https://nypost.com/2022/05/08/kentucky-derby-rich-strike-trainer-nearly-quit-after-fire/
Eric Reed nearly lost everything six years before the horse he trains pulled off one of the biggest upsets in Kentucky Derby history Saturday at Churchill Downs.
Reed, the trainer of 80-1 longshot winner Rich Strike, admitted that he nearly walked away from horse racing after 23 horses were killed by a fire at his Mercury Equine Center in Lexington in 2016. Only 13 horses survived the fire, which reportedly was caused by lightning.
“When we drove up on that that night, I told my wife, I said, ‘We’ve probably lost everything,’” Reed said, according to the Louisville Courier-Journal. “By the grace of God, the wind was blowing in a direction that kept it from getting to the other two barns.
“The next morning when we saw the devastation, because this happened in the middle of the night, I just thought of all the years and all the stuff we had done to get this beautiful farm and have this happen, that something might be telling me it’s the end of the line.”
metmike: Anybody that has driven in the Lexington KY area before knows about the MEGA million dollar, beautiful horse farms surrounding the area for many miles.
After disqualifications and a pandemic and thoroughbred racing’s long discussion about betamethasone, the 2022 Kentucky Derby was billed as a “return to normal.”
There was nothing normal about this.
Rich Strike, who was on the also-eligible list until Friday morning, made a stunning move along the rail to win the Kentucky Derby on a cool and cloudy first Saturday in May in front of 147,294 fans at Churchill Downs.
At 80-1 odds, Rich Strike scored the second-biggest upset in Kentucky Derby history and paid $163.60 on a $2 win bet. Donerail, at 91-1 odds in 1913, is the longest shot to win the race.
“It’s a horse race, and anybody can win,” trainer Eric Reed said. “And the tote board doesn’t mean a thing.”
“We had a difficult post, but I know the horse,” said Leon, who won a graded stake for the first time in his career. “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 wanted, and then the rail opened up. I wasn’t nervous. I was excited.”
This is Lexington KY!
Anybody that has driven in the Lexington KY area before knows about the MEGA million dollar, beautiful horse farms surrounding the area for many miles.
This is the one to watch which is so amazing.
When the jockey was saying that he got a clear lane in the original interview, it
shows exactly what he meant and for us that don't follow horse racing, after
watching the race......a new appreciation.
It's often one huge, horse to horse mob in front of you and even if your
horse is the fastest, if they get stuck behind that, they would have to go all the way around all the other horses on the outside.
That is usually bad strategy because they are running in a circle, the circumference is much greater, the farther out you go......so you need to
stay as close to the inside as possible.....which is exactly why they are all bunched together close to the inside of the circle.
So the jockey was brilliant in finding the inside lanes and we can see the most critical point, towards the end, where there is a tiny opening between the horses in front of him and he shoots thru the gap at incredible speed and continues until the end, passing the other horses.
I'll bet the replay of this race is close to the all time record for replays of the Derby and its only been 2 days since the event!
The overhead view makes Rich Strike's comeback for the upset
https://mobile.twitter.com/NBCSports/status/1523104042427334660