Sonny Leon knows Rich Strike like nobody else
Sonny Leon was already riding high when he went postward in his first Kentucky Derby last month aboard longshot Rich Strike. The jockey, who was seeking his first graded stakes victory in the classic, was coming off a career-best season in 2021.
Leon, 32 and a native of Venezuela, began riding in the U.S. in 2015, and is now a perennial leading rider in Ohio. Last year, he won seven stakes races in the state, including the Best of Ohio Endurance on the state’s fall showcase program with Forewarned for the second straight year. He was the leading rider at Mahoning Valley – where he has won four consecutive meet titles – and second in the standings at Belterra Park, and quietly finished 11th in the nation by wins, with a career-best 226 victories.
Thirty-two of Leon’s wins last year came for Eric Reed, for whom he now rides first call. Last December, he partnered for the first time with a big chestnut colt in his second start off a claim for Reed and owner Rick Dawson. Leon has now been aboard Rich Strike for five straight races, and has been an integral part of his development.
“He’s ridden for me for two years. He’s my number one rider,” Reed said. “I owe [the Derby] to him. He helped teach this horse with me how to calm down and how to get aggressive when the time came.”
That work paid off in the Kentucky Derby, as Leon and Rich Strike proved a seamless team. They broke from post 20 in the massive field after drawing in off the also-eligible list the day before, and Leon quickly dropped in to save ground the first time under the twin spires. They were still 15th at the quarter pole, with plenty to do.
Coming up the inside, Leon adroitly worked Rich Strike through traffic, notably making a sharp maneuver around a tiring Messier in upper stretch to avoid having to check. Rich Strike powered by the top two betting interests Epicenter and Zandon in the final yards to win by three-quarters of a length and shock the world.
“You know, we had a difficult post, but I know the horse,” Leon said. “I didn’t know if he could win, but I had a good feeling with him. I had to wait until the stretch, and that’s what I did. I waited, and then the rail opened up. I wasn’t nervous, I was excited. Nobody knows my horse like I know my horse.”
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Before reuniting with his Derby winner in the Belmont Stakes, Leon, who has never ridden at Belmont Park, has two mounts there this week. He is named to ride the second race Friday, a maiden claimer going 1 1/16 miles on the inner turf, and the first race Saturday, an allowance at six furlongs on the dirt. The Belmont Stakes is twice as long as Saturday’s opener, making one complete circuit of the massive 1 1/2-mile dirt track.
The track configuration is often cited as a stumbling block for jockeys. But Leon had won just four races at Churchill Downs prior to this year’s Kentucky Derby – and that was his lone ride of the day after having competed at Belterra the day before.
“He’ll be watching many of the replays of previous Belmonts to see who did what and how it happened,” agent Jeff Perrin said. “And then he’ll be studying every race over the next week at Belmont Park to get ready.”