Another great day for Baffert
LEXINGTON, Ky. — Authentic won the Breeders’ Cup Classic, going wire to wire for a 2 1/4-length victory over Improbable that gave veteran trainer Bob Baffert a 1-2 finish Saturday at Keeneland. This year’s Kentucky Derby champion and Preakness Stakes runner-up broke out of the gate quickly and set the pace for others to follow. Stablemate Maximum Security pursued for a while before Global Security overtook him and then was passed by Improbable entering the stretch. Authentic, at 9-2 odds, never let up with John Velazquez aboard and extended his lead by the end. Authentic earned his fifth win in seven starts this year and made a strong case as the year’s top 3-year-old thoroughbred. It also bookended a successful day for Baffert, whose filly Gamine opened the $31 million season-ending world championships with a dominant, record-setting victory in the $1 million Filly and Mare Sprint. Just before the Classic, even-money favorite Monomoy Girl blew by the leaders around the final turn and held off a challenge by 14-1 shot Valiance to win the 1 1/8-mile Distaff for the top fillies and mares age 3 and older. The star 5-year-old won for the 13th time in 15th races, giving trainer Brad Cox his record-tying fourth win at this Breeders’ Cup.
BASEBALL
› BOSTON — The Boston Red Sox have brought back Alex Cora, rehiring the manager who led them to the 2018 World Series title — and doing so less than a year after the team let him go because of his role in the Houston Astros’ cheating scandal. The Red Sox announced the move Friday, 10 days after Cora finished a one-season suspension for his role in the Astros’ sign-stealing scheme during their 2017 championship run. Cora was Houston’s bench coach when he joined the Red Sox in November 2017, and he led them to the 2018 title after a franchise-record 108 regular-season wins. The Red Sox, who finished third in 2019, let Cora go in January after MLB commissioner Rob Manfred
identified him as as the ringleader in the Astros’ electronically aided system to steal signs. “This past year, I have had time to reflect and evaluate many things, and I recognize how fortunate I am to lead this team once again,” Cora said in a statement released Friday. “… I am sorry for the harm my past actions have caused and will work hard to make this organization and its fans proud.” An infielder for the Red Sox when they won the 2007 World Series, Cora was mentioned 11 times in Manfred’s decision on the Astros. The fallout from the investigation also cost Houston manager A.J. Hinch
and newly hired New York Mets manager Carlos Beltrán their jobs last winter. Hinch was recently hired as manager of the Detroit Tigers after completing his one-season suspension. Ron Roenicke,
promoted from bench coach to be Cora’s replacement, was not retained after the salary-shedding Red Sox stumbled to a last-place finish in the American League East Division this year. After he was fired, Roenicke told reporters that Cora “did a really good job here. … I’m hoping he does this again. Whether it’s here or its somewhere else, he should be managing.”
GOLF ›
HOUSTON — Australian golfer Jason Day stumbled near the end of the third round of the Houston Open, three-putting for a bogey on the par-4 18th hole Saturday afternoon to fall a stroke behind Sam Burns at Memorial Park. Winless in 2 1/2 years and fighting lingering back and neck injuries, Day shot a 3-under-par 67 to remain in contention in the final event before the Masters, which tees off Thursday — his 33rd birthday. A 12-time winner on the PGA Tour who won the 2015 PGA Championship, Day is a former No. 1 in the Official World Golf Ranking who has struggled with consistency of late. Burns, a 24-year-old American working for his first PGA Tour victory, shot a 68 — highlighted by an eagle on the par-5 eighth — to hold on to the lead at 9-under 201 through 54 holes. Mexico’s Carlos Ortiz was tied with Day after a 67, with former University of Georgia golfer Sepp Straka of Austria fourth at 7 under after a 66. Dustin Johnson, needing to finish solo 15th or better to remain No. 1 in the world, was fifth at 6 under after a third-round 66 in his return from the coronavirus.