The Lexington-based trainer of last year’s 80 to 1 Kentucky Derby winner will be back at Churchill Downs Friday with the same horse. Lexington-based Eric Reed will run Rich Strike in the $600,000 Alysheba Stakes. Life has not been the same for Reed and his Mercury Equine Center employees since “Richie,” as he calls him, became the second-longest shot to win the Derby.
“I think the biggest change for everybody was, you know, they got a, they got some pep in their step, they got a little satisfaction out of all the years of hard work. And they got a year of spin with, you know, a champion, like Richie. So it's picked the spirits up out here a lot.”
