Rich Strike (USA)
April 25, 2019 – Living
Keen Ice (USA) x Gold Strike (CAN), by Smart Strike (CAN)
Family 9
April 25, 2019 – Living
Keen Ice (USA) x Gold Strike (CAN), by Smart Strike (CAN)
Family 9
One of the most enigmatic Kentucky Derby winners on record, Rich Strike won one of the most enigmatic Kentucky Derbies of all time, in which a pace meltdown took place on the front end and none of the principal contenders could be said to have run an impressive race. Scoring by three-quarters of a length over eventual champion 3-year-old male Epicenter, Rich Strike never won again. He was treated for a ligament injury in his left foreleg after he finished fifth in his first (and, as it turned out, only) start as a 4-year-old. Not long afterward, his trainer quit following a dispute with the owner over film rights for an Amazon Prime project documenting the trainer’s career, and the horse was entered in the 2023 Keeneland Horses of Racing Age sale as a stallion prospect but was withdrawn before the sale took place. Eventually, Rich Strike was turned over to Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott at 5 in hopes that the horse could return to racing. Those hopes were disappointed as Rich Strike reinjured himself in August 2024, suffering a tear on a different portion of the previously damaged ligament. After it became obvious that Rich Strike would require prolonged rehabilitation to have any chance of returning to racing, he was retired and is standing his first season in Pennsylvania.
Race record
14 starts, 2 wins, 1 second, 3 thirds, US$2,526,809
2022:
Assessments
Rated at 120 pounds in both the Mile and Intermediate categories on the Longines World’s Best Racehorse Rankings, 20 pounds below overall highweight Flightline (the American Horse of the Year) and 5 pounds below the top 3-year-old on dirt, Epicenter.
As an individual
A well-balanced chestnut horse with a strong, straight hind leg, Rich Strike gained notoriety for repeatedly biting the outrider and the outrider’s pony as he was being taken back to the winner’s circle following the Kentucky Derby. His groom, Jerry Dixon Jr., described him as a “pushy” horse but one that responded well to being talked to and shown attention. Rich Strike ran reasonably well on Turfway Park’s synthetic surface but ran poorly in his one race on turf, a one-mile maiden special weight at Ellis Park.
As a stallion
Rich Strike is standing his first season in 2025.
Connections
Foaled in Kentucky, Rich Strike was bred by Calumet Farm and was originally trained by Joe Sharp. After being claimed for US$30,000 out of his second race, Rich Strike was owned by Rich Dawson's RED TR-Racing and was trained by Eric Reed. The colt was ridden to his Kentucky Derby victory by Sonny Leon. During the summer of 2024, Rich Strike was trained by Bill Mott with the intent of getting him back to the races following a ligament tear, but the colt reinjured himself and was retired without starting again. Rich Strike was eventually sold to a partnership headed by Rich Miller to stand at Miller's Mountain Springs Farm in Pennsylvania, where he was to enter stud in 2025. On March 4, it was announced in The Blood-Horse that he had been taken over by a new ownership group and would be moved to Irish Hill & Dutchess Views Stallions in New York.
Pedigree notes
Sired by 2015 Travers Stakes (USA-G1) winner Keen Ice (by Curlin), Rich Strike is inbred 3x2 to two-time American champion sire Smart Strike, winner of the 1996 Philip H. Iselin Handicap (USA-G1). He is also 5x4x5 to 1963 American co-champion 2-year-old male Raise a Native and to the good racemare and important broodmare Gold Digger through the full brothers Mr. Prospector (sire of Smart Strike) and Search for Gold. He is a half brother to 2013 Natalma Stakes (CAN-G2) winner Llanarmon (by Sky Mesa) and to Lode Lady (by Posse), dam of multiple Grade 3 winner Neecie Marie (by Cross Traffic). Rich Strike is also a half brother to Stoney Miss (by Birdstone), dam of multiple restricted stakes winner No More Options (by Frac Daddy).
