LEXINGTON, Ky. – Kentucky Derby and Breeders’ Cup Classic winner Authentic arrived Monday morning at majority owner B. Wayne Hughes’s Spendthrift Farm, where he will begin his stud career in 2021 alongside his sire, Into Mischief, the nation’s leading stallion. Authentic won the Breeders’ Cup Classic by 2 1/4 lengths on Saturday at Keeneland in what proved to be his final start. The colt ends his racing career with six wins and two runner-up efforts from eight career starts and earnings of more than $6.1 million. A May foal, Authentic won the Grade 3 Sham Stakes and Grade 2 San Felipe Stakes earlier this year, then finished second in the Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby before winning the Grade 1 Haskell Invitational in July. He truly came to hand in the final months of his season, stating his case for championship honors by turning back Tiz the Law to win the postponed Kentucky Derby on Sept. 5, losing a hard-fought Preakness Stakes by a neck to the filly Swiss Skydiver on Oct. 3, and finally, winning the Classic. Authentic was bred in Kentucky by Peter E. Blum Thoroughbreds. He was a $350,000 Keeneland September yearling purchase by SF Racing and Starlight Racing, with Fred Hertrich III, John D. Fielding, Golconda Stables, and Madaket Stables also joining his ownership group. Earlier this year, Spendthrift announced that it had purchased a majority interest in the colt. The farm continued to campaign him with Starlight and Madaket and with the micro-share ownership experience outfit MyRacehorse joining in. SF, Hertrich, Fielding, and Golconda sold their respective interests. The colt was trained by Bob Baffert throughout his career. “This was what we hoped we would have at the end of the year,” Spendthrift general manager Ned Toffey said of the operation’s decision to purchase Authentic’s rights. “In the horse business, plans don’t always come together the way you’d like, so this was just a dream scenario for us. Couldn’t be happier with his career, and really happy to have him here now at Spendthrift. Looking forward to his second career.” Authentic was the first classic winner by Into Mischief, who claimed his first North American leading sire title in 2019 when led by Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint winner and Eclipse Award divisional champion Covfefe. He sired a second consecutive Filly and Mare Sprint winner as Gamine stated her case for a divisional title with a victory at Keeneland hours before Authentic’s. Into Mischief, who is leading the 2020 sire list as the season winds down, will stand for an advertised fee of $225,000 next year, making him the most expensive stallion in North America. Authentic’s fee has been set at $75,000, making him the highest-priced incoming stallion of 2021 thus far. Into Mischief’s first son to stud was his two-time Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile winner Goldencents, who stands at Spendthrift. He was among the leading freshman sires of 2018 and has continued to rank among the best in his class. Spendthrift has continued to acquire horses from its most prominent sireline, adding Into Mischief’s son Maximus Mischief to the roster for 2020 and now Authentic for 2021. The farm also owns the future rights to Mr. Money, a multiple graded stakes winner by Goldencents. In order to continue to support its top stallions, Spendthrift was bullish in the market as the North American mixed sales opened Sunday evening at the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky fall selected mixed sale, purchasing 12 horses for a total of $25,030,000. That included champion Monomoy Girl, who will remain in training for 2021 before eventually joining the broodmare band, for $9.5 million; Grade 1 winner Bast, in foal to Justify, for $4.2 million; Grade 1 winner She’s a Julie for $3 million; Grade 1 winner Got Stormy, who also will race next year, for $2.75 million; and stakes winner Mother Mother for $1.8 million. “The main idea was to add some mares that would work with the top-end stallions on our roster,” Toffey said. “A lot of the mares that will work with Into Mischief will also work with Authentic – and Authentic has now done enough where you can justify breeding the same caliber of mare. That was the main purpose in mind with the buying that we did, was to support the books of our top stallions.”