drill in :59 flat (1/73) at Del Mar Aug. 20.

“She's always been good. She's caught a couple of racetracks that weren't to her liking, but she's been very good this year,” McCarthy said. “She's wonderful. She is just a treat to train. She enjoys her job and is very classy around the barn. We're very lucky to have one like her. It's a big thrill.”

Godolphin's Lake Avenue (Tapit), winner of the 2019 GII Demoiselle S., narrowly missed out on a second graded victory in both her most recent starts. She lost by a neck when second behind Estilo Talentoso in the June 4 GIII Bed o'Roses S. and was second again by that same margin behind Bell's the One (Majesticperfection) in the July 28 GII Honorable Miss S. last time out.

“She had a good trip the last couple of times. She did get beat both times, but not by much,” trainer Bill Mott said. “Hopefully, she'll put in that same type of effort again this weekend. We're going into a very tough spot, but we want to give her an opportunity in another Grade I. None of these Grade I races on Saturday are easy. They're all tough.”

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Champion Gamine Returns In ‘Win And You’re In’ Ballerina At The Spa

Michael Lund Petersen's Gamine, the Eclipse Award-winning female sprinter of 2020, will get another chance to flash her championship form over a track she dominated last summer when she heads a field of seven in Saturday's Grade 1, $500,000 Ketel One Ballerina at Saratoga Race Course.

The 43rd running of the seven-furlong Ballerina for fillies and mares 3-years-old and up is one of seven graded-stakes, six of them Grade 1, worth $4.6 million in purses on a blockbuster program highlighted by the 152nd renewal of the Grade 1, $1.25 million Runhappy Travers. It is also a 'Win and You're In' qualifier for the Grade 1, $1 million Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint Nov. 6 at Del Mar.

Gamine, trained by Hall of Famer Bob Baffert, was a runaway winner of last year's Filly & Mare Sprint, two starts after a front-running seven-length romp in the Grade 1 Longines Test at Saratoga, her only previous local appearance.

“She's filled out and she looks good and she's been working well, so we wouldn't send her unless we thought she was doing really well,” Baffert said. “We're excited about it. She always runs well when she goes back East. She likes the Eastern tracks.”

Gamine, a 4-year-old daughter of Into Mischief, showed that not only in the seven-furlong Test but also the one-mile Longines Acorn last June at Belmont Park, her first race outside of California, which she won by 18 ¾ lengths in 1:32.55, shaving more than a second off the previous stakes record of 1:34.05.

“She's just a brilliant filly. It's fun watching her run. The owner loves watching her run. We're looking forward to it, but you still need to break well and you still need racing luck. Everything's got to go right,” Baffert said.

Gamine has won each of her three starts this year, starting with the Grade 3 Las Flores April 4 at Santa Anita, contested at six furlongs, and adding her fourth career Grade 1 triumph in the seven-furlong Derby City Distaff May 1 at Churchill Downs. She rolled by 10 lengths in the Grade 2 Great Lady M July 5 at Los Alamitos under regular rider and Hall of Famer John Velazquez.

“That's Gamine. That's her. He was trying to slow her down,” Baffert said. “When she runs, she always runs with her head cocked in the stretch. It's weird. She never does that in the mornings, and I asked Johnny why she does that. He said maybe because she's going so fast. Eventually I'd like to stretch her out. I still think I can stretch her out. I think if we could slow her down a little bit she'd stretch out. When I did stretch her out the two times there, it was the wrong time to try her long. But I think as they get older they can do it.”

Velazquez returns to ride for the eighth straight race from post position 1. Baffert previously won the Ballerina with Marley's Freedom in 2018.

“She's just brilliant, just a brilliant filly,” Baffert said. “She's fun to watch and people like watching her run. Fans love those kinds of horses, and they count on them.”

Also in from the West Coast is Bo Hirsch's 5-year-old homebred mare Ce Ce, who also shipped cross-country for her last start, the Grade 2 Princess Rooney July 3 at Gulfstream Park, beating runner-up and fellow Ballerina entrant Estilo Talentoso by 3 ¼ lengths, with Victor Espinoza up, for her third career graded-stakes victory and first at seven furlongs.

