LEXINGTON, Ky. – Rendering her defeat in the Kentucky Oaks a distant memory, Gamine once again was her brilliant self when dominating the 14th running of the $900,000 Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint in track-record fashion Saturday at Keeneland. Getting a cagey ride from her Hall of Fame jockey, John Velazquez, Gamine overtook front-running Serengeti Empress after turning for home in the seven-furlong race and proceeded to win for fun, finishing in 1:20.20 over a surface playing inordinately fast. Still, the race earned a 110 Beyer Speed Figure and equaled Gamine's lifetime-best figure, earned in June in the Acorn Stakes. “This filly is just incredible,” said Bob Baffert, the Hall of Fame trainer of Gamine. “I’ve never trained a filly of this caliber going one turn.” Gamine, owned by Michael Lund Petersen, returned $4.20 as favorite in a field of eight when smashing the former track mark of 1:21.32 set by Taris in 2014. She was coming off a third-place finish as an odds-on favorite in the 1 1/8-mile Kentucky Oaks. The race unfolded as had been widely predicted, with one notable tweak. Gamine and Serengeti Empress broke fastest, but instead of continuing with what could have become a ruinous duel, Velazquez deftly eased his filly back to concede the front to Serengeti Empress. Both fillies were quickly in a smooth rhythm, with Velazquez easing Gamine to the outside on the turn, poised to overtake her rival at will. And that she did. Within seconds, Gamine strode clear after straightening away, going on to prove far superior in prevailing by 6 1/4 lengths. :: Click to learn about our DRF's Free Past Performance program. “We knew that other horse would come out running, but I didn’t want to give it up too easy,” Velazquez said. “I wanted to make him [jockey Luis Saez] work a little harder. Once he passed me, I came off the rail, and even then I didn’t get want to give it to him that easy either. I made sure I put a little pressure on because I know that filly is really tough on the lead. I made sure I was close to him. When I asked my filly, she was there for me.” Serengeti Empress, the 3-1 second choice under Saez, continued resolutely to save the place by a nose over late-running Bell’s the One. The two also had finished a nose apart in their last race, the Sept. 5 Derby City Distaff won by Bell’s the One. Sconsin was fourth, a half-length behind Bell’s the One, and was followed in order by Come Dancing, Speech, Sally’s Curlin, and Venetian Harbor. Inthemidstofbiz was scratched earlier in the week from an original lineup of nine. The Filly and Mare Sprint usually is a predictor of divisional honors, and Gamine surely will be the filly and mare sprint champion when the 2020 Eclipse Awards are announced early next year. Baffert said she could run back in the Grade 1 La Brea in late December at her home track, Santa Anita, but it’s more likely she’ll get a break ahead of a 4-year-old campaign during which her horizons may be expanded. “I’d like to venture out and run her beyond seven-eighths next year,” Baffert said. “We’re going to have fun with her. We know what she can do going one turn. I think as she gets older she’s going to be able to handle longer distances. Today she was perfect. She ran straight as a string. She had it all together today.” Bred in Kentucky by Grace Thoroughbred Holdings of Barbara Banke, Gamine now has officially won 4 of 6 starts, with similar romps in the Grade 1 Acorn and Grade 1 Test earlier this year being her other stakes wins. The $520,000 winner’s share lifts her career bankroll just past the seven-figure mark to $1,003,000. Gamine, by Into Mischief out of the Kafwain mare, Peggy Jane, becomes the third straight 3-year-old to win the Filly and Mare Sprint, following Shamrock Rose (2018) and Covfefe (2019). Older horses had won the first 11 runnings since the 2007 inaugural. Gamine has been a lightning rod for controversy in recent months. She was disqualified from a May 2 allowance victory at Oaklawn for testing positive for a banned substance, and it recently was revealed she will be disqualified from her third in the Oaks, pending due process, because of a medication overage. During the post-race press conference, Baffert referred obliquely to a statement he issued this week on the subject, saying he “has to run a tighter ship. Anybody that knows racing . . . the headlines don’t sound well, but when you get to the facts, [the positives] were contamination. It’s unfortunate it happened to her. I’m just happy she showed what a wonderful filly she is today.” Petersen, a native of Denmark who lives in Maryland, is a retired businessman who paid $1.8 million for Gamine at the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic sale in May 2019. He called the victory “a great, great experience . . . it was the first time I’d ever brought my whole family when we won a race.” This was the 16th Breeders’ Cup win for Baffert, but his first in the Filly and Mare Sprint. In September, Baffert and Velazquez teamed to win the Kentucky Derby with Authentic. The $2 exacta (2-7) paid $16.20, the $1 trifecta (2-7-9) returned $26, and the 10-cent superfecta (2-7-9-5) was worth $25.70.