LOUISVILLE, Ky. — In the aftermath of the running of the 148th Kentucky Derby, it’s difficult to describe it any way other than the greatest upset in the history of North America’s most celebrated horse race.
As late as sunrise on Friday morning, Rich Strike, the horse destined to win the race, wasn’t even in it.
Based on the qualifying system employed by Churchill Downs to assemble the Derby field, Rich Strike was number 21 of 20. He was an “also-eligible.” Only the scratch of one of the 20 entrants already confirmed as starters could provide him a spot in the starting gate.
Final scratch time for the Derby, for causes other than illness or injury, was 9 a.m. on the morning before the race. At 8:59, the Downs’ Racing Office received a call from trainer D. Wayne Lukas for the express purpose of scratching Ethereal Road. The door was open.
Given the opportunity, owner Richard Dawson and trainer Eric Reed did not hesitate. They walked through it. Rich Strike would run.
The proper announcements were made, but hardly a stir resulted. After all, what chance could this horse possibly have against a field comprised of the best of this crop of 3-year-old thoroughbreds.
A brief examination of Rich Strike’s past-performances could only solidify the doubts. From seven starts, Rich Strike had only one win – and that came in a claiming race with a $30,000 tag contested at, of all places, Churchill Downs.
At the time, Dawson and Reed were in the market for a horse or two. So they entered a claim for not only Rich Strike, but another entrant in the race. Of the two candidates, there was no competition for the colt that would visit the presentation stand after the Kentucky Derby, but there were several claims for the other. The shake favored someone else and Dawson and Reed wound up with only Rich Strike.
Five starts followed the claim, four of them in relatively minor stakes races, and the best Rich Strike could accomplish was three third-place finishes. On Derby day, he was eligible for conditioned races restricted to non-winners of two.
And in the Kentucky Derby, he was the longest shot in the race at 80.80 to 1.
But miracles happen and Rich Strike, far back in the early stages of the race, weaved his way through 17 of his 19 competitors and was along in time to seize the lead in the shadow of the wire and win going away by three-quarters of a length.
Donerail, winner of the Run for the Roses in 1913, remains the Derby’s longest shot at 91 to 1, but he had won several races and had actually placed in several stakes races as a 2-year-old. He had some accomplishments.
Until 7:02 p.m. Saturday, Rich Strike had essentially none. But now, Dawson and Reed are talking about the Preakness.
What lies ahead is far from certain, but what is now in the books is that Rich Strike and his connections engineered the most astonishing result in the history of the Kentucky Derby.