“I thought the racetrack would be to her liking down there. Victor gave her a great ride, and we got a wonderful setup,” trainer Michael McCarthy said. “She came out of her race in Florida in good order and has trained forwardly. This is a race we've had on her calendar for a while.”

Ce Ce captured back-to-back Grade 1 stakes last spring in the Beholder Mile at Santa Anita and 1 1/16-mile Apple Blossom at Oaklawn Park. She stayed at that distance and was third in the Grade 2 Santa Maria and Grade 1 Clement Hirsch before cutting back for the Derby City Distaff, where she ran fourth. Ce Ce wrapped up 2020 finishing fifth behind Monomoy Girl in the Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Distaff.

This year, Ce Ce opened her campaign with an optional claiming win sprinting seven furlongs April 17 and was fourth after bobbling at the break in the Grade 2 Santa Maria behind As Time Goes By, who is being pointed to Saturday's Grade 1, $600,000 Personal Ensign at Saratoga.

Hall of Famer Espinoza will climb back aboard from outermost post position 7.

Godolphin homebred Lake Avenue is chasing her second career graded-stakes victory and first in a Grade 1 after running second by a neck in each of her last two starts – the Grade 3 Bed o' Roses June 4 at Belmont Park and Grade 2 Honorable Miss July 28 at Saratoga.

Winner of the Grade 2 Demoiselle to cap her juvenile campaign in December 2019, Lake Avenue had successive wins to open 2021, taking an optional claimer February 3 at Gulfstream and the one-mile Heavenly Prize March 6 at Aqueduct.

“She had a good trip the last couple of times. She did get beat both times, but not by much,” Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott said. “Hopefully, she'll put in that same type of effort again this weekend. We're going into a very tough spot, but we want to give her an opportunity in another Grade 1. None of these Grade 1 races on Saturday are easy. They're all tough.”

Junior Alvarado gets the assignment on Lake Avenue from post position 2. Mott won the Ballerina with Dream Supreme in 2000.

Medallion Racing, Barry Fowler, Parkland Thoroughbreds, Little Red Feather Racing and BlackRidge Stables' Estilo Talentoso made her graded-stakes debut in February, running second behind 47-1 long shot Hibiscus Punch in the Grade 3 Runhappy Barbara Fritchie at Laurel Park. From there she dead-heated for second in the Grade 1 Madison and was third, beaten 2 ½ lengths by Gamine, in the Derby City Distaff before beating Lake Avenue in the Bed o' Roses prior to her Princess Rooney run. Jose Ortiz rides from post position 6.

Lloyd Madison Farms IV homebred Sconsin won the Grade 3 Winning Colors sprinting six furlongs May 22 and most recently was second as the favorite to subsequent Honorable Miss winner Bell's the One in the 6 ½-furlong Roxelana June 12, both races coming at Churchill. Trained by Greg Foley, she will be ridden by Irad Ortiz, Jr. from post position 5.

Completing the field are Hill 'n' Dale Equine Holdings, Inc. and Stretch Run Ventures' Casual [post 3, Ricardo Santana, Jr.], third last out in the seven-furlong Shine Again August 4 at Saratoga for Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen; and Chad Summers and J Stables' Truth Hurts [post 4, Joel Rosario], fourth in the Honorable Miss.

The Ballerina is slated as Race 7 on the 13-race card. First post is 11:35 a.m. Eastern. For the third consecutive year, FOX will air the Runhappy Travers as the centerpiece of a 90-minute telecast beginning at 5 p.m. The networks of FOX and FOX Sports will air 7.5 total hours of live racing and analysis on Runhappy Travers Day, with coverage scheduled to begin at 11:30 a.m. on FS1. For the complete Saratoga Live broadcast schedule, and additional programming information, visit https://www.nyra.com/saratoga/racing/tv-schedule.

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Lost And Found Presented By LuibriSYN HA: The Stories Behind The Top Summer Stakes Races

Racing aficionados likely are aware of the meanings behind the names of long-running stakes while others might find them both perplexing and amusing. The Peter Pan Stakes — New York's traditional Belmont Stakes prep — comes to mind. Some may think of a peanut butter brand or the forever young character, but the race honors the 1907 Belmont Stakes winner and Hall of Famer of the same name.

