Rich Strike posts Kentucky Derby shocker for the ages
Frank Vespe- May 7, 2022
“I’m so excited to ride the KY Derby tomorrow,” jockey Sonny Leon tweeted Friday afternoon. “Thank you Lord for blessing me like this.”
Turns out the Lord wasn’t even close to done blessing the Venezuelan rider.
Leon and his mount, Rich Strike, scored one of the all-time Kentucky Derby shockers Saturday, rallying from well back to win by a length in 2:02.61 for 1 ¼ miles. Rich Strike, off at 80-1, paid $163.60 to win.
Heck, he wasn’t even supposed to be in the field. Rich Strike originally was on the outside looking in, number 21 in a 20-horse field. But Friday morning, trainer D. Wayne Lukas and owners Julie Gilbert and Aaron Sones made what turned out be a pretty consequential decision: they scratched Ethereal Road, also a longshot, which opened the door to Rich Strike’s participation.
I’m so excited to ride the ky derby 🌹 tomorrow. It’ll be beautiful experience & I want say thanks to everyone will rooting for me tomorrow. Venezuela up in the derby roses 2022, thank you lord for blessing me like this. 🙏🏻
— SONNY LEON (@SONNYLEON1) May 6, 2022
Just your typical Derby story: horse claimed for $30,000, winless in five starts since breaking his maiden, left out of the Derby, draws in at the last possible moment, and wins. Ho hum.
It was the first Kentucky Derby starter – let alone winner – for both Leon and trainer Eric Reed.
“We really always felt like if we just get in, we got a shot,” said winning owner Rick Dawson, who races as RED-TR Racing LLC. “We proved it today.”
- Maryland Racing Commission OKs new TMJC as track operatorThe Maryland Racing Commission on Dec. 23 signed off on the new nonprofit Maryland Jockey Club to operate Laurel Park in the new year.
Bluegrass Stakes winner Zandon and Louisiana Derby winner Epicenter had taken much of the public’s attention and were installed as the favorite and second choice on the morning line. And in upper stretch – after Summer Is Tomorrow and Messier had thrown down grueling early fractions – the two top runners hooked up and seemed destined to settle things between themselves.
But Leon had Rich Strike, a colt by Keen Ice, on the move. Towards the rear of the field rounding the turn, Rich Strike began to pick off horses, dived down to the rail, came out one path to avoid a faltering rival, and powered home inside his more well-fancied rivals.
Almost exactly the way trainer Eric Reed had hoped it would play out.
“Get a good break and work over to the inside,” Reed said Friday, when asked for his preferred scenario. “Start picking them up midway on the backstretch and then pass them all before the finish line!”
The race marked Leon’s fifth consecutive outing aboard Rich Strike. Their previous best finish had been a third-place result in the Leonatus Stakes at Turfway Park and another in that track’s Grade 3 Jeff Ruby Steaks.
But Reed gave the credit for the upset to his rider.
“I knew the horse could do it if he could find his way through the traffic,” Reed said. “That’s why I had Sonny on him. He got us here. He knows the horse. And we knew this horse could get the distance. It was just, could he get through the company? And he gave him just the greatest ride that I’ve ever seen.”
“I know my horse, and I knew I had a horse for this race,” said Leon. “When we were in the last five furlongs, I could feel in my horse that he was tough.”
- “Miracle” horse All Caps wins first in two yearsAll Caps nearly died from an infection two years ago. So how did she get to the winner’s circle at Charles Town Saturday? “A miracle,” says her owner.
Reed and Dawson had claimed Rich Strike for $30,000 out of his maiden triumph. He won that day by 17 lengths, but he hadn’t visited the winner’s circle since. On the other hand, he did show improving form, with four consecutive improving Beyer speed figures.
“We’ve never entered a race that we didn’t think we could win, ever,” Dawson said. “That’s just what Eric and I have always talked about: we don’t do it. If they’re not ready to win, then we’ll take them back and train them some more and figure out where to put them.”
Epicenter finished second, while Zandon was third. Simplification and Mo Donegal rounded out the top five.
