Gamine Tops Field In Great Lady M

CYPRESS, CA – Multiple Grade 1 winner Gamine, who twice failed drug tests due to betamethasone overages in 2020, heads a field of eight in the $200,000 Great Lady M Stakes (G2) Monday at Los Alamitos.

The Great Lady M, for fillies & mares 3 and up at 6 1/2 furlongs, is the eighth of 9 races on closing day of the Summer Thoroughbred Festival. Scheduled post time for the main event is 4:28 PM.

Trained by Hall of Famer Bob Baffert for Michael Lund Petersen, Gamine has won 7 of 8 and earned $1,286,500.

A 4-year-old Into Mischief filly out of the Kafwain mare Peggy Jane, Gamine has four Grade 1 successes in 3 different states on her resume. She has earned those victories – the Acorn at Belmont Park, the Test at Saratoga, and the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Sprint at Keeneland in 2020, and the Derby City Distaff at Churchill Downs earlier this year – by a combined 33 1/2 lengths.

Baffert, who won the Great Lady M previously with Fantastic Style (2015) and Marley’s Freedom (2018-2019), also entered Qahira.

Idle since finishing a distant second behind Gamine in the Las Flores (G3) April 4, the 5-year-old Cairo Prince mare has won half of her 10 races for Baoma Corporation and banked $249,400.

Out of the Bates Motel mare Motel Lass, Qahira is 1 for 1 at Los Alamitos. She won an optional claimer as the 3/5 choice during the 2019 Summer Thoroughbred Festival.

Edgeway will be aiming for her third consecutive victory for Hronis Racing LLC and trainer John Sadler.

The 4-year-old Competitive Edge filly out of the Stormin Fever mare Magical Solution followed a win in an optional claimer February 7 at Santa Anita with a stakes success in the Carousel April 10 at Oaklawn Park.

Edgeway has won 4 of 6 and earned $307,200. She was runner-up in the Dogwood (G3) as a 3-year-old in her only prior start in a graded race.

Hronis Racing and Sadler also entered Candura, a lightly-raced 5-year-old Into Mischief mare. The gray, who is out of the Candy Ride mare Halloween Candy, has won 3 of 4 and banked $162,945. She is 2 for 2 in 2021 with both victories coming at Oaklawn Park, the most recent April 25.

Her win in California came in her career debut August 22, 2018 going 5 furlongs on the Del Mar turf.

A 4-year-old Shanghai Bobby filly out of the Richter Scale mare Lady Dynasty, Dynasty of Her Own will seek her first graded victory for Tommy Town Thoroughbreds LLC and trainer Jonathan Wong.

The Kentucky bred has won 7 of 11 and earned $194,148. She has been away since capturing a $34,980 allowance over the Tapeta surface at Golden Gate Fields May 20.

Her only win in 4 tries on dirt came in the Borderplex Stakes at Sunland Park in New Mexico January 26, 2020. In her lone graded stakes try, she finished fifth of six in the Iowa Oaks (G3) at 1 1/16 miles last year at Prairie Meadows.

Trained by Simon Callaghan for Kaleem Shah Inc., Bella Vita will be making her graded debut. A daughter of Bayern and the Storm Cat mare Queenie Cat, the 4-year-old is 2 for 8 with earnings of $181,790. The California-bred has been worse than third only once in her career.

Owned D K Racing LLC, Radley Equine Inc., breeder Helen Alexander and Ramona and Perry Bass II and trained by Dan Blacker, Eyes Open broke her maiden in her seventh career start May 23. The 4-year-old Street Sense filly out of the Bernardini mare Delightful mare has banked $56,920.

Road Rager will be making her first start in nearly 10 months for Samantha Siegel’s Jay Em Ess Stable and trainer Brian Koriner. The 5-year-old Quality Road mare was last seen finishing third in an optional claimer last September 6 at Del Mar. Out of the Aggressive Chief mare She Is Raging, Road Rager has won twice in 13 attempts and banked $128,162.

From inside out, the field for the Great Lady M Stakes: Candura, Tyler Baze rides, 119 pounds; Dynasty of Her Own, Ricardo Gonzalez, 119; Qahira, Abel Cedillo, 119; Edgeway, Flavien Prat, 119; Gamine, John Velazquez, 119; Bella Vita, Juan Hernandez, 119; Eyes Open, Edwin Maldonado, 119 and Road Rager, Jessica Pyfer, 119.