Rich Strike has first official workout for Mott
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SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Rich Strike, the 2022 Kentucky Derby winner, had his first official work for trainer Bill Mott on Tuesday going three furlongs in 39.60 seconds over the Oklahoma training track.
Mott said it wasn’t necessarily designed to be Rich Strike’s first publicly timed work.
“We let him gallop-out a little bit, we made time, so I said put it in,” Mott said. “He’s going great.”
Rich Strike, who has not raced running fifth in the Alysheba Stakes at Churchill Downs in May 2023, had been dealing with an upper suspensory injury for which he was treated with stem-cell therapy.
“He had been in training for a long time, he didn’t just start training,” Mott said. “We started training him three weeks ago, but he had been jogging and been under tack for a long time.”
Mott said if all went well, Rich Strike could be ready to run by the end of the meet. Rich Strike is still eligible for a second-level allowance race.
Meanwhile, Mott confirmed Wednesday that Arthur’s Ride, a 12 3/4-length winner of a second-level allowance at Saratoga on June 7, will start in the Grade 1, $1 million Whitney Stakes here on Aug. 3.
Mott said he was discussing the idea of running in the Whitney with the colt’s owner Karl Glassman, who Mott said told him, “ ‘You can hit ’em if you don’t swing.’ I liked that.”
Mott said he has not yet picked a next-race out for War Like Goddess, who won Sunday’s Grade 3 Robert G. Dick Memorial at Delaware Park by one length. It was the 7-year-old mare’s 10th stakes victory and 12th win from 20 starts overall.
With the Breeders’ Cup being held at Del Mar this year, the $2 million Filly and Mare Turf will be held at 1 3/8 miles, a distance at which Mott prefers for War Like Goddess. In 2021, when the BC was last held at Del Mar, War Like Goddess finished third in the Filly and Mare Turf, beaten a half-length by Loves Only You.
In the last two years, the race was run at 1 1/4 miles and 1 3/16 miles when held at Santa Anita and Keeneland, respectively. Thus, War Like Goddess faced males in the Breeders’ Cup Turf.
Mott’s options for War Like Goddess at Saratoga are the Grade 2 $250,000 Glens Falls at 1 1/2 miles on Aug. 1 or the Grade 2, $500,000 Flower Bowl at 1 3/8 miles on Aug. 31.
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