LEXINGTON, Ky. (WDRB) - There is a euphoric feeling that can't be denied at Mercury Equine Center this week.
The farm off of Russell Cave Road just north of Lexington is where Eric Reed trains Rich Strike, the 148th winner of the Kentucky Derby.
"I think back on it and it just gives me chills," Reed said as he watched other horses train on the track Wednesday morning.
The feelings of Eric Reed and his team are there for good reason. Rich Strike was one minute away from never being in the Derby. Jockey Sonny Leon had never ridden in the Derby. Reed had never had a horse run in the Derby.
A visit with Trainer Eric Reed and Kentucky Derby winner Rich Strike at Mercury Equine
Kentucky Derby 148 winner Rich Strike (Image by: Dalton Godbey)
Kentucky Derby 148 winner Rich Strike (Image by: Dalton Godbey)
WDRB's Dalton Godbey with Kentucky Derby winner Rich Strike
WDRB's Photojournalist Dominik Fuhrmann with Kentucky Derby 148 winner Rich Strike
Stables at Mercury Equine, the farm where Derby 148 winner Rich Strike is trained.
Horse trained by Eric Reed works out at Mercury Equine's track
Eric Reed, the trainer of Kentucky Derby 148 winner Rich Strike
Eric Reed, the trainer of Kentucky Derby 148 winner Rich Strike
Eric Reed, the trainer of Kentucky Derby 148 winner Rich Strike
Eric Reed, the trainer of Kentucky Derby 148 winner Rich Strike
Track at Mercury Equine, the farm where Derby 148 winner Rich Strike is trained
Track at Mercury Equine, the farm where Derby 148 winner Rich Strike is trained
This is a story of a team with capability desperate for an opportunity.
"What we saw, we knew," Reed said. "The rest of the world just didn't know."
That opportunity, to even make it to the starting line, was hard to come by. Especially after a barn fire in 2016 that killed 23 of Reed's horses.
"I told my family I was done," Reed recalled about nearly giving up horse training all together.
Reed, and his team, persevered.
"We've been not to the bottom, we've been below the bottom," he mentioned. "I'm not going to say it means more to us than anybody else, but I think we know the difference between how bad it can be and how good it can be probably more than anybody else."
Richie, as they call the Derby 148 winner, has a personality unlike any other Derby winners. It's lively. It's entertaining. It's contagious.
Reed calls him America's Horse. After all, the only thing they needed was a chance.
"It seems like for two minutes and two seconds, the world stopped thinking about COVID and war and politics and who hates who, and they smiled and they're like, 'Look at these guys from nowhere, and this little horse that didn't belong, and what he did," Reed said.
Rich Strike is still training and working out for the time being. Reed said the team will make a decision about running in the Preakness by Thursday.
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