Nadal and Charlatan (split Arkansas Derby) aren’t the only unbeaten heavy program favorites Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert has Saturday at Oaklawn.
Baffert is also scheduled to send out Gamine (7-5) in the seventh race, an entry-level allowance for 3-year-old fillies at 1 1/16 miles. A $1.8 million 2-year-old in training purchase, Gamine makes her two-turn debut after a 6 1/4-length victory March 7 at Santa Anita. The daughter of super sire Into Mischief earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 87 for her flashy career debut. Gamine was steered to Oaklawn after Santa Anita suspended racing March 27.
“I was trying to get her in at Santa Anita and I couldn’t get her in because a lot of people knew about her, so the race wouldn’t fill,” Baffert said Tuesday afternoon. “She had been ready to run for a month. I wanted to run her back short one more time. I’d like to have run her seven-eighths or something, but then they quit running here. I was going to run her short there, but her date wouldn’t have been good enough to get in. Then, this race came up. I would have preferred like a mile, but we need to get going. We’ll see what she does going two turns for the first time.”
Gamine tuned up for Saturday’s race by recording a 5-furlong bullet workout out of the gate (:59.20) April 24 at Santa Anita. She led at every point of call in her blowout debut victory.
“I think she’s a nice filly,” Baffert said. “We gave a lot of money for her. She broke her maiden the right way. Until they do it, they’ve got to do it. She has to go two turns.”
Probable post time for Saturday’s seventh race is 3:16 p.m. (Central).
Oaklawn Park Press Release
Photo: Gamine breezing :10 flat at F-T Midlantic Sale. Credit: Spendthrift Farm/Tibor & Judit photo
