NEW YORK (AP) — Triple Crown veteran Todd Pletcher had simple advice Saturday for jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. before the Belmont Stakes.
“Be patient,” Pletcher said. “I think you have the best last quarter of any horse in the race.”
There are few things that are certain in horse racing, and this is one of them: Rich Strike isn’t going to surprise anybody in the Belmont Stakes on Saturday.
His days of anonymity are over. Such is how it works after winning the Kentucky Derby.
After so many things went right for Rich Strike to win the Kentucky Derby, he’ll likely need even more good fortune at the Belmont Stakes with so much stacked against him.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — When Rich Strike bolted into horse racing's spotlight in a little over two minutes with his upset Kentucky Derby victory, he shared the stage with his handler, who has long toiled in the shadows constantly tending to the champion colt.
NEW YORK (AP) — Kentucky Derby winner Rich Strike has arrived at Belmont Park for the final jewel of thoroughbred racing's Triple Crown.
The track announced Wednesday the long shot winner of the Derby arrived around 1 a.m.
Sarah Ramsey, who along with her husband Ken bred and raced multiple Breeders' Cup champions and won a leading 510 races at Churchill Downs, has died. She was 83.
She died Sunday at her home in Nicholasville, Kentucky, according to Churchill spokesman Darren Rogers, who was informed by Ken Ramsey.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Kentucky Derby winner Rich Strike completed his final major workout in preparation for the Belmont Stakes on June 11.
The colt ran five furlongs in 59 seconds in between races Monday at Churchill Downs with exercise rider Gabe Lagunes aboard.
NEW YORK (AP) — Belmont Stakes contenders Mo Donegal, Next and We the People all worked out Friday in preparation for the third jewel of thoroughbred racing's Triple Crown in two weeks.
Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher had Mo Donegal and Nest work in company.
BALTIMORE (AP) — Twelve hours before Early Voting won the Preakness, Kentucky Derby champion Rich Strike was back on the track at Churchill Downs to begin preparations for the Belmont Stakes.
BALTIMORE (AP) — Maybe extra rest isn't such a bad thing for a racehorse after all.
In the Preakness Stakes that was run without the Kentucky Derby winner because Rich Strike's owner felt he needed more time off after his 80-1 upset, Early Voting validated a gutsy decision to skip the Derby and aim for the second leg of the Triple Crown.
BALTIMORE (AP) — Secret Oath made another impressive move from the back of the pack, but couldn't close the gap.
The filly who won the Kentucky Oaks a couple of weeks ago finished fourth in the Preakness Stakes on Saturday in a tough field featuring eight colts.
BALTIMORE (AP) — Epicenter was the horse closing strong at the end this time, making up ground on the leader in the final stage of a Triple Crown race.
It wasn't enough. The favorite finished second — again.
BALTIMORE (AP) — The Latest on the 147th running of the Preakness Stakes (all times local):
7:15 p.m.
Early Voting won the Preakness Stakes, holding off a late challenge from fast-closing favorite Epicenter, who was the runner-up in a second consecutive Triple Crown race.
If Epicenter runs his race, he’s going to win the Preakness.
It’s really that simple. By just about any measure, the Steve Asmussen-trained, Joel Rosario-ridden Epicenter is the clear class of the field for the second leg of the Triple Crown series.
BALTIMORE (AP) — Epicenter lost the Kentucky Derby because of a hot pace.
Now he'll face hot temperatures in the Preakness.
Two weeks after getting passed by 80-1 long shot Rich Strike just before the finish line at the Derby, Epicenter goes into Saturday's Preakness as the favorite and clearly the class of the nine-horse field.
BALTIMORE (AP) — The Black-Eyed Susan cocktails were flowing, D. Wayne Lukas was telling jokes and things finally felt fully back to normal at Old Hilltop.
While the Kentucky Derby winner isn't at the Preakness, the tradition of the Alibi Breakfast returned Thursday to Pimlico Race Course after a two-year absence because of the pandemic.
BALTIMORE (AP) — Rich Strike winning the Kentucky Derby at 80-1 may not be the only big upset this Triple Crown season.