The Preakness Stakes is widely known as the second leg of the Triple Crown and few connect the event with the durable star of the late 1800s who was named for a New Jersey township. In 1870, he won a stakes on opening day of Pimlico Race Course's inaugural meeting and was still campaigning when the track's signature event was rebranded three years later. The tradition of honoring the very best continues today, often after a marquee winner retires. Such is the case with Churchill Downs' Wise Dan Stakes, formerly known as the Firecracker for its spot on the calendar around the July 4 holiday.

This month's Lost and Found highlights some “lost” meanings of well-known stakes “found” on the summer schedule. The sampling is arranged in chronological order.

Matchmaker Stakes (July 17 at Monmouth Park) This fixture was conceived with an unusual incentive to attract the best fillies and mares. In addition to the financial reward, the prize for the top three finishers came with breeding options to premiere stallions. The original edition was held in 1967 at the now-idle Atlantic City Race Course. As sponsorships gained traction in the 1990s, Kentucky's leading stud operations began adding their brand to the title in addition to seasons to their stallions. Known as the WinStar Matchmaker since 2014, the 2021 renewal offered matings to Audible, Global Campaign and Tom's d'Etat.

Molly Pitcher Stakes (July 17 at Monmouth Park) Whether Molly Pitcher was a real person is a subject of debate, but the general consensus or legend is that she was a woman who carried water to troops at the Battle of Monmouth during the American Revolutionary War in 1778. The modern-day Molly Pitcher, first held in 1946, is undeniably a race that has attracted countless champion fillies and mares to the Jersey Shore track.

Jim Dandy (July 31 at Saratoga) The naming origin sometimes gets lost in translation for this test that is synonymous as the prep for the Travers Stakes, the Saratoga season's headliner. The race is a nod to the Thoroughbred who won the inaugural Travers in 1930 in a stunning upset over Triple Crown winner Gallant Fox. The surprise was one of the many that resulted in the track being dubbed “the graveyard of favorites” that has morphed into “the graveyard of champions.” Jim Dandy never came close to duplicating his best when it mattered the most. In his 141 starts, he produced just seven victories. By the stallion Jim Gaffney, Jim Dandy's label most likely reflected the definition for something of superior quality, a term that may have been inspired by a minstrel song of the mid 1800s.

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Yellow Ribbon Handicap (August 7 at Del Mar) In racetracker slang, “get tied on” for this explanation of a pretty name with a pretty convoluted background. For starters, the summer edition is the rebranded Palomar Handicap while the first incarnation at Santa Anita is now the Rodeo Drive. The original was first held in 1977 during Santa Anita's autumn meeting when the Oak Tree Racing Association traditionally leased the facility. A popular song of the era was “Tie a Yellow Ribbon (Round the Old Oak Tree)” and somehow the wording grew into a good idea for a race. The varied symbolism and history of yellow ribbons includes awareness of the military although the hit song apparently is about a freed prisoner and his girlfriend.

Best Pal Stakes (August 7 at Del Mar) In short, the race for 2-year-olds recognizes the California-bred gelding but the story goes deeper. Best Pal was one of the most popular horses of his time thanks in part to his folksy name, West Coast roots and consistency during 47 races spread over seven seasons. His first of 12 graded wins came at Del Mar at age two in the Balboa Stakes which reflected area locations honoring the Spanish explorer. Best Pal retired in early 1996 and later that year the Balboa became the Best Pal. His 47-18-11-4 and $5,668,245 record includes Grade 1 victories in the Santa Anita, Charles H. Strub and Oaklawn Handicaps, Hollywood Gold Cup, and Hollywood Futurity and a runner-up effort in the 1991 Kentucky Derby.

A homebred of the revered Golden Eagle Farm of John and Betty Mabee, Best Pal returned to his birthplace but was less than thrilled with a life of too much leisure. He became a stable pony to accompany young horses to the track at Golden Eagle's training division. He died of an apparent heart attack at age ten and was buried on the property.

