Authentic led at the Club House turn and was never headed in Saturday’s Kentucky Derby (10f).
Authentic was pressed hard by the favourite Tiz The Law into the home straight but dug deep and always looked to be holding the odds-on favourite, going on to score by 1-1/4 lengths.
In winning the Classic for the sixth time, trainer Bob Baffert equals the record of Ben Jones and it is also the third win in the race for jockey John Velazquez.
The race was not all plain sailing for Baffert however, with his Thousand Words rearing the paddock when being saddled, falling and having to be scratched.
Baffert’s assistant Jimmy Barnes broke his arm in the incident.
“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.”
Velazquez said the race went according to plan.
“It’s always a concern that you let the horse do too much early in the race. You like to save ground and save some horse for the end,” Velazquez said.
“Bob (Baffert) was pretty certain the horse was ready today. I let him get loose and get comfortable. I waited until the horses got to him to get after him and he responded right away.
“Bob kept telling me to make sure I saved that last eighth of a mile. I want that eighth of a mile. He said I want you to hit left-handed and he responded. It worked out the way we had planned it. Very proud of the horse.”
A son of Into Mischief, Authentic is the winner of five of his six starts and has now earned $2,871,200.