Rich Strike turns in strong work between races; leaves for Belmont on Tuesday

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Rich Strike had his second and final workout between the Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes when breezing five furlongs in 59 seconds between races Monday at Churchill Downs.

Trainer Eric Reed watched the work from atop the five-furlong clocker’s stand on the Churchill backside. Rich Strike was ridden by regular exercise Gabriel Lagunes over a freshly harrowed track rated fast.

“He was real relaxed coming to the pole today,” Reed said afterward. “The track was faster than it normally is in the mornings, so we expected him to go a little fast. He was basically in a gallop all the way around.”

Rich Strike, owned by the RED-TR Racing of Rick Dawson, is scheduled to leave Churchill on a Sallee horse van Tuesday around 8:30 a.m. Eastern for Belmont Park in New York, where he’ll be one of the favorites for the June 11 Belmont Stakes. Reed said Rich Strike should arrive sometime before midnight following a trip that typically takes about 15 hours.

Reed is scheduled to arrive in New York around 7 p.m. Tuesday on a flight out of Cincinnati. He said he hopes to have Rich Strike out for an easy once-around jog Wednesday morning at Belmont, “assuming the horse takes the trip well. He gets too tough with two days off. We’ll gallop him each day into the race after that.”

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Held between races 5 and 6 on a nine-race card, the Memorial Day work was arranged by Churchill management so as to allow the public a first look at Rich Strike since he won the May 7 Derby at 80-1, the second-highest winning odds in the 148-year history of the race. Only Donerail in 1913 prevailed at higher odds (91-1).

Rich Strike worked at Churchill on May 21, two weeks after the Derby, when going a half-mile in 47.20 seconds. This work followed the May 21 work by nine days, and it will be 12 days from this work to the 1 1/2-mile Belmont. “He’s fit,” said Reed.

In this latest work, held amid 90-degree heat, Lagunes loped Rich Strike to the five-eighths pole, from where the Keen Ice colt went in splits of 11.80 and 23.20, according to Churchill clocker John Nichols. The six-furlong out time was 1:12, although the colt was still going strong past the three-quarter pole and, in fact, wasn’t pulled up by Lagunes until well beyond the half-mile pole a second time.

Reed reiterated his belief that skipping the Preakness, won May 21 by Early Voting at Pimlico, was the correct move.

“This was the right thing for him,” said Reed. “These 3 1/2 weeks, he’s just now coming back to earth. He’s like a five-week horse. It just takes him that long mentally to do things the proper way.”

Rich Strike was the fifth Derby winner to be withheld from the Preakness since Gato del Sol in 1982, but the first without the various extenuating circumstances that led Spend a Buck (1985), Grindstone (1996), Country House (2019), and Mandaloun (2021) to skip it.

Rich Strike, claimed by Dawson for $30,000 here last September, has won twice in eight starts. Sonny Leon, who rode the colt in his last five races, has the Belmont mount.

Rich Strike is one of at least 12 3-year-olds under consideration for the Belmont. In alphabetical order, the others are Barber Road, Brigadier General, Creative Minister, Ethereal Road, Golden Glider, Howling Time, Kuchar, Mo Donegal, Nest, Skippylongstocking, and We the People.