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Authentic ‘Just So Full Of Himself’ During First Trip Over Pimlico Course

As he has done for so many years, Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert held court outside the Pimlico Stakes Barn Wednesday morning after his Preakness horses had come back from the track.

Kentucky Derby (G1) winner Authentic was jogged clockwise over the muddy surface along the outside rail at 8:30 a.m., some 90 minutes after stablemate Thousand Words galloped a circuit on the course under Humberto Gomez. Both horses were shipped from Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky. to Maryland on Tuesday.

After breezing a half-mile in a 'bullet' 47.60 seconds at Churchill Downs Monday, Authentic had a very light morning of exercise Wednesday.

“He just went out there for a little jog. He looked good,” Baffert said. “Coming off that plane yesterday, he was like a keg of dynamite. He has so much energy, that horse. He's just so full of himself.”

Authentic, who is owned by Spendthrift Farm LLC, MyRaceHorse Stable, Madaket Stables LLC and Starlight Racing, has been installed as the 9-5 morning-line favorite in the Preakness, the last leg of the Triple Crown this year.

Albaugh Family Stables LLC and Spendthrift Farm LLC's Thousand Words was scratched about a half hour before the Kentucky Derby on Sept. 5 when he reared up and fell while being saddled for the race. The Pioneerof the Nile colt turned in a sharp work Saturday at Churchill Downs that convinced Baffert that he was ready for the 145th Preakness. He will wear blinkers again after two races without that piece of equipment.

“He worked on Saturday so we gave him a little gallop around there,” Baffert said. “It's a wet track and it's hard tell what's going on. He went nice and moved over the track. The main thing is you want your horses to look sound and healthy. He went nice.”

Authentic gave Baffert his record-tying sixth Derby victory. Though each of his previous five Derby winners also won the Preakness, Baffert, 67, noted that the situation was different this year with the Covid-19 changes that juggled the Triple Crown schedule. The Belmont Stakes was run in June, the Derby on Labor Day weekend and the Preakness at the beginning of October.

“Two weeks, though. It was two weeks. We've got a month now,” Baffert said. “I would have loved to run two weeks later because he was just full of himself two weeks afterward. It's just giving horses time to freshen up. You have new shooters now. It's so turned around now.

“I feel real good about it. I think he's going to run his race. He hasn't regressed. He looks great.”

Baffert said he would have preferred that even though the Triple Crown had to be delayed because of the pandemic that the races were run in the same order, with the Belmont following the Preakness

“But it would have conflicted with the Breeders' Cup for the 3-year-olds,” Baffert said. “I still think it would been a great scenario. I just feel fortunate that we even have this. It was looking pretty bleak (during the Covid lockdown).

“It doesn't feel like Preakness, but it will the day of. It's like the Kentucky Derby. It didn't feel like Derby that day, but when that gate came open it felt like Derby. That's the way it is. When that gate comes open it's going to feel like Preakness. That's what it's all about. All you are hoping for is that your horses show up and when they turn for home you're hoping you have something to root for. That's it. That's all you can ask for.”

Baffert is tied with 19th century trainer R. W. Walden with a record seven Preakness victories. While the dates are far different and the usual raucous scene will be quiet because spectators are not permitted, Baffert said he is happy that the 2020 Triple Crown was not cancelled.

“It would have been horrible if we didn't have the Derby, the Preakness,” he said. “The Belmont was sort of different, more like the Dwyer. The Derby and the Preakness, at least we got to run them. And we have beautiful weather.

“I love coming to Baltimore, even though it's pretty quiet right now. The environment here is just so nice. It's a beautiful stakes barn. I've seen the same people here the last 15 to 20 years and they are glad to see us come in.”

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Derby Disappointment Behind, Drury Looking Forward to Preakness

At this stage exactly four weeks ago, trainer Tom Drury, Jr. was sitting pretty with Art Collector (Bernardini), who figured the solid second choice in the GI Kentucky Derby four days hence. But, as happens all too often in this game, fate intervened, and 24 hours later, Bruce Lunsford’s homebred was a high-profile defection from the Run for the Roses. A month later, the colt will again try to play the role of spoiler, this time as the morning-line 5-2 second favorite to Derby hero Authentic (Into Mischief) in Saturday’s GI Preakness S. at Pimlico.

“I guess doing this as long as I have, you go through this so often,” the conditioner told a group of media assembled for an NTRA teleconference Monday afternoon. “A horse is injured or something goes wrong or you don’t get into a race you want to get into. You almost become a little desensitized to it because you’re used to it happening.”

He continued, “That being said, it was tough, but there are so many other things that it could have been. It was something that could be addressed pretty easily and knowing that the Preakness was right behind the Derby, we just immediately turned the page and started moving on to the next race. There wasn’t really any time to sit around and cry about it. We had four weeks to get ready for this one and we needed to focus on getting him as good as we could get him for this race.”

