It had a little bit of everything, this COVID-19 Kentucky Derby.
A scary incident in the paddock when THOUSAND WORDS flipped over, sending Bob Baffert’s assistant Jimmy Barnes to hospital, Baffert winning it anyway with front runner AUTHENTIC (Into Mischief) and then Baffert getting bowled over in the winner’s circle.
Ah, horse racing. (Replay below)
Taking a tumble in the Kentucky Derby winner’s circle – COADY PHOTOGRAPHY
From Churchill Downs:
Spendthrift Farm, Myracehorse.com, Madaket Stables and Starlight Racing’s Authentic grabbed the lead shortly after the start and then held off a stretch bid from odds-on favorite Tiz the Law by 1 ¼ lengths to win the 146th running of the $3 million Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (GI).
Trained by Bob Baffert and ridden by John Velazquez, Authentic covered the classic distance of a mile and quarter in 2:00.61 over a fast track.
Authentic’s victory gave Baffert and Velazquez milestone achievements.
For Baffert it was his sixth Kentucky Derby victory, a total that ties him with Ben Jones for the most all time. Baffert’s other victories came in 1997 with Silver Charm, 1998 with Real Quiet, 2002 with War Emblem, 2015 with Triple Crown winner American Pharoah and 2018 with Triple Crown winner Justify.
For Velazquez, it was his 200th Grade I victory and third Kentucky Derby triumph. His previous victories came with Always Dreaming in 2017 and Animal Kingdom in 2011.
Authentic outsprinted Storm the Court and Ny Traffic for the lead and first quarter-mile in :22.92 as Tiz the Law settled into fourth and in the clear. Authentic continued unopposed on the front end through fractions of :46.41 and 1:10.23 but by the time he completed the mile in 1:35.02, Tiz the Law had pulled alongside and the two hit the top of the stretch together.
Tiz the Law, with Manny Franco aboard, briefly struck his head in front only to have Authentic fight right back and spurt clear again to a daylight advantage he held to the wire. It was another two lengths back to Mr. Big News in third with second choice Honor A. P. finishing another 1 ¾ lengths back in fourth.
The victory was worth $1,860,000 and increased Authentic’s earnings to $2,871,200 with a record of 6-5-1-0.
Authentic is a Kentucky-bred son of Into Mischief out of the Mr. Greeley mare Flawless.
Authentic returned $18.80, $6 and $5. Tiz the Law returned $3.40 and $3.20 with Mr. Big News paying $16.80 to show under Gabriel Saez.
Completing the field in order were Honor A. P., Max Player, Storm the Court, Enforceable, Ny Traffic, Necker Island, Major Fed, Sole Volante, Winning Impression, Money Moves, Attachment Rate and South Bend.
Wagering on the Derby dropped some 52 percent over a year ago, following a similar drop in wagering on the Kentucky Oaks on Friday.
Spendthrift bought into Authentic earlier this year, securing his breeding rights that now skyrocketed. The original owners of the colt, which included Toronto’s John Fielding, will reap rewards of having sold the share in the colt to Spendthrift. MyRacehorse.com, a fan syndicate, offered shares in the colt this spring for about $206, allowing people to share in the excitement of owning a Derby-bound horse.
Post race comments
Bob Baffert:
“Unbelievable. I’m worried about Jimmy (Barnes). He broke his arm, what happened. All I can say is this horse ran out of his mind. Johnny V. –perfect ride. I owe it all to my crew. Jimmy, poor guy is in an ambulance right now, can’t enjoy it. This is so emotional the ups and downs in this game. Unbelievable.”
“I have a lot of emotions running through my mind right now with Jimmy not able to be here. We knew that horse (Thousand Words) could be a problem. Jimmy has a broken arm. The key to this race was the break. We’ve been planning this out the last couple of nights at Jeff Ruby’s. We knew we had to get away from there. We talked about where certain people would be. Johnny is a world class jockey and knows where everyone should be. I told him what I thought and he told me what he thought. I said ‘I like your plan.’ I told him what the horse likes and what he can do. I’ve been fortunate to have some great jockeys, this race was won by Johnny, just the way he handled the horse and how he finished. He earned this. He beat a really good horse. Tiz the Law is a top-notch horse. I feel bad for the connections. I’ve been there. But this never gets old. We just feel so fortunate and blessed.”
Barclay Tagg (Tiz the Law, second):
“We didn’t win it. Baffert’s hard to beat.”
Did you think he’d get there? “I thought he would, because he usually moves away from them. What can you do? It’s a horse race.”
On glue-on front shoes: “He’s run every time” in them.
Did he run his race? “He’s run well every time. He ran a good race today. He got beat.”
Jack Knowlton, managing partner Sackatoga Stable, owner of Tiz the Law:
“I’m the only person who returned from the Funny Cide days, so we had a whole new group of people, their first experience in the Kentucky Derby. Even though it didn’t turn out the way we hoped it would, certainly no shame in the race he ran. He’ll be back. Hopefully he’ll come out of the race well and we’ll look to go onto Baltimore and hopefully win that and get some revenge.”
“Obviously we’d hoped to win. He was a big morning line favorite, went off odds-on. But it just wasn’t to be. Authentic ran a tremendous race. It was a fast pace, and he never came back. Tiz has been able to pass horses all year and today he ran into one he couldn’t get by.”
“At the top of the stretch, the way he’s been running all year, basically Manny (Franco) hasn’t had to ask him. Manny was asking him and he was trying. Authentic ran a great race. We’re going to see probably a big speed figure in there, and he deserved to win. He got the inside trip, and obviously our plan was to be outside. It’s worked all year. When you look probably at the number of the feet each of the horses ran, when it’s all said and done we probably ran quite a bit farther, farther than we got beat. But that was our plan, that’s the way this horse likes to run. Credit Authentic, I mean he came from the far outside and managed to get to the lead and just ran a great race. No shame on our part.”
On trying to beat Baffert in the Derby: “I know. He had his horse sharp. I didn’t think he was going to be the winner. I talked to him the other day and he certainly was full of praise for our horse. But Bob, he’s got the magic touch. He had this horse ready at the right time and he beat us today. Hopefully we’ll get some more shots at him and we’ll turn the table on him.”
“As long as he comes out of it healthy and sound, let’s go to Baltimore. Let’s go to the Preakness.”
Bret Calhoun (Mr. Big News, third):
“He ran huge. Quite a thrill. Going to the three-eighths pole, I thought we had a chance to win the whole thing. They didn’t quite come back to us. Just an incredible race on his part.”
On considering the American Turf in his turf debut but then opted for the Derby: “I kind of planned this thing a month before when it didn’t look like it would be a full field and I knew it was going to be an option. We were able to train on the grass a couple of times and it was very wet, soft and it didn’t really look like it was going to work for on this course. We were able to get in the Derby at a mile and a quarter over a track where he’d been training really, really good. It was worth taking a swing.”
Thoughts on the winner: “Very impressive. I’ve watched that horse train since he got there. Both of Bob’s horses I thought looked really good and trained well. But he earned it today. They went fast and he stayed on.”
Chester Thomas (owner Mr. Big News, third) –“You know what, Gabe (Saez) did a wonderful job. The horse ran his guts out and we’re really proud. It’s just exactly what we wanted and I thought we were going to get the job done but those other two horses are awesome horses, congratulations to those connections. We just couldn’t be prouder. I stayed up until 1 a.m. Sunday night figuring out if I was going to run in the turf race or the Derby and you see where we ended up.”
John Shirreffs (Honor A. P., fourth):
“(Jockey) Mike (Smith) said he was laboring at the beginning, that he just wasn’t getting a hold of the track.”
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