SATURDAY, JANUARY 2, 2021 THIS SIDE UP: JOHN KEEPS TEAM AUTHENTIC LEADING MONEY WINNER OF 2020 BOB HONEST IN SHAM By virtue of victories in the GI Kentucky Derby and in the GI Longines Breeders’ Cup Classic and combined with a third seven-figure success in the GI Haskell Invitational S., the ownership group that campaigned leading Horse of the Year hopeful Authentic (Into Mischief)--Spendthrift Farm LLC, MyRaceHorse Stable, Madaket Stables LLC and Starlight Racing-- finished 2020 as the leading owner by earnings with a total of $6,790,000. The partnership raced Authentic for his final four races. In total, Authentic won five of his seven starts in 2020 and led all horses by North American earnings with $7,170,000 ahead of the recently retired Tiz The Law (Constitution, $2,388,300), GI Longines Breeders’ Cup Turf victress Tarnawa (Ire) (Shamardal) and Eclipse Award candidate Improbable (City Zip). Cont. p6 Life Is Good headlines Saturday’s GIII Sham S. | Benoit by Chris McGrath IN TDN EUROPE TODAY We all trust that life must be better in 2021. But the immediate question is whether it will be ‘Good’ or maybe MEHMAS AT THE DOUBLE ‘Sweet’? Emma Berry offers a closer look at 2020's first-crop stallions, including division leader Mehmas (GB) (Acclamation {GB}). Right now, I'd settle for either. But it certainly looks an Click or tap here to go straight to TDN Europe. auspicious coincidence that the first race to sharpen focus on the Triple Crown trail--the opening leg of an adventure that reliably sustains us year in, year out--should include, among just five runners, one colt named Life Is Good and another out of Life Is Sweet (Storm Cat). Their respective trainers, Bob Baffert and John Shirreffs, dominate the GIII Sham S. with two runners apiece. This, of course, was the race Baffert aptly chose last year to show that Authentic might just be the real deal. What a goofy animal he remained then, almost colliding with the rail as he hesitated to explore the overwhelming capacities lurking within. Despite virtually pulling himself up in the stretch, he won by nearly eight lengths: a spectacular overture to a campaign that will presumably see him formally anointed, later this month, as Horse of the Year. The only colt ever to beat Authentic--if Swiss Skydiver (Daredevil) will indulge us a fairly technical distinction--was saddled by Shirreffs. Honor A.P. (Honor Code) seemed to do so on merit, too, but fortune scowled at him thereafter. Cont. p3 PUBLISHER & CEO Sue Morris Finley @suefinley [email protected] SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT Gary King @garykingTDN [email protected] EDITORIAL [email protected] Editor-in-Chief Jessica Martini @JessMartiniTDN Managing Editor Saturday, January 2, 2021 Alan Carasso @EquinealTDN Senior Editor Steve Sherack @SteveSherackTDN Racing Editor Brian DiDonato @BDiDonatoTDN Deputy Editor Christie DeBernardis @CDeBernardisTDN Associate Editors Christina Bossinakis @CBossTDN Joe Bianca @JBiancaTDN News and Features Editor In Memoriam: Ben Massam (1988-2019) ADVERTISING [email protected] Director of Advertising Alycia Borer Advertising Manager Lia Best Advertising Designer Amanda Crelin Advertising Assistant/Dir. Of Distribution Rachel McCaffrey Advertising Assistants Amie Newcomb Kristen Lomasson Photographer/Photo Editor Sarah K. Andrew @SarahKAndrew 2020 in Photos: October 3. Swiss Skydiver wins the GI Preakness S. | Horsephotos [email protected] Social Media Strategist HEMBREE WINS JOE HERNANDEZ OFF THE CLAIM 6 Justina Severni Hembree (Proud Citizen), claimed for $62,500 when snapping a Associate Producer lengthy skid last time, earned back most of that tag when taking Katie Ritz out Friday’s GII Joe Hernandez S. at Santa Anita. Director of Customer Service Vicki Forbes RAISING ‘KANE’ IN THE JEROME [email protected] Capo Kane (Street Sense) was given a perfectly judged ride from the front and proved not for catching in Friday’s $150,000 Jerome S. at Marketing Manager Aqueduct (See North American Racing p1) Alayna Cullen @AlaynaCullen Director of IT & Accounting Ray Villa TODAY’S GRADED STAKES [email protected] [email protected] ET Race Click for TV 6:35p San Gabriel S.-GII, SA TJCIS PPs TVG WORLDWIDE INFORMATION 7:05p Sham S.