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USA Today Sports Media Group
USA Today Sports Media Group
Sport
Blake Schuster

Kentucky Derby winner Rich Strike will skip the Preakness Stakes to prepare for the Belmont Stakes

The 2022 horse racing season will not see a Triple Crown winner.

After a stunning victory in the Kentucky Derby, Rich Strike will not run in the Preakness Stakes on May 21 and instead prepare for the Belmont Stakes on June 11, owner Rick Dawson and trainer Eric Reed announced.

The colt was an extremely late entry into the Kentucky Derby field, drawing in on Friday after a scratch opened up a spot in the field. That saw the three-year-old’s odds languish at 80-to-1 before pulling off the second-largest upset in Derby history.

Rich Strike becomes just the third horse to win the Kentucky Derby and skip the Preakness since 1996. Justify in 2018 remains the last horse to win the Triple Crown.

Over the last 30 years, Derby champions who won with odds of 10-to-1 or longer have won the Preakness four times (I’ll Have Another in 2012, Funny Cide in 2003, War Emblem in 2002 and Charismatic in 1999). In 2019, Country House won the Kentucky Derby at 65.2-to-1 odds before skipping the Preakness after contracting a virus.

Mandaloun, which was deemed winner of the 2021 Kentucky Derby following the disqualification on Medina Spirit, also skipped the Preakness.

The remainder of the 2022 Preakness field has yet to be announced.

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