Authentic Wins Breeders’ Cup Classic

LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) — From start to finish, Authentic left no doubt he was the horse to beat in the Breeders’ Cup Classic. His dominant performance on another big stage should also end the debate about this year’s top 3-year-old, strange as the season has been because of the coronavirus pandemic. Authentic won the Classic in the same fashion he took the rescheduled Kentucky Derby two months ago, going wire-to-wire for a 2¼-length victory over Improbable that gave trainer Bob Baffert a 1-2 finish on a warm, sunny fall Saturday at Keeneland. And perhaps erased Baffert’s regret over Authentic’s narrow runner-up finish to filly Swiss Skydiver in last month’s Preakness, also shifted to the fall because of the pandemic.