Art Collector’s injury was so minor that by Sept. 12, he was back on the worktab at the Skylight Training Center. The bay has since recorded two good-looking moves at Churchill, five furlongs in :59.40 (2/38) Sept. 19 and a half-mile in :48 flat this past Saturday. From Drury’s perspective, Art Collector is sitting on go for the raid on Old Hilltop.

“I think his last two works have shown his hand a little bit,” he commented. “I don’t think you could ask for a horse to work any better. He seems like he’s happy enough, he’s kind of throwing his ears up galloping out. At this stage, he seems like a horse that’s doing well and we can go take our best shot with.”

Art Collector has proven to be anything other than pace-dependent during his current four-race winning streak. Though he wired the field in a Churchill allowance in June and again in the Runhappy Ellis Park Derby Aug. 9, he settled a few lengths off the speed in the GII Toyota Blue Grass S. and raced past Swiss Skydiver (Daredevil) to win with a bit in hand. Drury said that post three should give Brian Hernandez, Jr. some options.

“I would expect him to be forwardly placed until they get into the first turn and then Brian can decide where to go from there,” Drury explained. “Ideally you’d like to be forward going by the stands for the first time. One of my favorite things about this horse is that it seems like he’s got a little stop-and-go to him. You can use him, but then get him to shut back off if you need him to. Sometimes in these races like this, that can be very beneficial. You can use him to get where you want him to be, but then get him to come back off the bridle and wait for another cue.”

Tom Drury’s horse of a lifetime has taken the better part of 35 years to find. And he’s very much enjoying the ride.

“We’ve had some really good horses go through the barn, but Art Collector has taken my career to places I never dreamed it would go. He’s just a member of the family,” Drury said.

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Drury: Art Collector’s Versatile Style Will Be A Major Advantage In Preakness Stakes

Tommy Drury didn't get much sleep on Monday night of Kentucky Derby week. The trainer of one of the top Derby contenders, Art Collector, had found a decent-sized cut on the back of the colt's right front hoof, apparently suffered during his Monday morning gallop.

Drury and owner/breeder Bruce Lunsford faced a difficult decision. The colt's hoof was sensitive to the touch, and neither man wanted to subject the horse to the stress of the Run for the Roses unless he was 100 percent. Still, it would have been the first starter in the Kentucky Derby for both Drury and Lunsford, and making the decision to walk away from what could be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity was challenging.

“It was certainly difficult,” Drury said on an NTRA teleconference this Monday. “The Derby is a race of a lifetime for a horse trainer. At end of day, the responsibility we have is to put the horse first. It would not have been fair to lead him over there knowing there was an issue going on. It was a no-brainer. We want our horse to be good for the long haul, not just one race.”

Instead, Art Collector will be the 5-2 second choice in this Saturday's Preakness Stakes at Pimlico. He'll face a field of 11, including Kentucky Derby winner Authentic (9-5 favorite) and Kentucky Oaks runner-up Swiss Skydiver (6-1).

Art Collector, a 3-year-old son of Bernardini, won the G2 Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland in July. He stalked the pace in that race, then won the Ellis Park Derby with a solid frontrunning display. That versatility in tactics gives Drury a bit of confidence heading into the Preakness Stakes.

“He has a little stop and go to him,” Drury explained, adding that jockey Brian Hernandez, Jr. is very familiar with Art Collector's style. “You can use him and get him going again if you need to. In a race like this, that can be beneficial.”

The post position, three, won't be an issue for Art Collector either, Drury said. The colt is quick enough to get out of the gate and near the lead, and tactical enough for Hernandez to be able to take back off the pace if others decide to go.

No matter what happens this Saturday, Drury is looking forward to the future with Art Collector. This year, the Breeders' Cup Classic is the likely next stop on the colt's schedule, and Drury will also look for Art Collector to return as a 4-year-old.

“Art Collector is a very special horse to us,” summarized Drury. “He has taken my career to places I've never dreamed it would go. I've not had anything like him ever before.”

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‘You Always Have That Dream’: Calhoun Looking Forward To Saddling Mr. Big News In Preakness

Bret Calhoun has accrued 3,192 victories and $86 million in purse earnings – both ranking 28th all-time in North America – in 26 years of training horses. The 56-year-old Texas product has won 42 graded stakes and 302 stakes overall.

But showing how difficult it is for the overwhelming majority of horsemen to even get a horse to the Triple Crown, Calhoun only last year had his first Kentucky Derby (G1) starter in Chester Thomas' By My Standards. This year he and Thomas had their second Derby starter in Mr. Big News, whose rallying third now is giving the men their first horse in the Preakness Stakes (G1).

“It's exciting. You always have that dream to have a Triple Crown horse,” said Calhoun, whose large stable is a force in Kentucky, Texas and Louisiana. “The horses that I've had the opportunity to train for years haven't necessarily been 3-year-old classic types as far as pedigree or conformation, really. I always would have loved to have competed in the classics but never thought it was realistic until here recently when we got just a little bit better caliber of horses that had talent and could develop into that kind of a horse.”