Gold Strike, the dam of Rich Strike and his siblings, was the Canadian champion 3-year-old filly of 2005. She is one of only three foals, all winners, produced from the unraced Dixieland Brass mare Brassy Gold, whose stakes-placed half sister, Miss Regal Classic (by Regal Classic), is the dam of multiple restricted stakes winner Classic Verse (by Opening Verse). Brassy Gold, in turn, is out of stakes winner Panning for Gold (by Search for Gold), a half sister to stakes winner Be Gallant (by Gallant Romeo).
Panning for Gold’s dam, Apple Pan Dowdy (by the stakes-winning Bold Ruler horse Bold Commander), was unplaced in all three of her races but is a half sister to La Belle Alliance (by Staunchness), dam of juvenile stakes winner T. V. Alliance (by T. V. Commercial). The next dam in Rich Strike’s tail-female line, Apple Bomb (by the good stakes winner Cosmic Bomb, by Pharamond II), is a half sister to 1962 Quaker City Handicap winner Try Cash (by Johns Joy) and is out of Pulcinella, a daughter of Blenheim II.
Books and media
NBC Sports’ footage of Rich Strike’s Kentucky Derby win can be accessed at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wIYD42DV3Ro.
Fun facts
Last updated: March 4, 2025
Race record
14 starts, 2 wins, 1 second, 3 thirds, US$2,526,809
2022:
- Won Kentucky Derby presented by Woodford Reserve (USA-G1, 10FD, Churchill Downs)
- 2nd Lukas Classic Stakes (USA-G2, 9FD, Churchill Downs)
- 3rd Jeff Ruby Steaks Stakes (USA-G3, 9FA, Turfway Park)
- 3rd Leonatus Stakes (USA, 8FA, Turfway Park)
Assessments
Rated at 120 pounds in both the Mile and Intermediate categories on the Longines World’s Best Racehorse Rankings, 20 pounds below overall highweight Flightline (the American Horse of the Year) and 5 pounds below the top 3-year-old on dirt, Epicenter.
As an individual
A well-balanced chestnut horse with a strong, straight hind leg, Rich Strike gained notoriety for repeatedly biting the outrider and the outrider’s pony as he was being taken back to the winner’s circle following the Kentucky Derby. His groom, Jerry Dixon Jr., described him as a “pushy” horse but one that responded well to being talked to and shown attention. Rich Strike ran reasonably well on Turfway Park’s synthetic surface but ran poorly in his one race on turf, a one-mile maiden special weight at Ellis Park.
As a stallion
Rich Strike is standing his first season in 2025.
Connections
Foaled in Kentucky, Rich Strike was bred by Calumet Farm and was originally trained by Joe Sharp. After being claimed for US$30,000 out of his second race, Rich Strike was owned by Rich Dawson's RED TR-Racing and was trained by Eric Reed. The colt was ridden to his Kentucky Derby victory by Sonny Leon. During the summer of 2024, Rich Strike was trained by Bill Mott with the intent of getting him back to the races following a ligament tear, but the colt reinjured himself and was retired without starting again. Rich Strike was eventually sold to a partnership headed by Rich Miller to stand at Miller's Mountain Springs Farm in Pennsylvania, where he was to enter stud in 2025. On March 4, it was announced in The Blood-Horse that he had been taken over by a new ownership group and would be moved to Irish Hill & Dutchess Views Stallions in New York.
Pedigree notes
Sired by 2015 Travers Stakes (USA-G1) winner Keen Ice (by Curlin), Rich Strike is inbred 3x2 to two-time American champion sire Smart Strike, winner of the 1996 Philip H. Iselin Handicap (USA-G1). He is also 5x4x5 to 1963 American co-champion 2-year-old male Raise a Native and to the good racemare and important broodmare Gold Digger through the full brothers Mr. Prospector (sire of Smart Strike) and Search for Gold. He is a half brother to 2013 Natalma Stakes (CAN-G2) winner Llanarmon (by Sky Mesa) and to Lode Lady (by Posse), dam of multiple Grade 3 winner Neecie Marie (by Cross Traffic). Rich Strike is also a half brother to Stoney Miss (by Birdstone), dam of multiple restricted stakes winner No More Options (by Frac Daddy).
