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).