Quote:
Originally Posted by King Glorious
Blackthroatedwind uses the silly argument that he proved he wasn't a superior distance horse in the Arkansas Derby. I'm assuming here that he thinks Authentic proved he was a superior distance horse in the Haskell. Do you share that ridiculous opinion? Nobody watching that day thought that Authentic would handle another furlong well. Yet, he did.
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Authentic was one of the worst training jobs in recent memory. The horse was a uncontrollable run-off, couldn't break cleanly from the gate, couldn't run in a straight line. How the supposed GOAT trainer couldn't rectify these problems by the time the horse made a couple of starts is beyond me.
Nevertheless, by the time Authentic ran in the Haskell, he had shed most of those faults. The only reason to question his stamina was his pedigree--and to be frank, the only times he didn't get to set an unpressured pace, he lost (SA Derby, Preakness). In years where there was an actual full and healthy 3yo crop, he probably would fare no better than a horse like Thunder Rumble.
The Haskell was misinterpreted by many on two points. The guy that owned Tiz The Law shamelessly suggested that the horse must have been juiced in the Derby because it was clear in the Haskell that he had no stamina. The reality is that without Ny Traffic in the race, Authentic wins the Haskell by open lengths and no one questions his stamina. Authentic did not wilt in the stretch so much as Ny Traffic ran out of his skin (Saffie Joseph at Monmouth...who knew?). In addition, as per usual, Mike Smith did no favors for his mount when choosing to hand ride from the 1/8 pole home.
People saw what they wanted to see in the Haskell. But the point was moot because Authentic was handed both the Derby and the Classic on a silver platter. For some unknown reason other trainers with good speed horses refused to engage the horse early even though he was buried in SA Derby in a speed duel.
That's not to say a large chunk of Authentic's success wasn't due to the efforts of Bob Baffert. Never mind the easy pace scenarios, when you divest the crop of Nadal, Charlatan, Uncle Chuck, Cezanne, and Eight Rings over the course of the year you're certainly clearing a path to success. He even was able to get one of the only other horses in the Derby coming off a triple digit Beyer to scratch only minutes before the race (Thousand Words).