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Kentucky Derby Winner Authentic Among Preakness Contenders Breezing At Churchill Downs

Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert breezed his two contenders for the Grade 1 Preakness Stakes on Saturday morning at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky., with G1 Kentucky Derby winner Authentic given an official clocking of :59.20 for five furlongs – the best of 38 works at the distance – and multiple graded stakes winner Thousand Words going the same distance in 1:02.40.

Also working at Churchill Downs on Saturday morning were G2 Blue Grass Stakes winner Art Collector, clocked one-fifth of a second slower than Authentic in :59.40 under Brian Hernandez Jr., and G1 Alabama Stakes winner Swiss Skydiver, who went a half-mile in :48.00 with jockey Tyler Gaffalione in the saddle.

Thousand Words was scratched from the Derby after flipping in the paddock while being saddled. Art Collector was withdrawn from the race early Derby week after suffering a minor hoof injury. Both, along with Authentic, are on target for the Preakness, to be run at Pimlico race course in Baltimore on Oct. 3. Swiss Skydiver, who was second to Art Collector in the Blue Grass and subsequently second to Shedaresthedevil in the G1 Kentucky Oaks on Sept. 4, is under consideration for the race.

Martin Garcia worked Authentic, a once-beaten Into Mischief colt who gave Baffert a record-tying sixth victory in the Kentucky Derby. Florent Geroux was aboard Thousand Words, a Pioneerof the Nile colt won the Aug. 1 Shared Belief Stakes in his most recent start, defeating the recently retired Honor A. P., the fourth-place Kentucky Derby finisher.

It was the first workout for both horses since the Sept. 5 Kentucky Derby.

“Authentic is a big, strong horse and is handling things very well after the Derby,” said Baffert. “I think both horses worked really well this morning.” Baffert, who has been attending the Keeneland September Yearling Sales this past week, plans to return to his home base at Santa Anita in California in the next day or two and has kept his horses in the Churchill Downs barn of his fellow Hall of Famer and friend, D. Wayne Lukas. Baffert said he plans to breeze Thousand Words next Saturday, Sept. 26, and will return to supervise the final Preakness breeze for Authentic on Monday, Sept. 28. Both would then ship to Pimlico on Sept. 29, Baffert said.

Authentic galloped out past the wire, going six furlongs in 1:12.20 and seven-eighths of a mile in 1:25.20 after early fractions of :23.80 and :35.40. Art Collector, a Bernardini colt trained by Tommy Drury Jr., galloped out six furlongs in 1:11.60. He previously breezed a half-mile at Skylight Training Center near Louisville in :48.10 on Sept. 12.

“He's in a great spot right now with his fitness,” said Drury. “We wanted a bit more of a serious work today and he went well within himself. He'll have a maintenance work next weekend before we ship to Baltimore.”

Kenny McPeek, trainer of Swiss Skydiver, indicated to Daily Racing Form's Marty McGee that a Preakness decision for the multiple graded stakes-winning daughter of Daredevil wouldn't be made until the “midnight hour.”

Art Collector breezing at Churchill Downs Sept. 19 under Brian Hernandez Jr.

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‘Frozen Pizza And A Cold Beer’: Drury Celebrates Blue Grass Win In Style

Bruce Lunsford's homebred Bernardini colt Art Collector returned to his home base at Skylight Training Center in Goshen, Ky., on Saturday night following his 31/2-length victory under jockey Brian Hernandez Jr. in the $600,000 Toyota Blue Grass (G2) at Keeneland.

The victory gave trainer Tom Drury Jr. his first graded stakes triumph.

“It was a pretty special day,” Drury said Sunday morning, noting there was not much time for celebration. “You know how we horse trainers are. I had to get him back to Skylight last night and I had to be at Churchill Downs at 5:30 (this morning) for the first set. I wound up having a frozen pizza and a cold beer.”

With the Toyota Blue Grass victory, Art Collector picked up 100 qualifying points toward the $3 million Kentucky Derby (G1) to be run Sept. 5. That total is good for fourth place on the Derby leaderboard with only six points races remaining for the classic, which is limited to the top 20 point earners that pass the entry box.

“I am going to get with Bruce in the next couple of days and figure out what we will do,” Drury said about the eight weeks remaining before the Derby. “Art Collector will stay at Skylight for a little while because it is quieter there and then like we have done before, two weeks or so before he runs we will bring him back to Churchill.

“If we do anything, it likely would be Ellis (the Ellis Park Derby on Aug. 9).”

On Saturday evening, trainer Kenny McPeek tweeted that Peter Callahan's Toyota Blue Grass runner-up, Swiss Skydiver, “came back in good order. Very proud of her race today. We will likely point towards the Kentucky Oaks.”

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Art Collector Emerges As a Kentucky Derby Contender With Blue Grass Triumph

Bruce Lunsford's homebred Bernardini colt, Art Collector, threw his hat into the ring for the Kentucky Derby with a victory over top 3-year-old filly Swiss Skydiver in Saturday's Grade 1 Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland in Lexington, Ky.

Trained by Thomas Drury and ridden by Brian Hernandez, Art Collector sat just behind Swiss Skydiver and jockey Mike Smith, took command in mid-stretch and drew away to win by about three lengths in 1:48.11 for nine furlongs on a fast track. Swiss Skydiver, coming off three consecutive graded stakes wins over fillies, finished second, with Rushie third, Enforceable fourth and Attachment Rate fifth in the field of 13 3-year-olds.

The top four finishers earned 100-40-20-10 qualifying points for the Kentucky Derby, to be run on Sept. 5.

The Blue Grass was the first stakes victory for Art Collector, who was coming off back-to-back allowance wins at Churchill Downs. This was trainer Drury's first graded stakes win as well.

Shivaree, breaking from the inside post, took the early lead, outrunning Swiss Skydiver to the first turn and setting an opening quarter mile fraction of :23.25. Swiss Skydiver took over the in the run down the backstretch after a half mile in :46.61, with Art Collector just behind that pair in third.

Going into the far turn, Swiss Skydiver continued to control the pace, but Art Collector and Rushie began to apply more pressure. After six furlongs in 1:10.63, Art Collector remained the primary challenger for Swiss Skydiver. He ranged up alongside the filly in mid stretch after a mile in 1:35.31, then gradually pulled away in the final sixteenth.

Art Collector, produced from the Distorted Humor mare Distorted Legacy, broke his maiden on turf at Kentucky Downs in his second start when under the care of Joe Sharp. After a seventh-place finish on turf in the G3 Bourbon Stakes, Sharp moved Art Collector to dirt, where the colt finished sixth and then first in two races at Churchill Downs last November. He was disqualified from the win for a medication violation and Lunsford subsequently moved the horse to Drury's care.

Art Collector won a May 17 allowance sprint at Churchill Downs, coming from off the pace, then wired a four-horse field on June 13, his final start before the Blue Grass.

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