Gamine to Get Route Test in Oaklawn Park Allowance

Gamine has developed a little slower than trainer Bob Baffert would have liked. But with the Longines Kentucky Oaks (G1) moved to the first Friday of September, everything might just work out perfectly for the expensive daughter of Into Mischief .

"I think the Kentucky Oaks (is a goal)," Baffert said. "She has a chance to make it now where she didn't have a chance of making it before."

Gamine, who arrived at Oaklawn Park on April 28, posted a bullet work just four days prior at Santa Anita Park, breezing five furlongs from the gate in :59 1/5 to be the fastest of 55 at the distance. She will get a chance to prove she can get a route of ground May 2 in a $61,000 allowance optional claiming race for 3-year-old fillies at the Arkansas track, contested at 1 1/16 miles.

"We've always been very high on her. She's just a big, elegant-looking filly. She should handle (a route). I don't see why she wouldn't handle it," Baffert said. "I think the second start is very important. We'll see what she does."

In Gamine's first start, jockey Drayden Van Dyke guided her to a 6 1/4-length score after leading at every point of call in the 6 1/2-furlong maiden test at Santa Anita. In that race, she only faced three other fillies, but Saturday's race has drawn an overflow field of 12 with two also-eligibles.

Michael Lund Petersen purchased Gamine from Bobby Dodd's consignment to the 2019 Fasig-Tipton Midlantic 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale, and the $1.8 million he paid for her was a record for the Maryland auction.

"When something good shows up, I solely rely on Bob," Petersen said at the time of sale. "If he thinks it's a good purchase and it's my turn, I'm going to buy them." 

Assigned morning-line odds of 7-5, Gamine drew post 7 and will be ridden by Martin Garcia.

Her main competition is likely to come from Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners' Speech, another Southern California invader trained by Michael McCarthy. The Mr Speaker  filly also has a bit more experience.

Though she only has one victory in her four starts—she won at Los Alamitos Racecourse in December—Speech placed second in the March 8 Santa Ysabel Stakes (G3) in her most recent start behind Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1) runner-up Donna Veloce.

Speech, at odds of 2-1, drew post 10 and will be ridden by Javier Castellano.

Another horse in the field who could provide competition is the Steve Asmussen-trained Kiss the Girl, another Into Mischief filly, who most recently finished seventh in the Purple Martin Stakes but was the runner-up in the Schuylerville Stakes (G3) at Saratoga Race Course as a 2-year-old in just her second start.