Beverly D. Stakes (August 14 at Arlington Park) The race for fillies and mares was designed in 1987 as the counterpart to the track's marquee Arlington Million that is run on the same day. The event honors the late wife of Richard Duchossois, whose name is forever linked with transforming Arlington Park into a spectacular setting for world-class racing. This year the Million will be contested as the Mister D. with a purse of $600,000. The Secretariat Stakes, the track's signature test for 3-year-olds, has been rechristened the Bruce D. to commemorate the couple's son who died in 2014.

Alabama Stakes (August 21 at Saratoga) Since 1872 some of the nation's finest fillies have been associated with Alabama which can be a head scratcher when glancing at headlines. The stakes refers to the home state of William Cottrell, a prominent owner-breeder of the era, who declined to have a race named for himself.

Singspiel Stakes (August 21 at Woodbine) First held in 2005, this race pays homage to the remarkably consistent international runner whose only two North American starts were at Woodbine. After winning the Canadian International at the Toronto track, the Irish-bred Singspiel was runner-up in the Breeders' Cup Turf to earn the 1996 Eclipse Award as champion grass horse. In his 20-race career, Singspiel was first or second on 17 occasions and banked just shy of $6 million. His triumphs include the 1997 Dubai World Cup. That triumph is commemorated with a race in his name that is contested early each year at Meydan Racecourse in Dubai. After a productive stud career in England, Singspiel was euthanized in 2010 following complications of laminitis. By definition, Singspiel is a German opera with spoken dialogue. He is a son of In the Wings (GB) which is a theatrical term for a player waiting to go on stage.

Riskaverse Stakes (August 26 at Saratoga) This lyrical label sounds racehorsey, but with a hyphen after “risk” the term relates to investors reluctant to take certain gambles. A newbie on the calendar with an inaugural running in 2009, the 3-year-old filly feature is named for the mare who earned more than $2 million before closing her five-season campaign in 2005. Her record includes consecutive victories in the G1 Flower Bowl Invitational Stakes at Belmont Park.

Ballerina Stakes (August 28 at Saratoga) First run in 1979, the label easily conjures up images of athletic and elegant dancers so one might not consider an equine version. However, the name is a nod to the standout filly of the 1950s who won New York's inaugural Maskette Handicap (now the Go for Wand).

Travers Stakes (August 28 at Saratoga) Arguably the most famous race of summer, the “The Midsummer Derby” is revered for highlighting returnees from the Triple Crown trail and the late bloomers getting into stride and for memorable victories and defeats. Dating back to 1864, the showcase honors Saratoga Race Course co-founder William R. Travers, who won the inaugural running with his horse Kentucky.

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With NYRA Ban Overturned, Baffert Plans To Enter Gamine At Saratoga

After a judge overturned the New York Racing Association's ban of Bob Baffert on July 14, the trainer told the Daily Racing Form he plans to enter reigning champion sprint mare Gamine in the Grade 1 Ballerina Stakes at Saratoga on Aug. 28.

NYRA notified Baffert ahead of the Belmont Stakes that it was suspending his ability to enter horses in races or have stall space at its racetracks due to his recent history of medication violations, the conflicting statements he provided to media around the Medina Spirit scandal, and Churchill Downs' suspension of the trainer.

Judge Carol Bagley Amon of the Eastern District of New York determined that NYRA's suspension of Baffert should not have taken place without some sort of hearing allowing him to address the organization's accusations against him. Although NYRA was asserting its private property rights in the case, Amon said the organization is closely entwined enough with the state that its suspension of Baffert constituted a state action, thereby requiring due process.

Gamine, a 4-year-old daughter of Into Mischief, is undefeated in three starts in 2021. She won the G3 Las Flores at Santa Anita on April 4, the G1 Derby City Distaff on May 1 at Churchill Downs, and the G2 Great Lady M Stakes at Los Alamitos on July 5. She has breezed twice at Del Mar since the Great Lady M victory.

The only blemish on Gamine's nine-race career is a ninth-place finish in the 2020 Kentucky Oaks, after which Baffert has kept the filly to sprint distances.

The Ballerina, contested over seven furlongs, is a “Win and You're In” race for the Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint this fall at Del Mar.