gamine | Horse Racing Free Tips

Baffert Will Point to Oaks with Gamine, Doesn’t Rule Out Preakness

Coming off one of the most talked about performances of the year, Gamine (Into Mischief) is headed back to the barn of Bob Baffert, who will wait a few weeks before deciding what’s next for the 3-year-old filly.

Nothing could have overshadowed the win in the GI Belmont S. by Tiz the Law (Constitution), but Gamine came close in the GI Acorn S. With John Velazquez aboard, she won by 18 3/4 lengths and her time for the mile, 1:32.55, shattered the stakes record (video). Her effort earned a 110 Beyer figure, 10 points higher than the 100 assigned to Tiz the Law in the Belmont.

“I knew she could win, but I didn’t know she would put in that kind of performance. That was just insane,” Baffert said.

Baffert said the main goal for Gamine is the Sept. 4 GI Kentucky Oaks, but he’s not sure what route he will take to get her there. Gamine will likely have one start between now and the Oaks and possibilities include the GI Ashland S. at Keeneland July 11 and the GI Coaching Club American Oaks July 18 at Saratoga.

If Gamine is to face males the most likely spot for that would be in the Oct. 3 GI Preakness S. Owner Michael Lund lives in the Baltimore area.

“I didn’t nominate her to the Triple Crown because I didn’t want to be tempted,” Baffert said. “But things change and we’re not ruling anything out. Maybe the Preakness. If we take a shot that would be the most likely race. First I have to get her home and go from there.”

Gamine made headlines before her first race. She was the $1.8-million sale topper at Fasig-Tipton Midlantic 2-year-old sale last year. It didn’t take her long to impress Baffert.

“She always did things just like the super 3-year-old colts I had,” Baffert said. “She showed me brilliance from day one. Just like Charlatan, Uncle Chuck, Nadal, Authentic, horses who show you early on that they are something special.”

Gamine debuted Mar. 7, breaking her maiden at Santa Anita. Baffert then sent her to Oaklawn, where she had to fight to beat Speech (Mr. Speaker) by a neck.

“She was doing so well for the Acorn,” Baffert said. “I thought this was going to be her breakout race and it was. That was a pretty decent field she beat. With the timing, the Acorn was a perfect spot for her. I had been working her easy, sitting behind horses. She had been relaxing really well. Then she drew the one. I told Johnny that she is fast and just let her run. You can’t take too much of a hold on her because then she’ll try to get out and she is a little headstrong. We’ll get her back here, freshen her up, give her a couple of weeks without breezing her. When they run like that, that fast, I like to give them a couple of weeks off.”

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No Need for an Asterisk, Tiz is Super

Tiz the Law (Constitution) won the GI Belmont S. Saturday, dominating nine rivals who were outclassed by the best 3-year-old colt in North America. Let the debate begin.

What, exactly, is Tiz the Law’s place in racing history and should he win the Triple Crown, does he belong in the same sentence as Secretariat, Citation, Seattle Slew and the other 10 immortals? Some will say no. Their point is that he won the first third of a Triple Crown that is unlike anything anyone has ever seen, starting with a Belmont run at a mile and an eighth. The argument is that this is so unlike the traditional Triple Crown it really isn’t a Triple Crown. That running the three races over 15 weeks rather than five makes it easier to win.

While some, but not all, of those points are valid, they miss a central point–this is a very good horse and it’s unfair to hold something against him over which nobody had any control. No asterisk is necessary.

What is the Triple Crown? It is a three-race series that consists of the GI Kentucky Derby, the GI Preakness and the Belmont. Nowhere does it say that the Triple Crown has to be, in order, the Derby, the Preakness and the Belmont, with five weeks covering the start of the series to the end. In fact, that hasn’t always been the case. Nowhere does it say that the Belmont has to be at a mile and a half. Gallant Fox, the 1930 Triple Crown winner, won in a year when the Preakness was first and then the Derby.

Whether or not this Triple Crown is easier than a normal one is up for debate. Winning three Grade I races over a 15-week span is still a daunting task. Daunting but different.

The modern horse has a hard time putting together three big efforts within five weeks, but, for a Derby winner, the five weeks can actually be an advantage. The Preakness has become easily the least difficult race to win in the series. Year in and year out, it normally includes the Derby winner, two or three horses that didn’t run well in the Derby and a few new faces, none of them that good. That’s why so many horses over the last couple of decades have won the first two legs.