-GIII, SA TJCIS PPs TVG International Editor Kelsey Riley @kelseynrileyTDN [email protected] European Editor Emma Berry [email protected] Associate International Editor Heather Anderson @HLAndersonTDN Newmarket Bureau, Cafe Racing Sean Cronin & Tom Frary [email protected] 60 Broad Street, Suite 100 Red Bank, NJ 07701 732-747-8060 | www.TheTDN.com TDN HEADLINE NEWS • PAGE 3 OF 8 • THETDN.COM SATURDAY • JANUARY 2, 2021 This Side Up cont. As noted in our ongoing survey of Kentucky sires, Honor A.P.'s subsequent derailment (in running that extraordinary race behind Authentic in the Derby) does at least give breeders access to perhaps the most physically bewitching Thoroughbred of his crop at one-fifth the fee of Authentic. Life Is Good arrives with a beguiling resemblance to Authentic, as another son of Into Mischief to have started out winning a sprint maiden at Del Mar in November. He did so in such flamboyant fashion, in fact, that Breeders' Cup champion Essential Quality (Tapit) has suffered the indignity of being supplanted as the first horse named in the Derby futures pool. Certainly Life Is Good seems able to melt the stopwatch with little observable effort: the challenge here, much as was the case with Authentic, is to start stretching the trademark Into Mischief speed towards Classic distances. Baffert describes him as very aggressive, and an attempt to get him to rate didn't really come off in a workout before Christmas. But these obviously remain very early days. John Shirreffs | Benoit Success breeds success, and Baffert has earned the right to become a standard destination for a $525,000 Keeneland September machine like this. How interesting, then, to see Life Is Good accompanied by a horse of a wildly unfamiliar profile: Medina Spirit is by Protonico and was a $1,000 short yearling, pinhooked by Christy Whitman for $35,000 as a 2-year-old back at OBS this past summer. If he can upset in this race, he will give breeder Gail Rice hope that 2021 may yet prove every bit as remarkable as 2020, when Speech (Mr Speaker)--a filly she bred from a $7,500 mare--won the GI Ashland S. Cont. p4 TDN HEADLINE NEWS • PAGE 4 OF 8 • THETDN.COM SATURDAY • JANUARY 2, 2021 This Side Up cont. Anyhow, the force certainly remains with this record-breaking barn, which also houses a monster with the potential to dominate the older horses this year, judging from that staggering comeback by Charlatan (Speightstown) in the GI Runhappy Malibu S. As such, possibly Shirreffs can feel some empathy with the horse whose memory is honored in this race. What a time to be a self-effacing genius training in California! Sham is famously thought to have run the second-fastest Derby in history, but was unfortunately foaled in the same crop as the fastest of them all in Secretariat. He came back, moreover, with two front teeth dangling grotesquely from his jaw after slamming his head against the gate. What a wonderful horse he was: as statuesque as he was brave. Spared the attentions of Big Red, Sham won the GI Santa Anita Derby in 1:47 flat. And how skillfully he was prepared for the Classics by Frank 'Pancho' Martin, whose horsemanship was inherited by his late son Jose, trainer of the flying Groovy (Norcliffe); and in turn by his grandson Carlos--as evinced in the career of Grade I winner Come Dancing (Malibu Moon), who missed almost her whole sophomore year but has shown unfailing appetite as a nine-for-19 millionaire. Life Is Good will try to join fellow Baffert-trained ‘TDN Rising Star’ McKinzie (pictured) as a winner of the Sham | Benoit Both Sham and Secretariat were out of Princequillo mares. So, too, was Kris S.--the damsire of Life Is Sweet, saddled by Shirreffs to win the GI Ladies' Classic the same year Zenyatta (Street Cry {Ire}) beat the gentlemen at the Breeders' Cup. For Shirreffs to try Life Is Sweet's son Waspirant (Union Rags) in a Grade I straight after breaking his maiden speaks rather better for his potential than did his performance on the day. Barnmate Parnelli (Quality Road) apparently arrives on a more positive curve, having run both Hot Rod Charlie (Oxbow) and Spielberg (Union Rags)--rivals that have amplified the form in the meantime--close before finally breaking his maiden. Cont. p5 • Won his only 2YO start by 9¾ lengths • Won the Florida Derby-Gr.1 (like the hot young sires Nyquist and Constitution) • Won the Cigar Mile-Gr.1 (earning a 111 Beyer) • Won the Pacific Classic-Gr.1 by 3 lengths • Won the Haskell Invitational S.-Gr.1 in one of the fastest times ever • Won the $20m Saudi Cup defeating Midnight Bisou • First past the post in the Kentucky Derby-Gr.1 (dsqd for interference) • Eclipse Champion 3YO Colt of 2019 • Champion 3YO Male Miler on the 2019 World Thoroughbred Rankings • Top-class G1 winner as a 4YO • 11 Triple-Digit Beyer Figures in 14 starts • NEVER TESTED POSITIVE for an illegal or prohibited substance during his career despite comprehensive testing at the world’s best laboratories “On Tuesday [United States Attorney] Adams revealed that prosecutors now believe that at least two of the alleged conspirators—Chan and Rhein—were pushing some fake PEDs to Servis that didn’t really enhance performance…..The prosecutor then elaborated: “That is, a drug that is promoted and intended to be a performance-enhancer but is, you know a dud.” TDN, 11/18/20 “this horse is a top horse and people need to know he's the real deal.