Breeders' Cup Distaff: Authenticity remains sharp

It has been an outstanding month in California for Authenticity, the East Coast filly whose final workout Saturday at Santa Anita affirmed her status as a serious contender for the Breeders’ Cup Distaff.

The runner-up in the Grade 1 Zenyatta Stakes on Sept. 28 in her first start in California, Authenticity has posted a series of sharp workouts since then, capped by her final drill Saturday for Todd Pletcher and assistant Michael McCarthy.

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Working in company at 6:45 a.m., Authenticity and exercise rider Jake Nelson broke off a length behind top 2-year-old We Miss Artie and jockey Mike Smith. Authenticity collared her workmate on the turn and inched to the front in deep stretch.

Daily Racing Form timed Authenticity in 46.90 seconds, galloping out five furlongs in 59.25. For McCarthy, the visually impressive work was what he has come to expect.

“It was more of the same of what we’ve been seeing three weeks in a row,” McCarthy said. “She’s a very willing work horse on her own, and even more so in company.”

Since the Zenyatta Stakes, Authenticity posted a series of sharp workouts at a half-mile. She worked in 46.20 on Oct. 12, the fastest breeze of the morning, and in 47 flat Oct. 19, the fifth-fastest of 65.

“She’s coming into the race the right way,” McCarthy said.

Beholder, the 3-year-old filly who won the Zenyatta, gate-schooled Saturday at 7:15 prior to her morning gallop. She also will enter the Distaff on a conspicuous upward pattern.

Unbeaten in four Santa Anita routes, including the 2012 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies, Beholder posted back-to-back bullet drills. Trainer Richard Mandella said her serious training is finished; he might give her a short three-furlong work prior to the Distaff.