LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Rich Strike already has made history at Churchill Downs, but his connections wouldn’t mind making a little more. All he’ll have to do is outrun six other horses in the Grade 1 Clark, the annual fall-meet showcase set for Friday at Churchill. Rich Strike was 80-1 in winning the 148th Kentucky Derby in May, making him the second-longest-priced winner in Derby history. The striking chestnut colt won’t be anywhere close to those odds Friday when trying to become the first horse since 1901 to win the Derby and Clark in the same year. “Yeah, boy, I’d like to do that,” trainer Eric Reed said early this week. “If Brad doesn’t get too loose on the lead, we just might pull it off.” “Brad” is Brad Cox, the defending two-time Eclipse Award-winning trainer represented by the likely favorite in the $750,000 Clark in West Will Power, an eye-catching, wire-to-wire winner of the Grade 2 Fayette last month at Keeneland with a 102 Beyer Speed Figure. West Will Power, a 5-year-old Gary and Mary West homebred, will have Luis Saez aboard breaking from post 7 in the 148th Clark, which will be run under the Churchill lights as the 11th of 12 races. First post is 1 p.m. Eastern, with the Clark going at 5:56. Cox noted that Injunction (post 3, Rafael Bejarano) has enough early speed to keep West Will Power honest and that nothing is free at this level. “Maybe he pesters us, maybe we pester him,” said Cox. “All I know is both my horses are training good. We got those breezes into them Sunday and everything went well, nice and easy.” West Will Power and a second Cox trainee, Fayette runner-up Fulsome (post 5, Florent Geroux), both went a half-mile in 50.60 seconds in their final preps for the 1 1/8-mile Clark. Meanwhile, Proxy (post 1, Joel Rosario) went the same distance in a bullet 48.20 seconds Sunday at Fair Grounds in New Orleans before shipping the following night, arriving Tuesday morning. Proxy, a 4-year-old Godolphin homebred, has gone unraced since finishing third to Olympiad in the Grade 2 Stephen Foster here in early July with a 104 Beyer. “We pretty much targeted the Clark after we decided to give him a little break after the Foster,” said trainer Mike Stidham. “It wasn’t a hard-and-fast goal, but if he came back training really well and everything went without him missing any works, we were going to go for it. And that’s where we are.” Rosario rode West Will Power in the Fayette, but Cox was hesitant to commit to the Clark partly because of the possibility of frigid weather in the local area interrupting training in the interim. Rosario rode Proxy in the Foster, and had been impressed when he breezed him twice at Keeneland in October, and when Stidham asked Rosario’s agent, Ron Anderson, last week for a call in the Clark, “He said yes,” said Stidham. “No further questions were asked.” Rich Strike (post 4, Sonny Leon), owned by the RED TR-Racing of Rick Dawson, is winless in four starts since the Derby but has not disgraced himself in defeat. He got a 105 Beyer when fourth to Epicenter in the Travers, a 101 when narrowly defeated by Hot Rod Charlie here in the Lukas Classic, and a 106 when fourth behind Flightline, Olympiad, and Taiba earlier this month in the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Keeneland. :: Save 20% on DRF PPs, Clocker Reports, and other handicapping essentials for a limited time  “Our original plan was not to run in both the Classic and Clark,” said Reed, “but he bounced out of it so well, I didn’t see why we couldn’t try him right back. He’s sharp and he’s unbelievably fit. I really think he’s sitting on a big effort.” His Eminence in 1901 became the 10th horse to win both the Derby and Clark in the same year, but he’s also the latest. Four other Derby winners have won the Clark as an older horse in subsequent years, those being Old Rosebud (at age 6), Exterminator (7), Whirlaway (4), and Silver Charm, who in 1998 was the most recent Derby winner to start in the Clark when he won at age 4. The Clark, which honors track founder M. Lewis Clark, was run as a handicap through 2018. Allowance conditions now govern the race, with older horses carrying 125 pounds, three more than Rich Strike and the other 3-year-old entered, Trademark (post 2, Martin Garcia). The Clark always attracts the largest crowd of the Churchill fall meet in non-Breeders’ Cup years. Mild weather is in store for Friday with highs in the mid-50s. The Grade 2 Mrs. Revere (race 9) is the secondary feature on a card that also includes two allowances (races 2 and 10). Saturday brings another Stars of Tomorrow card featuring the Grade 2 Kentucky Jockey Club and Grade 2 Golden Rod on an all-2-year-old program. Sunday closes the 19-day meet with the Grade 3 Commonwealth Turf. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.