At 5:30 in the morning of Aug. 19, trainer Eric Reed was a bundle of nerves. As the sun began to rise, he was getting his big horse, Rich Strike , ready for his five-furlong work on the main track at Saratoga Race Course.
If his horse, the unlikely winner of the Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (G1) had a sparkling work, he just might be a factor in the Runhappy Travers (G1) at the Spa on Aug. 27.
Rich Strike, a son of Keen Ice , did more than Reed thought he would do on a warm summer morning.
"We're back in the game," Reed said after Rich Strike was timed in :59.82 for five furlongs. "I'm excited. I think we might have a shot."
With exercise rider Gabriel Lagunes in the saddle, Reed and his assistant Sid Scott watched the work from the clubhouse box seats. Both horsemen had their stopwatches on. Their watches did not match the clocker's times in the press box.
"I looked at my watch as he was coming down the stretch and I thought I must have messed up," Reed said. "I asked Sid what he got in the last quarter and he thought he messed up, too."
Rich Strike absolutely loved his time on the Saratoga track Friday morning. Reed said he told Lagunes he wanted him to go :49 or :50 seconds for the half-mile (he went in :46.38) and 1:02 for the five furlongs. Rich Strike had other ideas.
"I really was not certain how he would take to the track," Reed said. "Everyone had said how tiring the track was and I didn't want him to overdo it."
Lagunes said Rich Strike felt to him just like he did when he worked solidly at Churchill Downs before the Derby.
"He was fast," Lagunes, a regular jockey at Mountaineer Casino Racetrack & Resort in West Virginia, said. "I never had to ask him. Just perfect. He came off the track and he was jumping. He is happy. And I'm so happy. He worked very good."
Rich Strike, owned by Rick Dawson's RED TR-Racing, shocked the racing—and sports—world on Derby day when he won the Run for the Roses at odds of 80-1, the second longest price in the 148-year history of the race.
Following a sixth-place finish in the Belmont Stakes Presented by NYRA Bets (G1) in June, Reed gave Rich Strike 10 weeks off. And now, here he is at Saratoga. He likely won't be 80-1 in the Travers, but he won't be a favorite in a race that includes familiar foes such as Epicenter and Zandon and new faces like Preakness (G1) winner Early Voting and Dwyer Stakes (G3) winner Charge It .
"That was a monster work," Reed said. "If that work shows how much he likes this track, it's going to be a fun week."
