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Champion Gamine Cruises To Easy Victory In Seasonal Debut In Las Flores

The champ is back. Idle since winning the Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint at Keeneland on Nov. 7, Bob Baffert-trained Gamine, in what amounted to a paid workout, broke alertly from her rail post and made every pole a winning one in taking Sunday's Grade 3, $100,000 Las Flores Stakes at Santa Anita in Arcadia, Calif. With regular rider John Velazquez up, she got six furlongs while well within herself in 1:09.52 and drawing off by five lengths.

“She came back so good,” said Velazquez, who rode Gamine in her final four starts of 2020. “She felt as good as last year. Bob thinks she's not ready yet, that's what he told me. She does everything so effortlessly, it's just everything she does, makes my job a lot easier. I just steer where I want to go and that's it. That's the biggest point of her strength, I believe.”

With no place or show wagering, Gamine, who has now finished first across the wire in six of her seven career starts by a combined 38 ¼ lengths, was off at 1-20 and paid $2.10 to win, with no place and show wagering.

“I told Johnny before, 'With the one hole, make sure you don't let her make the gap (as the horses come out of the seven furlong chute onto the main track oval),” said Baffert. “Ride her like she's 10-1.' I'm happy for my owners and everybody involved. They are excited, it's Easter Sunday, so it's a big win…

“They (the fans) saw one of the greatest fillies I've ever trained going one turn. Hopefully, we'll stretch her out.”

Purchased for $1.8 million out of the 2019 Fasig-Tipton Midlantic 2-year-olds in Training Sale, Gamine, a 4-year-old filly by Into Mischief out of the Kafwain mare Peggy Jane, is owned by Michael Lund Petersen. With the Las Flores purse of $60,000, she increased her earnings to $893,000. With four graded stakes wins, three of them Grade I's, her official resume now reads five wins from seven starts, as she was disqualified from purse money earned in a first condition allowance win at Oaklawn Park on May 2, 2020.

Baffert's Qahira, who sat a joint second, about one length off the winner with Hang a Star and Biddy Duke leaving the half mile pole, proved second best under Flavien Prat as she finished 2 ¾ lengths in front of Biddy Duke.

Fractions on the race were 22.74, 45.77 and 57.54.

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Champion Gamine Gallops As Expected in Las Flores

Michael Lund's Gamine (Into Mischief) ran to overwhelming favoritism in what amounted to a paid workout in Sunday's GIII Las Flores S. at Santa Anita. Last seen solidifying champion female sprinter honors with a 6 1/4-length drubbing of formidable elders in Keeneland's GI Breeders' Cup F/M Sprint Nov. 7, the newly turned 4-year-old was supplemented to this event for $2,000 and took practically every penny of tote support to be off at 1-9. Ridden along from the fence by John Velazquez to seize the early lead, she looked more like 1-900 after that, clicking off splits of :22.74 and :45.77 while perhaps bearing out slightly turning for home under stout restraint. A bit slow to switch her leads, the chalk found her footing after a right-handed reminder and cantered away from there to run up the score to five lengths. Fellow Bob Baffert trainee Qahira (Cairo Prince) was best of the remaining three.

Sunday, Santa Anita Park
LAS FLORES S.-GIII, $98,000, Santa Anita, 4-4, 4yo/up, f/m, 6f, 1:09.52, ft.
1–GAMINE, 124, f, 4, by Into Mischief
1st Dam: Peggy Jane (SP, $102,050), by Kafwain
2nd Dam: Seattle Splash, by Chief Seattle
3rd Dam: Grand Splash, by Bucksplasher
'TDN Rising Star'. ($220,000 Ylg '18 KEESEP; $1,800,000 2yo
'19 EASMAY). O-Michael Lund Petersen; B-Grace
Thoroughbred Holdings LLC (KY); T-Bob Baffert; J-John R.
Velazquez. $60,000. Lifetime Record: Ch. Female Sprint,
MGISW, 7-5-0-0, $943,000. Werk Nick Rating: A++.
Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–Qahira, 122, m, 5, Cairo Prince–Motel Lass, by Bates Motel.
'TDN Rising Star'. ($130,000 Ylg '17 FTKOCT; $375,000 2yo '18
OBSOPN). O-Baoma Corporation; B-Nekia Farm & Hunter
Valley Farm (KY); T-Bob Baffert. $20,000.
3–Biddy Duke, 124, f, 4, Bayern–Ghostslayer, by Ghostzapper.
($22,000 Wlg '17 KEENOV; $30,000 RNA Ylg '18 FTKOCT;
$40,000 2yo '19 FTKHRA). O-Joseph E. Besecker; B-Machmer
Hall & D + J Racing LLC (KY); T-Doug F. O'Neill. $12,000.
Margins: 5, 2 3/4, 18 3/4. Odds: 0.05, 10.00, 31.80.
Also Ran: Hang a Star. Click for the Equibase.com chart, the TJCIS.com PPs or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.