Once it appeared his horse would be excluded from the Derby, Reed said, the plan was to aim at the Belmont Stakes June 11.
Now, though the Triple Crown beckons, and that road runs through Baltimore and the Preakness.
“I think [his Preakness chances] are real good,” Reed said. “This horse is just getting good, and he’s been getting better every race.”
NOTES A pair of Midlantic-breds didn’t run poorly in two Churchill Downs stakes, but neither was able to get the money. In the Derby City Distaff Pennsylvania-bred Just the One went off the 3-2 favorite and showed uncharacteristic speed under jockey Flavien Prat. But after leading for the opening six furlongs of the seven-furlong test, she tired to be third, beaten three lengths and change by winner Obligatory… Maryland-bred Aloha West had a similar outcome two races later in the Churchill Downs Stakes. The winner of last fall’s Breeders’ Cup Sprint, Aloha West, with Jose Ortiz up, wasn’t far back early, but no one was able to go with eventual winner Jackie’s Warrior, who led throughout en route to a four-length win. Aloha West finished third, five lengths behind the winner…
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I did not like to see how Rich Strike was treated after KD win. They need to leave these horses to air out naturally. Take a lap if necessary. Let the chemistry settle. Man wants to control the animal to meet their financial gains: that is, their commercial TV constraints. Man is causing the problem trying to control as usual. Change that.
I AGREE. RICH STRIKE WAS MORE WELL MANNERED THAN SOME OF THE OTHER HORSES LEADING UP TO THE GAIT.HE WAS ALSO WELL BEHAIVED GOING INTO THE GAIT. AFTER RUNNING A RACE LIKE THAT OF COURSE HE WAS WORKED UP. HIS PEOPLE SAY HE IS PLAYFUL SO I THINK HIM TRYING TO GRAB THE REINS MADE SENSE. THE OUTRIDER RIGHT FROM THE GET GO WAS NASTY TURNING IT INTO A BIG DRAMA. HE DEFINITELY MADE IT WORSE.THEN HE PULLED HARD AND JERKED HIM. AFTER THAT HE GOT BIT. THE OUTRIDER RESPONDS WITH A PUNCH. IT REMINDED ME OF THE OLYMPICS WHEN THE TRAINER PUNCHED THE HORSE. THE OUTRIDER SHOULD BE FINED AND SUSPENDED. HE HAS BEEN DOING HIS JOB LONG ENOUGH TO HAVE HANDLED THE SITUATION BETTER. AFTER A BEAUTIFUL RACE AND WIN IT REMINDED US OF THE BAD SIDE OF RACING. PEOPLE ALREADY ARE UPSET ABOUT THE DRUG VIOLATIONS WHIPS AND HORSES BEING SENT TO SLAUGHTER. ERIC REED SAID THIS MADE EVERYONE FORGOT ABOUT COVID WAR AND THE PROBLEMS WITH HORSE RACING WHICH IS TRUE. THE OUTRIDER MADE US REMEMBER. AFTER THAT YOU COULD SEE HOW WELL BEHAVED HE WAS DEALING WITH ALL THE PEOPLE AND THE FLOWERS. THE NEXT DAY HOW GENTLE HE LOOKED IN HIS STALL RESTING AND MEETING WITH THE MEDIA. SOMETIMES THE OUTRIDERS AND STARTERS MAKE IT WORSE. I WILL NEVER FORGET THE BREEDERS CUP WITH QUALITY ROAD HOW THE HANDLERS ACTED WITH HIM. HIS OWNER WAS DISGUSTED HOPING QUALITY ROAD DIDNT HAVE EMOTIONAL PROBLEMS AFTER THAT. BODEXPRESS HAD ISSUES WITH THE GAIT BUT THAT DAY JOHN VELAZQUEZ ADMITED IT WAS NOT BODEXPRESS’S FAULT. IT WAS A MISSCOMUNICATION BETWEEN HIM AND THE STARTER. IF CHURCHILL DOWNS IS GOING TO BE STRICT ABOUT THE DRUGS THEY SHOULD ALSO BE STRICT ABOUT THIS.