Rich Strike attempts comeback in Saratoga

When Rich Strike opens the gallop on the training track in Oklahoma, the five-year-old stallion can hardly wait to show off in Saratoga.

“He looked good,” said Bill Mott, Rich Strike’s trainer. “He changed leads well. He looked like he was moving very well, and he had to. He got a little nervous.”

He is desperate to return to the form that won him the Kentucky Derby two years ago at 80-1 odds, the second biggest upset of all time.

But the road after that was difficult. Rich Strike finished fourth in the Travers Stakes and the Breeders’ Cup Classic later that year. And then, in May 2023, he finished fifth in the Alysheba Stakes at Churchill Downs, his final race.

“It’s pretty hard to top a Kentucky Derby, so I’m hoping we can get him back racing and get him back as good as we can,” Mott said.

Due to leg problems, the thoroughbred was unable to race for most of his four-year-old season. His next chapter was retirement and a possible career as a stud. Until his owner Rick Dawson decided to give racing another chance and hired Mott for his comeback.

“I think he’ll be able to compete with the top horses,” Mott said. “And it’s just a question of whether we can get him back to that point.”

After a long break at Margaux Farm in Kentucky, Rich Strike is slowly getting back into his normal training schedule at Saratoga. Mott said he is making better progress than expected.

“Between these breezes he will jog and gallop and then do some speed work once a week,” he said.

If the colt continues to make such good progress, Mott says Rich Strike could be ready to race by the end of the summer meet, but only time will tell what lies ahead in his next chapter.

“Look, that’s two months from now, and I think that would be a lot to ask,” Mott said. “But I think by the end of the meeting, which is the end of August, we should have a pretty good idea of ​​where we stand with him.”