KINGSTON, Jamaica - Star sprinter Gamine added a fifth Grade 1 win to her glowing resume when taking the Grade 1, $500,000 Ballerina Handicap at Saratoga on Saturday, a "win and you're in" for the Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint.
Sent off the heavy 1-5 favourite, Gamine and Hall of Famer John Velazquez broke from the rail and went straight to the front while being pressured on the outside by Estilo Talentoso with Lake Avenue tracking through fractions of 23.20 and 45.68 seconds for the half mile. Gamine continued to lead into the stretch with a trio of horses hot on her heels, but Gamine motored through six furlongs in 1:09.20 and continued to the wire to win by 1 3/4 lengths.
“She just kind of waited and then by the quarter pole, I asked her for what she needed to do, and she got it done," Velazquez said.
The final time for seven furlongs on a fast track was 1.21.61. Lake Avenue was second followed by second-choice Ce Ce with Sconsin rounding out the superfecta.
“We were down in the one-hole, so you have to break and go from there," said Jimmy Barnes, Baffert's top assistant. "She handled the gate well, broke well and Johnny put her in the race.
“The 23 (second quarter-mile) felt pretty comfortable, 45 was pretty comfortable. (They were gaining on her) slightly, but once Johnny got her to switch leads, I wasn’t really concerned. They were moving but we were still running."
Gamine, who won last year's Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint to cap off an Eclipse Award season, improved to 9-from-10 with earnings approaching $1.7 million for owner Michael Lund Peterson. The only loss for the 4-year-old daughter of Into Mischief came in last year's Kentucky Oaks going 1 1/8-miles.
This was Gamine's third Grade 1 win in New York. Last year, she won the Acorn (G1) at Belmont Park and the Test (G1) at Saratoga.