This is a completely different task. Tiz the Law will resurface in a Kentucky Derby that will, as is always the case, be the hardest of the Triple Crown races to win. At least one very serious horse in GI Santa Anita Derby winner Honor A.P. (Honor Code) will be there waiting for him. So will Santa Anita Derby runner-up Authentic (Into Mischief). There will also be, no doubt, some new faces that have yet to be tested but will be ready for prime time come Sept. 5. We may have even seen one on the Belmont card in Happy Saver (Super Saver). A first-time starter, he romped for Todd Pletcher in the fifth race and looked more than worthy of tackling stakes competition.
The 2020 Triple Crown is different. Different doesn’t mean easier. Tiz the Law will have to hold his form over a 15-week period and not get injured, which is far from easy. He will have to face a slew of new challengers. He will have to prove that he can handle the track at Churchill Downs, where he suffered his only career defeat, in the GII Kentucky Jockey Club S. last year.

If the Belmont were won by a 10-1 shot, probably no one would be thinking about the Triple Crown. But there are no doubts that Tiz the Law is good enough to pull this off. Time will tell if he is special, but, for now, we know that he is a very, very good horse who sits atop a division that has been decimated by injuries.

Who can beat him? You can’t possibly come up with a long list, but one horse who might belong in that group is the filly, Gamine (Into Mischief). As good as Tiz the Law was Saturday, he was not the most impressive performer on the card. Her GI Acorn was simply one of the best performances of modern times. She was that good.
She won by 18 3/4 lengths and obliterated the stakes record. As great as she ran, I don’t see any reason why trainer Bob Baffert and owner Michael Petersen wouldn’t run her next in a Kentucky Derby prep and find out if their spectacular filly belongs in the Kentucky Derby or not.

She might be able to beat Tiz the Law and so might Honor A.P. Then again, it might be that the New York-bred star is that much better than every other 3-year-old on the planet. That could mean a 14th Triple Crown winner, a deserving Triple Crown winner.

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Into Mischief’s Gamine Dominates Acorn

GAMINE (f, 3, Into Mischief-Peggy Jane, by Kafwain) ran them off their feet from start to finish, demolishing the GI Acorn S. by 15 lengths. Going straight to the front from her rail draw, the 3-5 chalk appeared out for a morning gallop as she clocked an opening quarter in :22.48. Registering a half-mile in :45.28, the $1.8-million EASMAY topper turned for home on a clear lead and sailed away with ease in the lane for a never-in-doubt victory. Pleasant Orb (Orb), a 39-1 shot, was second. A 6 1/4-length debut graduate Mar. 7, the ‘TDN Rising Star’ captured her two-turn bow at Oaklawn next out May 2. Lifetime Record: 3-3-0-0.

O-Michael Lund Petersen ; B-Grace Thoroughbred Holdings (KY); T-Bob Baffert.

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Gamine Shaves Over A Second Off Stakes Record, Smashes Competition In Acorn

A $1.8 million 2-year-old purchase, Michael Lund Peterson's Gamine made her graded stakes debut an impressive one in Saturday's Grade 1 Acorn at Belmont Park. The 3-year-old Into Mischief filly ran her opposition off their feet to win by over 15 lengths, delivering for trainer Bob Baffert and jockey John Velazquez as the 1-2 favorite.

Gamine's final time for the one-mile trip over a fast main track was a sparkling 1:32.55, shaving more than a second off the previous stakes record of 1:33.58, set last year by Guarana.

Breaking from the inside gate in the field of seven, Gamine went straight to the lead under Velazquez. She began to separate herself from the field after a first quarter in 22.48 seconds, pulling away by a length and a half to mark the half-mile in :45.28. Water White and Lucrezia attempted to go with her around the turn, but nearing the head of the lane Gamine had a three-length lead.

All alone after six furlongs in 1:09.33, Gamine continued to pull at the bridle and increase the distance between herself and her rivals down the stretch. By the wire, she was about 15 lengths ahead of Pleasant Orb in second, while Water White finished third. Lucrezia faded to fourth.

Bred in Kentucky by Grace Thoroughbred Holdings LLC, Gamine is out of the stakes-placed Kafwain mare Peggy Jane. With one winner from the mare's first two foals, Gamine sold for $220,000 at the Keeneland September yearling sale. Bobby Dodd prepared the filly for the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic 2-year-old in training sale, when her :10 flat breeze and impressive physical commanded a final bid of $1.8 million.

The filly easily broke her maiden at first asking at Santa Anita, winning by 6 1/4 lengths, before showing her determination in her second start to win an allowance race at Oaklawn Park. In that 1 1/16-mile contest, Gamine set the pace and dug in to defeat the well-regarded Speech (next-out second in the Santa Anita Oaks) by a neck on the wire.

Now undefeated through three career starts, Gamine boasts earnings of nearly $250,000.

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