Gamine Makes Easy Work Of Grade 1 Derby City Distaff

Gamine continued to add to her impressive record on the Kentucky Derby undercard with an easy win in the Grade 1 Derby City Distaff, holding off a late bid from Sconsin. John Velazquez took Gamine to the lead at the start of the seven furlong contest despite stumbling out of the gate. Hibiscus Punch settled to her outside for company and drew up to briefly challenge on the turn but was quickly outmatched. Sconsin had sat off the pace and made a closing bid in the stretch but was unable to catch the winner. The final time was 1:21.50 after early fractions of :23.15 and :46.08.

Sconsin was second, Estilo Talentoso third and Bell's The One was fourth after a slow start.

The win is the third Grade 1 victory for Gamine, who also has wins in the 2020 Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint, the G1 Test, and the G1 Acorn to her credit. In her last outing, she won the Grade 3 Las Flores by five lengths. In eight starts, her only non-win came from the Kentucky Oaks, where she crossed the wire third but was later disqualified to ninth due to an overage of betamethasone.

Bob Baffert trains Gamine for owner Michael Lund Petersen. Gamine was bred in Kentucky by Grace Thoroughbred Holdings and is the 4-year-old daughter of Into Mischief and Kafwain mare Peggy Jane. She was a $220,000 yearling at the Keenelad September sale, where she was consigned by Summerfield and purchased by Grand Oaks. Then, she sold at the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic sale as a 2-year-old, where she was consigned by Bobby Dodd and bought by Petersen for $1.8 million.

Gamine was heavily favored at 1-5 and paid $2.40 to win.

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‘We’ll See How Far She Can Carry That Speed’: Baffert Thrilled With Gamine Ahead Of Kentucky Oaks

Taking to the Churchill Downs surface at 9 a.m., Michael Lund Petersen's Gamine, the even-money, morning line favorite for the Kentucky Oaks, put in her final routine gallop under Humberto Gomez on Thursday as she aims to give trainer Bob Baffert his fourth win in the signature race for 3-year-old fillies. Should the daughter of Into Mischief prevail Friday, it would mark the first time Baffert has won the Oaks with the favorite since Silverbulletday achieved that feat in 1999.

“I thought (champion) Indian Blessing was brilliant but this filly, what she's done is amazing,” Baffert said of Gamine. “Her Acorn (an 18 ¾-length win) was….I did not expect that. And in the Test, she was probably training even better heading into that. She's doing well. We'll see how far she can carry that speed.”

Gamine heads into the Oaks have captured the Acorn (GI) and Test Stakes (GI) in her past two outings by a combined 25 ¾ lengths. Should her brilliance carry her to victory in the Oaks, she would also put Baffert in position to become the first trainer to notch the Oaks-Derby double since Ben Jones achieved the feat in 1952. Baffert has two entrants in the Kentucky Derby with Grade 1 winner Authentic and multiple graded stakes winner Thousand Words.

“Right now, I'm just trying to get them there,” Baffert said. “I took baby steps with (Gamine). Now that she's done what she's done, her resume looks great. She just needs to add the Oaks and that would be the cherry on top.”

Petersen purchased Gamine for $1.8 million out of the 2019 Fasig-Tipton Midlantic Two-Year-Olds Training Sale and a win Friday would make her the highest-priced Oaks winner sold at public auction since Rags to Riches — a $1.9 million yearling purchase — was victorious in 2007.

“She's just a real elegant looking filly, a lot of leg on her,” Baffert said. “She looked like a queen (at the sale). We call her Queen Gamine. You don't know how they're going to pan out but once we started working with her, she showed right off the bat that she was going to be something special. But I had trouble getting her (entered in a race) because everybody knew about her at Santa Anita. It took me a month to get her in. Every time I entered her, they knew she was in there.”

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