Gold Strike, the dam of Rich Strike and his siblings, was the Canadian champion 3-year-old filly of 2005. She is one of only three foals, all winners, produced from the unraced Dixieland Brass mare Brassy Gold, whose stakes-placed half sister, Miss Regal Classic (by Regal Classic), is the dam of multiple restricted stakes winner Classic Verse (by Opening Verse). Brassy Gold, in turn, is out of stakes winner Panning for Gold (by Search for Gold), a half sister to stakes winner Be Gallant (by Gallant Romeo).
Panning for Gold’s dam, Apple Pan Dowdy (by the stakes-winning Bold Ruler horse Bold Commander), was unplaced in all three of her races but is a half sister to La Belle Alliance (by Staunchness), dam of juvenile stakes winner T. V. Alliance (by T. V. Commercial). The next dam in Rich Strike’s tail-female line, Apple Bomb (by the good stakes winner Cosmic Bomb, by Pharamond II), is a half sister to 1962 Quaker City Handicap winner Try Cash (by Johns Joy) and is out of Pulcinella, a daughter of Blenheim II.
Books and media
NBC Sports’ footage of Rich Strike’s Kentucky Derby win can be accessed at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wIYD42DV3Ro.
Fun facts
- Rich Strike was the tenth Kentucky Derby winner bred by Calumet Farm and the first to be bred by the legendary farm since it passed from the ownership of members of the family of Warren Wright. Calumet lost ownership of the colt following his second start, when he was claimed for US$30,000 by Dawson and Reed after winning the one-mile event at Churchill Downs by 17¼ lengths. It was Rich Strike’s only win other than the Derby although he was beaten only a head in the 2022 Lukas Classic (won by 2021 Pennsylvania Derby, USA-G1, winner Hot Rod Charlie, then a 4-year-old)..
- Rich Strike drew into the Kentucky Derby off the also-eligible list after Ethereal Road dropped out of the field, just minutes before the 9 a.m. Friday scratch deadline. Had Ethereal Road continued to the Derby post, he would have been trainer D. Wayne Lukas’s 50th Derby starter, but the veteran trainer felt that the colt was “flat” in his final pre-Derby work and that withdrawing Ethereal Road was in the colt’s best interest. Two weeks later, Ethereal Road won the Sir Barton Stakes at Pimlico by 4¾ lengths.
- Track announcer Larry Collmus was so focused on the developing duel between Epicenter and Zandon in the Derby homestretch that he missed Rich Strike’s closing charge on the inside until the final strides, when Rich Strike had already taken the lead.
- At odds of 80.80-to-1, Rich Strike was the longest shot to win the Kentucky Derby since Donerail, who scored at a still-record 91.45-to-1 in 1913.
- Only one other colt had won the Kentucky Derby from post position 20, where Rich Strike started. That colt was 2008 winner Big Brown, who won by 4¾ lengths as the favorite.
- On Equibase speed figures, Rich Strike’s Kentucky Derby figure of 97 made him the lowest-performing Derby winner since the company began generating figures in 1992. Prior to Rich Strike’s win, the average Equibase figure awarded to a Derby winner was 111. Nonetheless, Rich Strike’s time of 2:02.61 was fairly average for a Kentucky Derby run on a fast track.
- After experiencing Rich Strike’s Derby win, Jerry Dixon Jr.—a fourth-generation horseman—made the decision to become a trainer. On September 27, 2024, he won his first race as a conditioner with the 4-year-old colt Moonstrike, who led all the way to win an optional claimer over a mile and 70 yards at Belterra Park.
- Rich Strike appears to be the most closely inbred horse ever to win the Kentucky Derby, nosing out 2008 winner Big Brown (3x3 to Northern Dancer, 3x4 to Damascus, and 4x5 to Round Table), 1914 winner Old Rosebud (3x3 to Alarm, 4x4 to Hermit). 1979 winner Spectacular Bid (3x3 to To Market, 4x4 to Blenheim II), 1959 winner Tomy Lee (3x3 to Hyperion, 4x4 to Swynford), 1958 winner Tim Tam (3x3 to Bull Dog, 5x5x5 to Spearmint), and 1928 winner Reigh Count (3x3 to St. Frusquin).
Last updated: March 4, 2025