THE Kentucky Derby has been described, with a typical lack of American understatement, as “the greatest two minutes in sports”. Maybe, though there were a few things missing this year, not least spectators.

There were also quite a few major contenders absent, such as Nadal, Charlatan, Art Collector and King Guillermo, for a race run four months later than usual and after the traditional final leg of the Triple Crown, the Belmont Stakes.

Tiz The Law had won that race in exemplary style, plus the Travers Stakes at Saratoga in between, and was widely expected to do the same at Churchill Downs.

In the event, he came up short, but not by much, and it took a pretty good colt in Authentic to beat him.

Authentic himself had won the prestigious Haskell Stakes at Monmouth Park in July and been beaten only once in five starts.

The pair were soon in the vanguard from their wide draws and had the race to themselves in the closing stages, with Tiz The Law looking like he would go past but Authentic managing to dig even deeper to prevail by a length and a quarter.

Authentic had run the fastest opening six furlongs and eight furlongs by a Kentucky Derby winner this century, and his overall time of 2m 00.61s has been bettered over that period only by Monarchos (1m 59.97s) in 2001. Secretariat’s 1m 59.4s in 1973 remains untouched.

One small factor in all this is that a three-year-old running 10 furlongs in September could be expected to run about half a second quicker than in May.

Authentic went fast and clung on marginally better than Tiz The Law, in other words. His finishing speed for the last two furlongs of 94.3% is below the par of about 96.3%. This may account for why an apparent no-hoper in Mr. Big News managed to close to only two lengths back in third.

Some reshuffling of figures has Authentic on 122 now (118 here), with Tiz The Law trimmed to 121 (116 in this) and Mr. Big News on 113.

It may not have been the greatest Kentucky Derby ever, or the greatest two minutes (and 61 hundredths of a second) in sports, but the first two are high-class colts.

Kentucky Oaks

The Kentucky Oaks the day before at Churchill Downs was a cracker, and resulted in a new race record despite a pace that was not especially exacting (a reflection of a fast surface).

It was billed as a showdown between the brilliant Gamine and the street-fighter Swiss Skydiver, but in the event Shedaresthedevil stole the show.

The last-named gets a 116 rating from this, with runner-up Swiss Skydiver on 113 here (115 overall). Third-placed Gamine has been trimmed to 121 (111 here) but is very likely to prove better at seven or eight furlongs than this nine furlongs, something she may get to show in the seven-furlong Breeders’ Cup Fillies & Mares Sprint.

In a busy time of things stateside, there were other notable wins at Churchill Downs for Sharing (107, Edgewood Stakes), By My Standards (114, Alysheba Stakes), Monomoy Girl (117, La Troienne Stakes), Bell’s The One (113, Distaff Stakes, but front-running second Serengeti Empress gets reinstated to 117), Digital Age (114, Turf Classic Stakes), and at Saratoga from Global Campaign (117, Woodward Stakes).

There were also three major winning juvenile performances in Grade 1s from Princess Noor (115, Del Mar Debutante Stakes), Vequist (120, Spinaway Stakes at Saratoga) and Jackie’s Warrior (121, Hopeful Stakes at Saratoga).

Jackie’s Warrior gave 2lb and a two-and-a-quarter length beating to Reinvestment Risk (114) in a time which compares well with other seven-furlong races on the card and can be regarded as the best two-year-old in not just the US but anywhere at present.