Following a two-month delay, Authentic, Honor A. P. rematched in Santa Anita Derby

On the day that the Triple Crown would have been concluding in New York, a race will be run in California that serves as a prep for a Kentucky Derby that is three months away instead of the usual gap of one month. So just add that to the lengthy list of “what else is new?” for 2020, as the Santa Anita Derby finally is held two months after its intended date.

The tumultuous changes to the racing calendar this year, including a Triple Crown that won’t even commence for two more weeks, is in contrast to the order among 3-year-olds in California. Authentic and Honor A. P. have been prominent throughout.

Back in January, Authentic and Honor A. P. were scheduled to meet for the first time in the Sham Stakes, but a foot bruise suffered by Honor A. P. kept him out of the race and helped Authentic score a lopsided victory against five overmatched rivals.

They met for the first time on March 7 in the San Felipe, with Authentic scoring a 2 1/4-length victory over Honor A. P. in a race that should have set them up for a terrific showdown four weeks later in the Santa Anita Derby.

The race ended up being postponed owing to the suspension of racing at Santa Anita because of the coronavirus pandemic, but Authentic and Honor A. P. have kept up their strong training during the delay and are set to meet again, with five others in the supporting cast, in the Grade 1, $400,000 Santa Anita Derby on Saturday.

The 1 1/8-mile race is worth 170 points overall, with 100 to the winner, on the system used by Churchill Downs to determine the field for the Kentucky Derby, now scheduled for Sept. 5. The Santa Anita Derby tops a stakes-filled card that includes five other stakes, including the Grade 1 Hollywood Gold Cup for older horses and the Grade 2 Santa Anita Oaks for 3-year-old fillies hoping to progress to the Sept. 4 Kentucky Oaks.

The Santa Anita Derby goes as race 8 on an 11-race card that begins at 12:30 p.m. Pacific.

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Fittingly, Authentic and Honor A. P. will break alongside one another. They drew the outside two posts in the field of seven. They won’t be together too long, at least initially. The unbeaten Authentic has sharp speed and led every step of both the Sham and the San Felipe. Honor A. P. doesn’t have as much natural speed, but he does lay close.

Authentic, who starts from the outside post, got a career-best Beyer Speed Figure of 98 in the San Felipe. He ran straight and true in the San Felipe after carving an erratic path through the lane in the Sham. His trainer, Bob Baffert, added ear plugs for the San Felipe, believing that in the Sham, Authentic “shied from the noise,” he said Thursday. Fans are not permitted at Santa Anita on Saturday, but Baffert is taking no chances. The ear plugs stay in.

“He’s a quirky guy,” Baffert said.

He’s also very talented. Authentic has been held in high regard since before he debuted last November. “He’s never been challenged,” Baffert said.

Honor A. P. is his biggest rival. In the San Felipe, Honor A. P. was making his stakes debut while competing for the first time in 4 1/2 months, which included time off in January while the foot bruise healed.

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“There were 10 to 12 days he didn’t go to the track for training,” said his trainer, John Shirreffs, who has won the Santa Anita Derby twice.

Baffert, who has won the Santa Anita Derby a record nine times – including the last two years – also will run the longshot Azul Coast, who was a distant second to stablemate Authentic in the Sham before winning the El Camino Real Derby on the all-weather surface at Golden Gate Fields in February. He was scheduled to run in the Sunland Derby in March before that race was canceled.

“I was going to go to Sunland. I had already penciled him in for the Belmont when it was a mile and a half,” Baffert said. The Belmont will be run at 1 1/8 miles this year.

Trainer Michael McCarthy also has two entrants, the best of whom is the progressive Rushie, who has won two of his last three starts, most recently an allowance at Oaklawn on the Arkansas Derby undercard May 2 in which he got a Beyer Figure of 89. This will be his stakes debut.

“He’s come back and trained forwardly,” McCarthy said. “I think he deserves a shot. It’s time to dip our toe into the water.”

The maiden Friar’s Road also represents the McCarthy barn.

Shooters Shoot beat Friar’s Road in a Santa Anita maiden race on March 15, and subsequently won an allowance at Oaklawn on April 11. He was entered in a division of the Arkansas Derby, but was withdrawn with a fever. He’s had three local works since.

Anneau d’Or was second last year in both the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile and the Los Alamitos Futurity, and he is seeking to regain that form after a pair of poor tries in divisions of the Arkansas Derby and Risen Star.