Gamine Easily Wins Great Lady M

CYPRESS, CA – Michael Lund Petersen’s heavy 1/5 favorite Gamine easily won Monday’s $200,000 Great Lady M Stakes (G2) at Los Alamitos.

Gamine broke alertly under John Velazquez and raced prominently with Edgeway and Road Rager flanking her either side through an opening 1/4-mile in :21.61.

Gamine effortlessly increased her lead off the turn and through the stretch despite not changing her leads until the 1/16 pole, eventually crossing 10 lengths much the best.

The final time for the 6 1/2-furlong fast dirt sprint was 1:14.98, just 0.5 seconds off the track record Finest City set when winning this race in 2016.

“I know she’s quick, and the other horse showed speed and I knew the horse to beat (Edgeway) was inside of me,” Velazquez said. “She relaxed and I let her do her thing around the turn and that was it from there.”

Bella Vita rallied to neck out Road Rager for second, with Edgeway another length behind them. The winner’s Bob Baffert stablemate Qahira trailed throughout.

Candura, Dynasty of Her Own, and Eyes Open completed the order of finish.

Gamine’s win was her fourth straight, a stretch that began with last November’s Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Sprint (G1) and included successful stops at Santa Anita and Churchill Downs. The 4-year-old Into Mischief filly has just 1 loss in 9 career starts and earings of $1,406,500.

“She might be able to stretch out,” Baffert said. “She’s getting older and more mature. That’s one option I’ve been thinking about, but I don’t know what we’ll do next. I want to see how she comes out of this and I’ll let her tell me.”

Gamine returned $2.40 to win and $2.10 to place. Bella Vita brought back $9 to place. There was no show betting.