“She came back so good,” Velazquez said. “Bob has done a great job to bring her back after so many months on a layoff. She felt as good as last year. Bob thinks she's not ready yet, that's what he told me. She does everything so effortlessly, it's just everything she does makes my job a lot easier. I just steer where I want to go and that's it. That's the biggest point of her strength I believe.”

The $1.8-million Fasig-Tipton Midlantic '19 topper off a powerful :10 flat breeze was a shoe-in for 'TDN Rising Star'-dom when she surfaced here last March to open her account a 6 1/4-length victoress. She bested eventual GISW Speech (Mr Speaker) when stretched out to two turns in an Oaklawn allowance in May, but was subsequently DQ'd for a lidocaine positive. After an 18 3/4-length laugher in the GI Acorn S. at Belmont June 20 first time under Velazquez, she took Saratoga's GI Test S. Aug. 8 by seven lengths going seven eighths. The bay was 7-10 to see out nine furlongs in the Sept. 4 GI Kentucky Oaks, but never looked like herself that day and checked in third before again being stripped of purse earnings, this time for the anti-inflammatory betamethasone. Gamine presented further evidence that one turn might be her best game when pairing up her 110 Acorn Beyer Speed Figure in the F/M Sprint, crushing the likes of speedy MGISW Serengeti Empress (Alternation) and in-form Bell's the One (Majesticperfection).

“She looked fantastic, they both (Qahira) looked fantastic in the paddock and the only thing I was worried about was bad luck,” Baffert said. “I told [Johnny] before, 'With the one hole make sure you don't let her make the gap. Ride her like she's 10-1.' I'm happy for my owners and everybody involved. They are excited, it's Easter Sunday, so it's a big win. For her to start off here, I'm glad I got to run her. There's a lot of people who came out to watch her run.

“[The fans] saw one of the greatest fillies I've ever trained going one turn. Hopefully we'll stretch her out. Michael Lund has been a great supporter of mine. I told him I was going to give her a little race but the purse isn't very big. But he was excited he said, 'I want to see her run.' So when you own one like that it's fun to see them run.”

Danish-born and Maryland-based Lund has also campaigned the likes of MGISW Mor Spirit (Eskendereya) and $625,000 FTMMAY purchase and MGSW Mucho Gusto (Mucho Macho Man), who he sold to Prince Faisal before the fellow Baffert pupil took last year's GI Pegasus World Cup Invitational S. Presented by Runhappy. The Pandora Jewelry co-founder went back to the well at Fasig Midlantic last term, purchasing a sale-topping Uncle Mo filly for $1.1 million who remains unraced and unnamed.

Pedigree Notes:

A major factor in her sire Into Mischief's progeny earnings record in 2020, along with former stablemate and Horse of the Year Authentic, Gamine is one of 39 graded winners for the Spendthrift super sire. She is one of his nine highest-level winners, which now also includes Mischevious Alex after Saturday's dominant victory in the GI Carter H.

Kafwain has sired the dams of four graded/group winners, including fellow Test S. heroine Paola Queen (Flatter). Gamine's dam Peggy Jane was a $200,000 OBSAPR '11 purchase by Barbara Banke's Grace Stables. Peggy Jane's 3-year-old colt Splashtown (Speightsown) was a $300,000 FTKOCT yearling and is on the worktab at Palm Beach Downs. She has a Ghostzapper juvenile filly and a Kantharos yearling colt and was most recently bred back to Into Mischief.

