Gamine

Gamine first earned headlines before she started racing as she was purchased for a sale-topping $1.8 million by owner Michael Lund Petersen at the 2019 Fasig-Tipton Midlantic 2-year-olds in training auction. The Into Mischief filly made her debut on March 7, 2020 for trainer Bob Baffert at Santa Anita Park, and romped by 6 ¼ lengths in a 6 ½-furlong maiden race.

She then shipped to Oaklawn Park during the COVID-19 pandemic and stretched out to 1 1/16 miles and two turns. Gamine set the pace and responded in the stretch when challenged, holding on for a game neck victory in the May 2 allowance/optional claiming race.

Baffert then elevated his unbeaten filly to top-level competition, and Gamine made her third career start at a third different track, taking on some other top 3-year-old females in the Grade 1 Longines Acorn Stakes on June 20 at Belmont Park. Sent off as the odds-on favorite, she made short work of six opponents in the one-mile race, setting the pace under John Velazquez and powerfully pulling away in the stretch to score a dominant win. Gamine set stakes records for both final time (1:32.55) and margin of victory (18 ¾ lengths) in the Acorn.

Gamine returned to the racetrack Aug. 8 at Saratoga for the Grade 1 Longines Test Stakes and delivered another dazzling victory, completing the seven-eighths of a mile in an eye-catching 1:20.83 in a runaway win over Venetian Harbor.

In the Grade 1 Longines Kentucky Oaks Sept. 4 at Churchill Downs, Gamine was defeated on the racetrack for the first time. She set a solid pace in the 1 1/8-mile race before Shedaresthedevil surged past with a sustained rally into the stretch. Gamine faded to finish third behind 15-1 winner Shedaresthedevil and Alabama Stakes winner Swiss Skydiver. She was later disqualified and placed ninth due to a medication violation.

She rebounded in a big way Nov. 7 in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint, tracking pacesetter Serengeti Empress from second behind a strong pace and taking control near the quarter-pole on her way to a 6 1/4-length victory in a track-record time of 1:20.20 for seven-eighths of a mile at Keeneland. In January 2021, Gamine received the award for 2020's champion female sprinter at the Eclipse Awards.

After five-month break, Gamine returned for her 4-year-old season in the six-furlong Grade 3 Las Flores Stakes at Santa Anita Park. Sent off at 1-20 odds against three oppoenents, she rolled to an easy five-length win with regular rider John Velazquez aboard, her seventh in eight career starts. She followed with a hard-fought, front-running win in the $500,000 Derby City Distaff Stakes Presented by Kendall-Jackson Winery on the May 1 Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve undercard at Churchill Downs.

In her next start, Gamine toyed with the field in the July 5 Grade 3 Great Lady M Stakes at Los Alamitos, shaking off early pace pressure and coasting to a 10-length win at odds of 1-5.

Gamine faced a tougher test in her next start in the Ketel One Ballerina Handicap Aug. 28 at Saratoga Race Course, where she set the pace and put away the competition in the stretch on her way to a 1 3/4-length win. She improved to 4-for-4 in 2021 and earned an expenses-paid berth to the 2021 Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Sprint.

In the Filly and Mare Sprint, Gamine was send off as the odds-on choice, as he imposing presence scared off all but four rivals. She was pressed on the pace and had no repsonse in the stretch, flattening out to finish third. 

Kentucky-bred Gamine is out of the winning and stakes-placed Kafwain mare Peggy Jane.