Jeff Roberson/Associated Press
LOUISVILLE, Ky.—Thoroughbred racing is a mess of a sport, but it finds incredible, preposterous ways to redeem itself. It occasionally interrupts raging controversies to drop romantic stories from the heavens. It sometimes shoves aside the rich and famous to elevate winners you could not dream up, much less see coming.
No one saw Rich Strike coming Saturday. Not before the Kentucky Derby, where the horse wasn’t even assured of a spot in the field until another competitor scratched the day before. Not during the first nine furlongs of the 10-furlong race, as all eyes focused on a stretch duel between star 3-year-olds Epicenter and Zandon. Not until the very end, when this nobody of a horse, with a nobody trainer and nobody jockey and nobody owner, came knifing along the rail a few strides before the wire to launch himself into history.
