Rich Strike trainer Reed blames himself for sixth-place finish

ELMONT, N.Y. - There was no fairytale ending for Rich Strike this time.

Five weeks after Rich Strike won the Kentucky Derby as the 80-1 longest shot on the board, the underdog colt finished a non-threatening sixth in Saturday’s Belmont Stakes. Last of eight early on under Sonny Leon, Rich Strike finished ahead of just two horses while 13 1/4 lengths behind Mo Donegal.

Eric Reed, the trainer of Rich Strike, took the blame for the loss, saying he instructed jockey Sonny Leon to keep the horse off the rail and out of potential trouble. Rich Strike did not seem comfortable in that position.

“I guess I made a mistake because I should have let Sonny put him on the fence today,” Reed said. “You watch the replay, his head is cocked to the right, he’s wanting down there and we’re trying to keep him in the middle of the track and he’s just not aggressive. I’m going to have to practice getting him going around horses because he can’t run on the rail every time.”

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In the Kentucky Derby, Leon was praised for his ground-saving ride, a trip he was able to work out from the 20 post, having drawn into that race just the day before.

Reed said that coming into the Belmont, Rich Strike would no longer be able to sneak up anyone. He feared that Leon wouldn’t be able to get through along the inside.

“We didn’t want to get down there and get trapped, we knew they’d be watching for him to make that big run,” Reed said. “We didn’t anticipate him [acting] like that in the three or four path, Now we know.”

The pace was obviously much different in the Belmont than it was in the Kentucky Derby. The early fractions Saturday were 23.99, 48.49 and 1:13.23 for the first six furlongs. In the Kentucky Derby, the early fractions were 21.78, 45.36 and 1:10.34.

Reed knew the pace would be slower and he was content with Rich Strike being only six or so lengths off the leaders as opposed to the 17 lengths he was off the pace in the Derby.

“I was really happy where he was on the turn, I thought he was more than close enough to win the race,” Reed said. “He wasn’t trying to win, he was trying to get to the inside and there’s a big difference when they’re not trying to win.”

Leon said Rich Strike “was lugging in the whole way. He wanted to go to the rail. … I think he wasn’t too comfortable on this track.”

Having won the Derby, skipped the Preakness and disappointed in the Belmont, Rich Strike will likely have to prove himself again during the summer races in the 3-year-old division. Reed said Rich Strike would return to the Mercury Equine Training Center in Lexington, Ky., on Monday and be trained up to the $1 million Travers on Aug. 27 at Saratoga.

“You have to prove yourself every race so if he had won today he would have had to prove himself next race, too,” Reed said. “I know what we did wrong today and we’ll work on that between now and the Travers.”