When shopping the yearling sales, SF Bloodstock's Tom Ryan and agent Donato Lanni leave no stone unturned.
While both have bought their share of big-ticket horses that are obvious standouts, they also realize that sometimes the gems of any auction, especially one as large as the Keeneland September Yearling Sale, are hidden.
It was that due diligence that led them to a son of hot Spendthrift Farm sire Into Mischief that was being offered by Bridie Harrison as agent for breeder Peter Blum during the eighth session of 13 selling days at the 2018 auction.
The colt, already named Authentic when he went through the sales ring, was produced from Blum's Mr. Greeley mare Flawless and was sold to the account of SF and Starlight West, the partnership entity headed by Jack Wolf, for $350,000.
Representing SF, Starlight, and a handful of other owners brought in as partners, including B. Wayne Hughes of Spendthrift Farm, the colt electrified the racing world Sept. 5 with a frontrunning upset victory in the Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (G1), giving Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert a record-tying six wins in the classic.
"It's like a needle in a haystack, isn't it? We make it a rule when we go shopping to shop from start to finish," Ryan said in a "Keeneland Spotlight" video posted on the sales company's website after Authentic won the TVG.com Haskell Stakes (G1) at Monmouth Park in July. "We were looking for a horse by a proven sire like Into Mischief. He was a May foal, but he had a beautiful frame and great presence about him. I remember going up to the ring, and I said to Donato, 'Are you sure?' And he said, 'I'm sure.' And he was right."
Ryan and Lanni were most prescient, as Authentic has now won five of six starts, with the only blemish on his résumé a troubled second in the Runhappy Santa Anita Derby (G1).
"He looked like a horse who would be able to stretch and get the distance—a two-turn Into Mischief," Lanni said following the Derby win, recalling the colt he saw at the sale. "He was a late foal and a very immature-looking horse, but he was a different type of Into Mischief. He looked like he had speed and like he was going to carry his speed. He was a horse we needed to bring home."
"He is a horse with a lot of scope, and he's got a great mind," Ryan said in the Keeneland video, adding, "We haven't gotten to the bottom of this horse at all. He has natural speed, and that makes him very dangerous. He's a horse we're going to hear about the rest of our careers. He's going to stand at Spendthrift at the end of his career."
Lanni credited Ryan with putting together the partnership that campaigns Authentic.
"All the credit goes to Tom for getting the right people and giving the horse to Bob," he said. "You have to roll the dice and have numbers and have a bunch of good people involved with the horse."
Harrison, who has handled Blum's horses for some 35 years, first at Dromoland Farm and now at her own nursery, said the colt's attributes were his "tall, rangy frame and his long stride. In the paddock, he covered the ground very easily."
Harrison said the colt showed signs of being special when he was being raised, but no one could have predicted a Derby victory in his future.
"You can't tell who's going to be a Kentucky Derby winner," said Harrison, who bred and raised Authentic at her Hurricane Place Farm near Cynthiana, Ky. "But you know the really good ones, and he was one we really liked."
