Champion Gamine Returns in Las Flores
She won the Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint (G1) last out at Keeneland Nov. 7.
Though idle since winning the Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint (G1) Nov. 7 at Keeneland, Michael Lund Petersen's Gamine towers over a short cast of three rivals in the $100,000, six-furlong Las Flores Stakes (G3) April 4 at Santa Anita Park.
Not among the original nominations and supplemented at a cost of $2,000, owner Michael Lund Petersen's Gamine will make her first Santa Anita start since she rolled by 6 1/4 lengths in her 6 1/2-furlong debut in March 2020. Later in the year, she would dominate the June 20 Longines Acorn Stakes (G1) at Belmont Park, leaving the competition 18 3/4 lengths behind, and romp by seven lengths Aug. 8 in the Longines Test Stakes (G1) at Saratoga Race Course. Both races were completed in stakes-record time, with the Acorn's mile run in 1:32.55 and the Test's seven furlongs in 1:20.83.
She also crossed the wire third in the Longines Kentucky Oaks (G1), though she was disqualified for testing positive for betamethasone, an anti-inflammatory medication. She was also disqualified from an allowance optional claiming race victory at Oaklawn Park May 2 due to the presence of the local anesthetic lidocaine in her post-race sample. Trainer Bob Baffert attributes that Oaklawn test to accidental contamination from one of his employees.
Gamine's efforts in the Acorn, Test, and Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint led to a championship as female sprinter.
In the latter race, her seven-furlong time of 1:20.20 broke Keeneland's track record of 1:21.32 set by Taris in 2014.
Hall of Fame jockey John Velazquez returns in the irons aboard the rail-drawn Gamine, his fifth consecutive ride on the 4-year-old Into Mischief filly. She is four-for-six with earnings of $883,000.
The Las Flores is an apparent prep for the $500,000 Derby City Distaff (G1), a seven-furlong race on the undercard of the Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (G1) at Churchill Downs May 1.
What Gamine lacks in racing activity this year, stablemate Qahira does not. The Baoma Corporation-owned 5-year-old daughter of Cairo Prince took the 6 1/2-furlong Kalookan Queen Stakes Jan. 10 at Santa Anita and was subsequently third, beaten 4 1/2 lengths by another Baffert trainee, Merneith , in the Santa Monica Stakes (G2) at seven furlongs Feb. 13.
The two other Las Flores entrants are Hang a Star and Biddy Duke . The former is a graded-placed mare making her first start of 2021, and the latter is a grade 3 winner on grass who ran fourth in the Santa Monica.
Due to its short field, the Las Flores is carded as Sunday's second race with a scheduled post time of 1:30 p.m. PT.
https://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-racing/articles/247166/champion-gamine-returns-in-las-flores