Undefeated Gamine Sets Stakes Record in Acorn
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Photo: Skip Dickstein
Gamine gallops home alone in the Acorn Stakes at Belmont Park
When Gamine was entered in a March maiden special weight at Santa Anita Park, people paid attention.
The 3-year-old Into Mischief filly trained by Bob Baffert was purchased by Michael Lund Petersen for $1.8 million, and you could argue she has been a star from the start.
After Gamine blew away the competition in her 6 1/2-furlong debut by 6 1/4 lengths, Baffert, who is generally reserved in speaking about his untested horses, revealed just how much he was anticipating the filly's arrival on the track.
"I always get nervous when I have a first-timer, and I know I have a superstar in the making," Baffert said after the maiden win. "Sometimes they work great and in the afternoons they just don't show up. She is a little behind."
The filly gave her trainer, who in April announced he would be pointing her to the Sept. 4 Longines Kentucky Oaks (G1), a slight scare when she repelled Speech by a mere neck to win a 1 1/16-mile allowance optional claiming race May 2 at Oaklawn Park. She was one of three horses Baffert ran at Oaklawn that day, all winners, as he took the first division of the Arkansas Derby (G1) with Charlatan and doubled back for another victory with the now-retired Nadal in the race's second division. Baffert is awaiting the results of split samples ordered after Charlatan and another one of his runners did not pass initial post-race testing. According to reports from Daily Racing Form, George Bolton, the co-owner of Nadal, confirmed last month that Nadal's test was clean.
When Gamine returned June 20 for the $300,000 Longines Acorn Stakes (G1) at Belmont Park, she more than made up for her narrow finish last out.
The filly ran the fastest Acorn in history, defeating a field of six other classy 3-year-old fillies going one mile on the main track.
Gamine is geared down en route to victory in the Acorn Stakes
Leading from the start, Gamine posted early fractions under jockey John Velazquez of :22.48 and :45.28 through the first half-mile. She was ahead by 9 1/2 lengths in the stretch and stopped the clock in 1:32.55, breaking the record set by You in 2002 (1:34.05).
"She did everything I wanted her to do," Velazquez said. "She's a little bit on the aggressive side, but I let her relax around the backstretch. Once we got to the five-sixteenths pole, I let her run. By the quarter pole, she opened up so quickly I had to look back. She's very nice and professional. I wish they were all that easy."
The track announcer called the margin of victory 15 lengths at the wire, but the official margin was 18 3/4 lengths.
"When we got to the quarter pole, she started drifting out, so I said, you know what, let me just go forward with her and slow her down a little. On the turn she was kind of getting away from me, so I just showed her the whip and it was just instantly, she picked it up so quickly. By the eighth pole, I looked back and thought, maybe I'm going too quick, so let me see.
"I didn't want to fight her. On the backstretch, she wanted to lean out a little bit, so I was just going to let her do what she wanted, she was going comfortably. When I let her run, I think she was going so fast that she drifted out anyway."
Baffert, who is based in California, was not on hand Saturday at Belmont Park, but his assistant Jimmy Barnes praised the performance.
"It was an amazing race out of her. Especially coming into a grade 1 (in) only her third start," Barnes said. "Johnny rode her right to the way we told him to go. We told him to take advantage of her position, and he certainly did."
Gamine was bred in Kentucky by Grace Thoroughbred Holdings and is the third foal out of the stakes-placed Kafwain mare Peggy Jane, who has produced one other winner and has a Speightstown 2-year-old named Splashtown, a Ghostzapper yearling, and a 2020 foal by Kantharos . Gamine was the sale-topper at last year's Fasig-Tipton Midlantic 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale, where she was purchased by Donato Lanni on behalf of Petersen and Baffert from the consignment of Bobby Dodd.
"Bob does a great job at this. He buys a very good horse, and it makes it a lot easier to get the job done like this," Barnes said. "I wanted to see her run the one turn just because of the way she runs. Two turns, one turn, she can handle either one. We'll go home, give her a little time, and see what's next for her. I can imagine something at Saratoga."