All These Videos Of Rich Strike's Run And Stories About His Trainer Makes The Kentucky Derby Win Even More Improbable

Two days later and I'm still in shock. We're seeing the Rich Strike victory tour with his trainer, Eric Reed, going on GMA and stories everywhere. I can't believe the run Rich Strike had. I missed the overhead view somehow until today, not sure how, just missed it. It's even crazier watching him navigate the rail and make his move. In fact I'd say it makes no sense. This is a horse that had no right winning. You had the two favorites battling it out up top before Rich Strike made his move and blew them away. You don't see that from this sort of horse, not in this race. 

Speaking of improbable, this story has been going around about his trainer (h/t Courier Journal): 

A Lexington-based trainer, Reed entered the Derby with just one graded stakes win in his career.

The win came six years after a devastating fire caused by lightning killed 23 horses at his Mercury Equine Center in Lexington. Shortly after learning Rich Strike would make the 20-horse Derby field after a Friday scratch from Ethereal Road, Reed told reporters he was uncertain if he would ever train again after the fire.

Only 13 animals made it out of the fire alive.

A devastating fire that killed a good portion of his horses almost ended his career. Instead he stuck with it and took a horse that wasn't even in the field for the Derby two days prior to the race ends up winning it. Again, this is the biggest race in America. This is the race that everyone knows. I'm pretty sure our security guard is still the only one with a winning ticket. 

I know it's a couple days late but I still wanted to talk about it. It's easy to get caught up in the moment when the race ends and I know I did. But looking back on it, it's still such an improbable win. The overhead view shows how wild the run was late there too. Personally I even love the video of the announcer's booth. You can see Travis Stone even get thrown off when Rich Strike makes his move. That's the telling point for me. He goes from mentioning Simplified on the outside to realizing Rich Strike is here. Dude is as good as his job as anyone and even he's caught off. 

80-1 man. What a race. 

PS: Decent way to celebrate