Banke's Stonestreet was represented by a pair of standout fillies in the GI Kentucky Oaks division in homebred and GIII Fantasy S. heroine Pauline's Pearl (Tapit) and Stonestreet bred and sold GI Ashland S. winner Malathaat (Curlin).

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Cox Pleased With Essential Quality’s Blue Grass Performance: ‘I Liked That He Got A Test’

Trainer Brad Cox was a happy camper Sunday morning, pleased with all aspects of the gutty victory by Godolphin's undefeated champion Essential Quality in Saturday's $800,000 Toyota Blue Grass (G2) at Keeneland in Lexington, Ky.

“He looks good this morning and I am happy with the way he came out of the race,” Cox said of Essential Quality, a son of Tapit who extended his unbeaten streak to five with his neck victory over Highly Motivated. “I liked that he got a test yesterday. It was not like he just galloped up to the leader and went on by.”

Cox said Essential Quality would go to Churchill Downs Monday morning after training hours to join his string there and continue preparations for the $3-million Kentucky Derby (G1) Presented by Woodford Reserve on May 1.

Essential Quality might be joined soon at Churchill by the Into Mischief colt Highly Motivated, according to Whit Beckman, assistant to trainer Chad Brown.

“He is good this morning,” Beckman said of Highly Motivated. “He put in a valiant effort yesterday going two turns for the first time. He took all the heat and kept battling.

“I am not sure (how long he will stay here), but knowing Chad I would not be surprised to see him go to Churchill for a couple of works.”

John and Diane Fradkin's Rombauer, who picked up 20 points on the Road to the Kentucky Derby with his third-place finish in the Toyota Blue Grass, might wait for the Preakness (G1) on May 15, trainer Michael McCarthy said via text.

The Kentucky Derby is limited to the top 20 point earners that pass the entry box and Rombauer has 34 points, which is good for 21st on the leaderboard with two more points races to go on Saturday: the Arkansas Derby (G1), which awards 170 points on a 100-40-20-10 scale to the top four finishers, and Keeneland's Stonestreet Lexington (G3), which offers 34 points on a 20-8-4-2 scale.

Prior to the Toyota Blue Grass, Rombauer won the El Camino Real Derby at Golden Gate Fields and earned an automatic berth into the Preakness.

BBN Racing's Hidden Stash picked up 10 Derby points for his fourth-place finish to boost his total to 32, good for 23^rd on the leaderboard.

“He is good this morning,” trainer Vicki Oliver said. “We will see what the owners want to do – either the Derby or, if he looks tired, wait for the Preakness or Belmont.”

The Kentucky Derby dream ended for Cypress Creek, Arnold Bennewith and Spendthrift Farm's Keepmeinmind with his fifth-place finish in the Toyota Blue Grass, a position that earned him no points toward the Run for the Roses. Keepmeinmind, runner-up to Essential Quality in the Claiborne Breeders' Futurity (G1) and third to him in the TVG Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1) Presented by Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance here last fall, has 18 points and stands 28th on the leaderboard.

“I don't know what to tell you (about the Toyota Blue Grass performance),” trainer Robertino Diodoro said before heading back to his main string at Oaklawn Park. “Obviously we don't have enough points and what's next, that's the million-dollar question.”

The day was not a total loss for Diodoro as Cypress Creek's Ava's Grace finished second in the Fantasy (G3) at Oaklawn and picked up 40 points toward the Kentucky Oaks (G1) and a likely spot in the 14-horse starting gate.

“We are pretty excited about her,” Diodoro said. “I don't know if she will come here first and then go to Louisville but either way we have to get her up here ASAP from Oaklawn.”

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Into Mischief’s Twenty Carat Shines in Beaumont

Making her first start on a conventional dirt surface after crossing the line best in two previous tries over the Turfway Tapeta, Three Chimneys Farm LLC's Twenty Carat (Into Mischief) attended a strong pace while four deep, came calling for the lead in upper stretch and powered home to prove a convincing winner of Friday's co-featured GIII Beaumont S. on opening day of the Keeneland spring meeting.

