Belmont Stakes: Road warrior Rich Strike shows he has plenty left in the tank
ELMONT, N.Y. – Shortly after 7:30 a.m. Wednesday, Kentucky Derby winner Rich Strike was led out of his stall in Belmont Park’s Barn 29 by groom by Jerry Dixon Jr. Eric Reed, the trainer of Rich Strike, looked at Dixon and said, “Good luck.”
After making one turn around the barn, Dixon came back maintaining a somewhat awkward-looking hold of Rich Strike.
“He broke the shank,” said Dixon, who relayed to Reed the horse had reared up on the walk.
After a new shank was retrieved, Rick Strike was walked for a while around the barn, distracted some by pigeons who were following the chestnut colt around.
Shortly after 9:30 a.m., Rich Strike made an appearance on the Belmont training track, jogging twice clockwise around the one-mile oval under exercise rider Gabriel Lagunes alongside a pony. Rich Strike, who arrived here shortly after 1 a.m. following a 16-hour trip from Louisville, still had plenty of energy to want to train.
“I told Gabriel after the first round if he wanted to go another one it was up to him,” Reed said. “He said he felt strong enough to go so he let him go. He settled down a lot the second round. A lot of that was trying to get him used to the pony. You could see the further they went the better he accepted the pony. By the end of the week, they’re going to be good buddies, and on race day he needs a buddy.”
The next race day for Rich Strike will be June 11 in the $1.5 million Belmont Stakes. Following his 80-1 upset in the Kentucky Derby, Rich Strike was held out of the Preakness by his connections, who feared the two-week turnaround would not have been good for him on that day or for the Belmont, which was the race they had in mind when they ran him in the Derby.
“It wouldn’t have done anybody any good,” Reed said. “It would have messed him up for this. We wanted to show in the Derby we could compete in the Belmont.”
He certainly did that, motoring through the stretch under Sonny Leon to upset Epicenter by three-quarters of a length.
Monday, in between races at Churchill Downs, Rich Strike had a strong workout, five furlongs in 59 seconds followed by a monster gallop-out. It will be his last official work before the Belmont, though Reed said he may blow out Rich Strike a quarter-mile through the lane a day or two before the race. Rich Strike went to the training track Wednesday, but the remainder of his training will be done over the main track.
“Normally we work him 10 days [out] and that’s it, we don’t work him back,” Reed said. “I just want him to get his footing on the track and watch how he moved and see how he handles it.”
Reed said the energy Rich Strike has shown since he arrived in New York was not overly surprising to him, but he expected the horse to have a nice nap Wednesday afternoon.
“I thought he might show a little fatigue, and he will,” Reed said. “When he gets through walking he’s going to lay down. We usually put him in some ice boots and stuff for an hour or two, but today as soon as he goes in we’ll let him have a few minutes, do him up, and let him sleep because he’ll sleep for the rest of the day. I know he’s tired, he just doesn’t show it.”
◗ Kuchar, a recent allowance winner at Churchill Downs, will not run in the Belmont Stakes, trainer Rodolphe Brisset said Wednesday. He is targeting the $500,000 Ohio Derby on June 25 at Thistledown. Brisset said he expects to work Peter Pan Stakes winner We the People on Friday or Saturday for the Belmont.
◗ Brigadier General and Howling Time are scheduled to work at Churchill Downs on Friday and Saturday, respectively, after which decisions will be made on whether they will run in the Belmont Stakes, their trainers said Wednesday. Brigadier General is not Triple Crown nominated, so he would have to be supplemented to the race for a $50,000 fee.