Velazquez, a Hall of Famer, said getting to ride Authentic during this difficult year was “a gift from God.”
John Velazquez climbed aboard Authentic on Saturday afternoon with confidence as well as determination to make a vision come true. His mother-in-law told him she had a good feeling about the $6 million Breeders’ Cup Classic. He and his colt, she told him, were going to win a race that had eluded him 19 times before. Velazquez is a Hall of Famer. In September, he won his third Kentucky Derby with Authentic. And sure, he wanted to add America’s richest race and the marquee event of horse racing’s season-ending championships to his résumé. But that is not what took his breath away after he crossed the finish line nearly three lengths ahead of Improbable. Instead, he was thinking about Joan O’Brien, the mother of his wife, Leona. The O’Briens are racetrackers — Leo O’Brien was a longtime trainer on the New York circuit — and know their horses. Throughout the coronavirus pandemic, Joan O’Brien has been grinding through chemotherapy to treat cancer and keeping up both a smile and her hopes. “She told me she had a feeling,” Velazquez said. “She has a great attitude. She inspired me to do this. With everything that has gone on and the problems with the family, getting to ride a horse like this is a gift from God.