Drawn widest in a field of seven, the homebred showed good gate speed and led the Beaumont field out of the chute before settling to track the pace wide of the rail-skimming My Girl Red (Texas Red) and last-out Any Limit S. winner Farsighted (Bernardini) through an opening quarter of :22.18. Warming up to the task three abreast at the five-sixteenths, Twenty Carat traveled comfortably on the swing for home, was roused to the lead at the head of the lane, was a bit tardy switching her leads and drove under the line a clear-cut winner. 'TDN Rising Star' Slumber Party (Malibu Moon), who looked to have speed to contest the early issue, was slowly away and raced in the second half of the field before launching a rail rally that carried her into second. Amalfi Princess (Temple City) was well spotted just behind the early pacesetters, but lacked a late bid and checked in third.

“She's always been a lovely filly, done everything right. I'm very thankful that Mr. [Goncalo] Torrealba and his team [at Three Chimneys],” said winning trainer Wesley Ward. “I think this filly has a big future, and we're looking forward to it.”

Twenty Carat crossed the line first in her Jan. 15 debut at Turfway, only to be disqualified and placed second behind Wait For Nairobi (Carpe Diem), next-out winner of the Cincinnati Trophy S. in Florence. The bay was the lopsided, 7 3/4-length winner of a Feb. 25 maiden and negotiated this hike into graded company with aplomb.

Pedigree Notes:

Twenty Carat is the 93rd stakes winner and 40th graded winner for Into Mischief and the uber-successful sire's second winner of the Beaumont in the span of four years, joining Gas Station Sushi (2018). She is also the 47th stakes winner and 26th graded winner out of a daughter of Bernardini, also the damsire of Into Mischef's talented son Owendale, as well as GIII Distaff H. winner Paris Lights (Curlin).

Secret Jewel cost Besilu Stables $1.2 million at KEESEP in 2012 owing a great deal to the exploits of her half-sister Shared Account (Pleasantly Perfect), runner-up in the GI QE II Challenge Cup at Keeneland in 2009 a little more than a year before she caused a major upset in the 2010 GI Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf at Churchill. She has since gone out to produce 'TDN Rising Star' and GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf victress Sharing (Speightstown) as well as SW Riley's Choice (Distorted Humor).

Secret Jewel is the dam of a 2-year-old colt by Three Chimneys' Gun Runner, a yearling colt by the Horse of the Year and was most recently bred to Street Sense.

Friday, Keeneland Race Course
BEAUMONT S. PRESENTED BY KEENELAND SELECT-GIII, $150,000, Keeneland, 4-2, 3yo, f, 7f, 1:26.04, ft.
1–TWENTY CARAT, 118, f, 3, by Into Mischief
                1st Dam: Secret Jewel, by Bernardini
                2nd Dam: Silk n' Sapphire, by Smart Strike
                3rd Dam: Golden Tiy, by Dixieland Band
1ST BLACK-TYPE WIN, 1ST GRADED STAKES WIN. O-Three
Chimneys Farm, LLC (Goncalo B. Torrealba); B-Three Chimneys
Farm, LLC (KY); T-Wesley A. Ward; J-Luis Saez. $90,000.
Lifetime Record: 3-2-1-0, $115,600. Werk Nick Rating: B.
Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–Slumber Party, 118, f, 3, Malibu Moon–Devilish Lady, by
Sweetsouthernsaint. 'TDN Rising Star' O/B-Gary & Mary West Stables Inc. (KY);
T-Kelly J. Breen. $30,000.
3–Amalfi Princess, 118, f, 3, Temple City–Polish Flower, by
Danzig. ($20,000 Ylg '19 KEESEP; $40,000 2yo '20 OBSAPR).
O-Three Diamonds Farm; B-Monticule (KY); T-Michael J.
Maker. $15,000.
Margins: 1HF, 1HF, 1 3/4. Odds: 3.50, 1.10, 10.30.
Also Ran: Lady Traveler, Farsighted, Cilla, My Girl Red.
Click for the Equibase.com chart, the TJCIS.com PPs or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.

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