Who is up and who is down after Rich Strike’s epic victory in the 148th Kentucky Derby on Saturday at Churchill Downs:
— UP: The story of Rich Strike . The 2022 Kentucky Derby produced the modern-day version of “Seabiscuit.”
Bred by regal Calumet Farm, Rich Strike had begun his racing career so inauspiciously that, on the day he won the most prestigious horse race in North America, he would have been eligible for a non-winners-of-two race.
Acquired for $30,000 on Sept. 17, 2021, out of a claiming race at Churchill Downs by current owner Richard Dawson’s Red TR-Racing, Rich Strike is now the only horse so obtained ever to win the Kentucky Derby.
On the day jockey Sonny Leon would produce one of the masterful rides in Kentucky Derby history aboard an 80-1 long shot, he entered the race having failed to win his prior 11 races while riding far from horse racing’s bright lights at Cincinnati’s Belterra Park (the former River Downs).
Before Rich Strike became viewed as a possible Kentucky Derby entrant in April, his Central Kentucky-based trainer, Eric Reed, had been so low-profile that his name had not appeared in the Lexington Herald-Leader since 2016. That was in a story about how the horse racing community was rallying to Reed’s aid after a devastating barn fire at the trainer’s Mercury Equine Center on Russell Cave Road.
On the day that Dawson, a semi-retired Oklahoma oil man, saw Rich Strike win the Run for the Roses, he was watching the only active racehorse he currently owns compete.
In all my days as a sportswriter, I have never been in a post-event news conference with more feel-good vibes than the one that followed Rich Strike’s improbable Derby conquest.
Given the recent history of the Kentucky Derby, please, please, please, don’t let anything subsequently come out that tarnishes one of the golden moments in our state’s sports history.
— DOWN: Steve Asmussen . Before the race, it appeared that Epicenter was the horse who would finally end the trainer’s oh-for-Kentucky Derby lifetime status. It certainly looked that way when Epicenter, the Louisiana Derby champion, seized the lead at the top of the Churchill Downs stretch.
But instead of Asmussen’s first Kentucky Derby win, Rich Strike’s stirring stretch run left Epicenter in second and the trainer — who has 9,743 career wins overall — now 0-for-24 in the Derby.
“I can’t believe it after Epicenter’s effort,” Asmussen said afterward. “And, the scenario in which I went 0-for-24, you couldn’t make up. I got beat by the horse that just got in (on the Friday before the Kentucky Derby as an also-eligible entrant).”
— UP: D. Wayne Lukas . At age 86, we should all get to experience the kind of visibility that Lukas enjoyed at Churchill Downs over Derby weekend.
On Friday, the Lukas-trained filly Secret Oath won the Kentucky Oaks. It gave “The Coach” a record-tying fifth win in the Oaks — but his first since 1990.
Meanwhile, it was Lukas scratching his Kentucky Derby long shot, Ethereal Road, that allowed Rich Strike to run into history.
— DOWN: Bob Baffert . For average sports fans, the silver-maned trainer is the face of the Kentucky Derby.
So the Churchill Downs move to suspend Baffert for two years from competing at the track following the failed drug test by erstwhile 2021 Derby winner and Baffert-trained Medina Spirit carried risk.
Alas, the Baffert-free 2022 Kentucky Derby yielded a wonderful Cinderella story.
Meanwhile, Baffert’s former trainees, Taiba and Messier, ran 12th and 15th, respectively, in the Kentucky Derby for trainer Tim Yakteen.
UP: Stretch runners . Before Rich Strike’s stunning final kick, it seemed the Kentucky Derby was turning into an equine version of Formula One auto racing — not nearly enough passing for the lead.
Of the eight previous horses before 2022 who finished first in the Derby on the track (not taking into account designated winners elevated by bureaucratic discretion or by failed drug tests), none was ever deeper in the field than third at any race call.
The three horses that crossed the finish line first in the Kentucky Derby immediately prior to Rich Strike — Maximum Security (2019); Authentic (2020) and Medina Spirit (2021) — each led the race at every quarter mile.
Conversely, Rich Strike was 17th out of 20 horses after a quarter mile; 18th at both the half-mile and after three-quarters of a mile poles; and was still 15th 1 mile into the race.
When trainer Eric Reed said his horse “passed ’em all,” he wasn’t much exaggerating.
— DOWN: Japan . Japanese horses have been creating a stir internationally. Over the past year, horses from Japan won two Breeders’ Cup races at Del Mar; won four of six graded stakes on the Saudi Cup card in Saudi Arabia; and took five of nine Dubai World Cup races.
Alas, Crown Pride, the Japanese bred, could not keep the momentum going in the Kentucky Derby, finishing 13th after getting caught up in a withering, early speed duel (which helped created the opening for a stretch runner).
All-time, four horses from Japan have now tried the Kentucky Derby. Sixth by Master Fencer in 2019 remains the best finish by a horse from Japan.
