Authentic (Into Mischief) exited his win in Saturday's GI TVG.com Haskell S. at Monmouth Park in fine shape and will now train up to the Sept. 5 GI Kentucky Derby, trainer Bob Baffert confirmed Sunday. The colt pulled away to a clear advantage in the stretch of the Haskell before holding on to a last-gasp victory over Ny Traffic (Cross Traffic).
“We're going to work on him a little until then [the Derby],” Baffert said. “I was pretty proud of him. He ran well. I might have to put a little blinker on him because he went to idling on me. Turning for home, I kept waiting for him to turn it on, but he was doing some looking around and idling there. [Jockey] Mike [Smith] saw that other horse coming at the last minute.”
Still Baffert found plenty of positives from Authentic's victory.
“He's a late [May 5] foal,” Baffert said. “He's maturing, but he's a quirky little guy. I think that it's impressive that he shipped, he got on a plane, he went all the way over there, and he handled it well. He didn't get hot in the paddock. He handled it all well and that's what you want to see. I'm happy with him. But he still has a lot of improving to do.”
Authentic left Monmouth Park and vanned to Lexington where he will spend a week before catching a flight back to Baffert's Southern California base.
Trainer Saffie Joseph, Jr. said it was also on to the Derby for Ny Traffic, who shipped back to his New York base Sunday.
“That was a tough beat, but to be honest, it really didn't hurt that much because I am just so proud of this horse,” Joseph said. “He ran an amazing race. At the quarter-pole, it looked like he was all done and the other horse was going to win easily. But he got going again and I'm very proud of him.”
Looking ahead to the Derby, Joseph said, “I thought we already had enough Derby points going in, so the important thing was to just get a good race into him. Now it's about who is moving forward, not who has peaked or is going backward. Going forward is the most important thing right now and that's why that tough beat can't really hurt me. I was just really happy to see him take that major step forward. That's the most important thing. Most definitely, there is a lot to be excited about with him. I just want him to stay sound and healthy and then we're on to the Derby.”
While he has yet to win a stakes race, Ny Traffic was second in both the GIII Matt Winn S. and the GII Twinspires.com Louisiana Derby and was third in the GII Risen Star S.
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