The like-minded Thomas appreciated Calhoun's work with 2-year-olds and began sending him horses a few years ago at the same time he was going to the sales to upgrade his stock. Another major client, Texan Tom Durant, was doing the same.

“Obviously it gives you a little bounce in your step to know you have those kinds of horses in your barn,” Calhoun said at Churchill Downs.

The son of a Texas school teacher who also owned and trained horses, Calhoun opened his own stable in 1994. His first graded-stakes score came in 2003 with Toby Keith's Cactus Ridge in Chicago's Arlington-Washington Futurity (G3).

A critical career move came in 2007 when Calhoun began a Churchill Downs-based division in Louisville for spring, summer and fall. Three years later, he won a pair of Breeders' Cup races with Chamberlain Bridge in the $1 million Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint (G1) and Dubai Majesty in the $1 million Filly & Mare Sprint (G1) on her way to the female sprinter championship.

Finding the right 2-year-old to join the Triple Crown trail the next spring proved more elusive.

When By My Standards won the Louisiana Derby (G2) at 22-1 odds off a maiden victory, it was Calhoun's biggest victory with a 3-year-old. The Kentucky Derby didn't turn out well, an 11th-place finish in a roughly run race played out over a horribly muddy track, but By My Standards has emerged among this season's top older horses. When By My Standards got a break after the Derby last year, Calhoun and Thomas' Mr. Money picked up the slack by reeling off four graded-stakes victories.

Thomas, the Madisonville, Ky., entrepreneur who races in the name of Allied Racing, looked like he had several promising 3-year-olds in the spring. Others seemed more advanced, but Calhoun and Thomas believed the Giant's Causeway colt would thrive at the longer distances.

Mr. Big News finished fifth behind stablemate Mailman Money's fourth in a division of the Fair Grounds' Risen Star (G2). In only his third start, Mailman Money lost by only 2 1/4 lengths with a wide trip.

When it came time to enter the $1 million Louisiana Derby, staged right after COVID-19 began shutting everything down, Mailman Money got in the race and Mr. Big News landed on the also-eligible list, needing a scratch to run.

“We felt (Mailman Money) deserved to run, but honestly we were desperate to run Mr. Big News because he was doing so, so well,” Calhoun said. “At the last minute we decided to run Mailman Money and not Mr. Big News. And of course Mailman Money didn't run well that day and Mr. Big News worked incredible that next day. I was just sick that I didn't run him.”

With Keeneland canceling its spring meet and options shrinking, Mr. Big News was sent to Arkansas for the $200,000 Oaklawn Stakes, which offered a fees-paid spot in the Preakness Stakes to the winner. That non-graded race on April 11 was positioned on what normally would have been the Arkansas Derby, which was moved to the first Saturday in May after the Kentucky Derby was delayed until Sept. 5.

“Things are a little backward this year,” Calhoun said. “It's interesting because Mr. Big News won a stakes at Oaklawn that won a berth into the Preakness. At that point in time, I don't think we even knew when the Preakness was going to be run. We didn't know if this horse was going to be that caliber or not. Typical situation, improving 3-year-old, and here we are running Oct. 3 and he's moved forward, improved and taken us there.”

Albeit not directly. A sixth in Keeneland's Toyota Blue Grass (G2) rescheduled for July 11 seemed to derail Mr. Big News' Derby hopes. The new Plan B was to run on the new Derby Day, but in the Grade 2 American Turf.

“The Blue Grass was supposed to be his litmus test to figure out if he belonged with the upper echelon of the 3-year-olds,” Calhoun said. “Gabe (jockey Gabriel Saez, who was serving a suspension) wasn't able to ride him that day. Mitchell Murrill rode him well but didn't give him the type of trip that he prefers.

“We did get a little bit discouraged about moving on to the Derby, but we weren't discouraged with him. We thought it would be a safer play to take a little bit of a lower road. Lo and behold, the Derby doesn't overfill, gives us an opportunity to run. We were very confident in him getting a mile and a quarter. So we took our shot and it worked out well.”

Calhoun is realistic about the Preakness and making up 3 1/4 lengths on Kentucky Derby winner Authentic — as well as impressive Blue Grass winner Art Collector, who missed the Derby with a foot issue.

“We've got to be better, honestly,” Calhoun said. “We've got to improve, and Authentic has to either regress a little bit or have some kind of trip that's unfavorable to him and favorable for me. He was very impressive Derby Day. He earned it. He set hot fractions and finished up well. So there's a margin there that we're going to have to find a little more horse.”

Still, he says Mr. Big News has given him “every indication” that the colt is doing as well as he was heading into the Derby. And if Mr. Big News makes headlines in the Preakness?

“That's just another step forward in your career, kind of the pinnacle,” Calhoun said. “It's what I think every trainer and owner in this business strives for, a Triple Crown victory.”

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