ASU stunned, lose to No. 20 So. Cal
LOS ANGELES – In the final three minutes of a game that began with Southern California’s earliest kickoff in decades, the Trojans finally did a few things worth getting up early to see.
And a couple that had to be seen to be believed.
Drake London caught a 21-yard touchdown pass with 1:20 to play, and USC rallied from a late 13-point deficit for a 28-27 victory over Arizona State on Saturday in the Pac-12′s long-delayed season opener.
For the first 57 minutes of play after that 9 a.m. kickoff, the Sun Devils appeared to be grinding out a solid victory largely by forcing mistakes from the Trojans. USC gave up a handful of big plays by the Sun Devils, committed four turnovers of its own and turned the ball over twice on downs in ASU territory.
But at perhaps the last possible moment to mount a two-score comeback, the Trojans did just that.
also shifted to the fall because of the pandemic.
“He just struggled that day,” Baffert said, “but we got him back and I’ve got a great team and we just tightened the screws on him.
“He’s just matured. He’s maturing right now and this ... is the time of the year they catch up.”
There wasn’t any catching up to Authentic on Sautrday as he broke quickly out of the No. 9 gate between stablemates and set the pace for the 10-horse field to follow. Maximum Security, last year’s 3-yearold champion, pursued for a while before Global Security overtook him and then was passed by Improbable entering the stretch.
Authentic, at 9-2, never let up with John Velazquez aboard and extended his lead by the end.
“I didn’t think it was that much speed in the race, other than the other horse that Bob had on outside,”
said the Hall of Fame jock
ey, referring to Maximum Security. “And I thought we were going to be quicker than him anyway.
“Once we got in front and I passed the wire for the first time, I mean, it was pretty easy from there, yeah.”
Authentic earned his fifth win with two seconds in seven starts this year, strengthening his case as the year’s top 3-year-old. The victory bookended a successful day for Baffert, whose filly Gamine opened the $31 million season-ending world championships with a dominant, record-setting win in the $1 million Filly and Mare Sprint.
Both horses will certainly be named in any Eclipse Award discussion, and Baffert’s bias for Authentic was obvious.
“There was a lot on the line,” he said. “What he did today was pretty amazing.”
Authentic covered 1¼ miles in 1:59.19 in the $6 million marquee event and paid $10.40, $5.40 and $4.20. Improbable returned
$4.80 and $3.30 while Global Campaign paid $8.80.
As for Gamine, she beat retiring great Serengeti Empress by 6¼ lengths and clocked a track-record 1:20.20 over seven furlongs to top Taris’ old mark of 1:21.32 on Oct. 18, 2014. Her fourth victory this year comes after a tumultuous year in which she tested positive for lidocaine in May and for betamethasone, a regulated corticosteroid, in September.
Baffert is appealing a suspension in the first case, while results are pending from a split-sample test in the second. He wasn’t necessarily seeking vindication but got it anyway with the win and gushed over his filly.
“She showed what a wonderful filly she is and there was no doubt today,” Baffert said. “That was a tough field. Serengeti Empress, we know she’s a great filly and there were some really nice fillies in there. And to break a track record.”