LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) – Eric Reed was all smiles as he watched the Kentucky Derby, yet again at Churchill Downs on Saturday. And once again, Rich Strike darted to the inside and away with a still-miraculous 81-1 shocker in the nation’s most famous horse race.
Life hasn’t been the same since.
Movie executives have been calling. The media is still circling. And Churchill Downs is still buzzing about the remarkable story of this year’s Derby winner and his connections, who were honored on Saturday with the presentation of the Kentucky Derby trophies to Reed, owner Rick Dawson, jockey Sonny Leon and Calumet Farm assistant stallion manager Todd Fischer.
Holding the hardware in his hands, Reed said the story still is hard to believe.
“I’m just tingling right now,” Reed said, looking down at the trophy. “I kind of got teary-eyed, because he won again. I’ve been waiting to hold this trophy. Believe me, I’ve been waiting to hold it. But I’ll tell you what I’m going to do . . . “
And at those words, he really was teary-eyed. Reed turned to his dad, Herbert Reed, who hitchhiked away from his father’s home in Powell County, Ky., at age 9, caught a ride on a cattle truck, showed up at an aunt’s house in Versailles, went to work with horses, and somehow, made it here, where kings and sheikhs have tried to get, but failed.
Kentucky Derby-winning jockey Sonny Leon, trainer Eric Reed and owner Rich Dawson, hold up the trophies presented for Rich Strike's 2022 Derby victory.
These two, who have toiled from the bottom up in the sport, who endured the heartbreak of Eric losing an entire barn and 22 horses to a fire, who never dreamed of even reaching the Kentucky Derby and who wouldn’t have without a late defection just before the deadline, laughed and cried, once again, at the unlikely reality in their hands.
“I want my dad to hold this,” Reed said, and handed over the hardware.
Herbert Reed inhaled deeply as he wrapped his hands around it.
“What a thrill,” he said. “I never dreamed that I’d live long enough to see this. We’ve been to hell and back, but we’re here.”
And now the father teared up, and the son broke in.
“Never give up,” Eric Reed said. “. . . We’re living proof. Everybody, when times get hard, just remember when it’s hard or bad or tough, don’t ever give up. Dreams come true.”
If it sounds like Hollywood, it might be. Reed said movie executives have called from everywhere, interested in the story. Who should play him?
“Oh gosh, I don't care who plays me,” Reed said. “But they need to get somebody like me. I kind of joke but, maybe the guy that was in Ricky Bobby, the one that was the other driver, not Will Ferrell. He'd probably be a good fellow to play me. Sense of humor, and a good guy.”
Kentucky Derby-winning trainer Eric Reed holds up his trophy.
Rich Strike, amid all the excitement, was at home in the barn. He’s taking it easy after finishing sixth in the 8-horse Belmont Stakes field. Reed blamed himself for tinkering with the colt’s running style before the 1 1/2-mile test, a mistake he said he won’t make again.
He said Rich Strike will race next in the Travers Stakes at Saratoga on August 27.
“He's doing great,” Reed said of the Derby winner. “He wants to do more than I'm letting him. He's not understanding why he's not breezed, dragging the rider around the track and he's supposed to be going easy and get some rest and R and R. But he'll work next Saturday and then we'll start gearing him back up for the Travers. I won't change his running style anymore. Once is enough.”
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