Rich Strike Digs Up Vivid Derby Memories

As has been their custom for the past decade or so, Mark Allen and Leonard "Doc" Blach gathered with friends and family on the afternoon of May 7 at Blach's home in Roswell, N.M., to watch the 2022 version of the race their horse won in 2009, much to the surprise of the known Thoroughbred world. Back then, the Kentucky Derby (G1) was presented by Yum! Brands. This year it was presented by Woodford Reserve. The roses did not change. Neither did the karma that swelled again in the Blach house when Rich Strike, the last horse allowed in the field, was the first horse past the finish line with an 80-1 flourish that had the sport reeling anew with its diabolical unpredictability. "It was a real flash back to years of yore," said the courtly Blach, 88, who retired from his veterinary practice in New Mexico four years ago. "I can assure those people that their lives will change in many ways, and they'll be remembered for a long time to come." The people to which Blach referred include Eric Reed, the trainer of Rich Strike, and Richard Dawson, who acquired the son of Keen Ice out of a $30,000 maiden claiming race at Churchill Downs in September. Along with their jockey, veteran Sonny Leon, they have found themselves latched firmly to the tail of a publicity tiger that has no real end in sight, as long as Rich Strike continues to breathe the same fire he displayed at Churchill Downs in catching Epicenter and Zandon in the final yards of 1 1/4-mile classic. "What a nice group of people they seem to be," said Allen, who watched Mine That Bird win his Derby by 6 3/4 lengths at 50-1. "They handled it a little better than I did. I was just flat stunned." In fairness, Reed did get pretty wobbly in the Churchill Downs paddock after watching his colt make history. He rebounded quickly enough, however, and was soon at the middle of a roiling pack that headed through the grandstand tunnel bound for a winner's circle ceremony that was only the stuff of dreams. As Reed pushed ahead, he could be seen at one point to look around and say, "Where's my dad?" He found him, along with all the praise deserved for the five days Rich Strike spent in limbo Derby on the also-eligible list before a last-minute scratch put him in post position 20, while wearing saddlecloth 21. The color, for trivia fans to remember, was light purple with royal blue numerals. "You've got to give that trainer all the credit in the world for keeping his horse on track to run in that race," Allen said. "That's a big deal, not knowing if you're going to run or not and still training like you are." Rich Strike did not simply come into the Derby under the radar. All the radar had been turned off by the time he was officially a part of the field, just as Mine That Bird tiptoed through a side door by van from Sunland Park in the waning days before the 2009 race. Back then, his earnings in graded Canadian stakes were enough to give Allen and Blach the option when a last-minute slot became available. "I hung up on the guy when he called," Allen said, referring to the notification he received from the Churchill Downs racing office. "When he called again, I told him to quit messing with me. Our horse in the Derby? Hell, we were looking at a race in Texas." Whether or not there was another race in mind for Rich Strike if Ethereal Road had not scratched is beside the point. The red colt was clearly primed and ready for the race of his young life, despite the odds, which place him securely behind the 1913 winner Donerail when it comes to pari-mutuel Derby surprises. Donerail is still the champ, though, with his payoff of $198.90 on a $2 ticket after the dust had cleared more than a century ago. There are footnotes galore. Donerail's sire was Magee, who is better known as the sire of Hall of Famer Exterminator. His name came from a relaxed spelling of a town in County Cork, Ireland, called Doneraile, or Dunerayl, in its historical version. His jockey was Roscoe Tarleton Goose, a Kentucky native whose German family name was Ganz. Two weeks after the Derby, Carl Ganz, Roscoe's brother, won the Kentucky Oaks aboard Cream, who, like Donerail, was out of a mare by Hanover, a son of 1881 Derby winner Hindoo. Carl Ganz was killed 2 1/2 years later in a racing accident at Latonia. Roscoe Goose retired to a career as a trainer, bloodstock agent, and noteworthy advocate for jockey safety. Through the first 38 versions of the Derby, bets were taken in a variety of ways to accommodate local gambling laws. There were the bookies, of course, and workarounds known as auctions, as well as experiments with the pari-mutuel system imported from France. Of those first 38, the biggest surprise was Apollo, who won the 1882 Derby at odds of about 32-1 on a minimum bet of a pricey $5. For the 39th running in 1913, Churchill Downs general manager Matt Winn, ever the promoter, succeeded in lowering the minimum to $2. There were eight in the race, headed by favored Ten Point. He finished second, beaten half a length by Donerail, while Gowell, at 87-1, ran third. Lord Marshall, at 183-1, was sixth, beaten about 7 1/2 lengths. Until 2001, Churchill Downs offered only 12 betting interests in a given race. Prior to that, overflow Derby fields were burdened with "mutuel fields," determined by the linemaker's lumping together a group of entries deemed the most unattractive, at least on paper. It is impossible to know what their individual odds might have been, which is too bad, because three horses from the mutuel field ended up wearing the roses. The first was Flying Ebony, in 1925, and then Count Turf, who cleared the field by four lengths in 1951. It's doubtful that Flying Ebony would have rivaled Donerail in the price department, being ridden in the Derby by national champion and 1923 Derby winner Earl Sande. As for Count Turf, he was the son and grandson of Derby winners and ridden by 1944 Derby winner Conn McCreary. But his decent 2-year-old form had soured, so on his own Count Turf might have gone off in the Rich Strike neighborhood. The third Derby winner from the mutuel field was Canonero II, whose closing kick in 1971 dismissed hotshots Jim French, Eastern Fleet and Unconscious with ridiculous ease. Canonero came equipped with an odd couple of 2-year-old running lines from Del Mar and the rest from obscure Venezuela. He was owned, trained and ridden by Venezuelans completely unfamiliar to U.S. horseplayers. Canonero might have been any number as an uncoupled interest—99-1 on the board would not have been a surprise—and the linemaker could not have been criticized for putting him in the field. The other five were the last five to finish. Sonny Leon gives Rich Strike a Venezuelan connection to the shocking Canonero, but in the end Mine That Bird is the obvious soul brother in the scenario. The son of Birdstone was a Canadian champion as a 2-year-old. Rich Strike was raised in the cradle of legendary Calumet Farm. Both broke their maidens for claiming tags and both ended up in the hands of people far from the typical Triple Crown spotlight. Mine That Bird followed his Derby miracle by treating his people to a close second to Rachel Alexandra in the Preakness Stakes (G1) and a game third to Summer Bird in the Belmont Stakes (G1). The same path awaits the Rich Strike clan. "Believe me, it stays with you forever," Allen said. "But for something like that to happen, I think it takes the work of something divine. Something reaches down and touches you. I'm so happy these folks had the same thing happen to them, just so someone else knows how it feels."