Trainer Bob Baffert won his sixth Kentucky Derby with the colt Authentic in Saturday’s postponed running of the premiere race for 3-year-old thoroughbreds.
Running on a fast track before a limited number of spectators that included mainly owners and people connected to the stables, Authentic led from nearly the start and finished the mile and a quarter in 2:00.61 minutes, according to a release from Churchill Downs.
The Kentucky-bred horse, ridden by John Velazquez, won by 1 1/4 lengths. He held off a challenge in the stretch by the betting favorite, Tiz the Law, to claim the 146th Kentucky Derby trophy.
A $2 win ticket on Authentic paid $18.80.
Tiz the Law ran second and Mr. Big News ran third. The order of the remaining horses was Honor A.P., Max Player, Storm the Court, Enforceable, Ny Traffic, Necker Island, Major Fed, Sole Volante, Winning Impression, Money Moves, Attachment Rate and South Bend.
Traditionally run on the first Saturday in May, the Derby was postponed this year because of the coronavirus pandemic.
The race coincided with the 101st day of protests in Louisville over the death of Breonna Taylor, the 26-year-old woman who was shot in her apartment by police serving a no-knock warrant.
“Before the race began, hundreds of people calling for racial justice circled Churchill Downs, and several members of a Black armed militia knelt in front of Louisville police officers stationed inside a fence erected around the track,” the New York Times reported.
In another protest Saturday, racial justice demonstrators clashed downtown with an armed group of mostly men opposed to the Black Lives Matter movement.
Jennifer P. Brown is co-founder, publisher and editor of Hoptown Chronicle. You can reach her at editor@hoptownchronicle.org. Brown was a reporter and editor at the Kentucky New Era, where she worked for 30 years. She is a co-chair of the national advisory board to the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, governing board past president for the Kentucky Historical Society, and co-founder of the Kentucky Open Government Coalition. She serves on the Hopkinsville History Foundation's board.