Not if Fenwick has anything to do about it.
Two weeks after Rich Strike became the second-biggest long shot to win the Derby, Fenwick could join him in the record books at the Preakness Stakes.
BALTIMORE (AP) — D. Wayne Lukas sat atop his pony just after 6 a.m. and stared at Secret Oath while she got a bath following her first trip to the track at Pimlico Race Course.
“The whole time she was out there she never put her ears down — they were always up,” he said.
BALTIMORE (AP) — Graham Motion always wondered what it would be like to show up at the Preakness with the Kentucky Derby winner, and when that happened in 2011 with Animal Kingdom it was all he was hoping for and then some.
BALTIMORE (AP) — Kentucky Derby runner-up Epicenter was set Monday as the 6-5 morning line favorite for the Preakness Stakes, which will be run without Rich Strike.
The surprise Derby winner at 80-1 is not in the field of nine for Saturday's $1.65 million race.
Rich Strike will not run in the Preakness after his major upset to win the Kentucky Derby, keeping horse racing from having a Triple Crown winner for a fourth consecutive year.
Owner Rich Dawson made the stunning announcement Thursday, 10 days before the race in Maryland.
The jockey of Kentucky Derby upset winner Rich Strike is serving a four-day suspension handed down by Ohio racing stewards that his agent says won't prevent him from riding the horse in next week's Preakness.
NEW YORK (AP) — Perhaps trying to make sure it really happened, more people watched replays of 80-1 underdog Rich Strike winning the Kentucky Derby than watched it live.
NBC said some 36 million people watched the exciting finish of horseracing's premier event on NBC Sports' social media accounts, including 11.6 million on TikTok, the most ever achieved for a network sports presentation.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Anyone anticipating a return to normalcy in the Kentucky Derby got a dose of crazy on Saturday when an 80-1 shot came charging up the rail to win at Churchill Downs.
As favorite Epicenter and Zandon engaged in a duel at the front, Rich Strike stole the show with the second-biggest upset in the Derby’s 148-year history.
This doesn’t happen. Horses at odds of nearly 81-1 don’t win the Kentucky Derby. Jockeys who have never won any big stakes race of any kind don’t win the Kentucky Derby. Owners with fewer than 10 career wins don’t win the Kentucky Derby.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Rich Strike’s stunning Kentucky Derby upset has the sports world buzzing and led to a sleepless night of celebration that Eric Reed was still recovering from Sunday morning.
The veteran trainer and everybody around him partied long after the 80-1 long shot pulled off a monumental feat on Saturday.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Jockey Sonny Leon and trainer Eric Reed hit the ground running in every way imaginable for the Kentucky Derby.
Rich Strike did both one better after his last-minute Derby entry, blowing past 80-1 odds and then Epicenter and Zandon in the stretch Saturday for one of the biggest upsets in Derby history.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Cowboy hat firmly in place, D. Wayne Lukas hustled from the winner's circle to meet with the media. Along the way, he steadied himself with a cane, one of the Hall of Fame trainer's few concessions to age.
Ah, the traditions of Kentucky Derby day. Mint juleps. Ornate hats. The garland of roses that will be draped across the winner. Those have all been part of the show at Churchill Downs on the first Saturday in May for decades.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Secret Oath had the best finish from the worst possible starting spot and reminded trainer D. Wayne Lukas what it's like to win the Kentucky Oaks after a long drought.
The filly charged from a five-wide pack to grab the lead from Yuugiri and held off favorite Nest by two lengths Friday in the 148th Oaks at Churchill Downs, giving the 86-year-old Lukas his fifth Oaks win and first since 1990.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. will experience a different type of horsepower before NBC's coverage of the NASCAR Cup Series season revs up next month.
The retired NASCAR star will be at the Kentucky Derby for the second time on Saturday before contributing to the network's Indianapolis 500 coverage on May 29.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Twenty eager colts breaking from the starting gate, a full house for the first time in three years, and a Kentucky Derby lacking a dominant favorite.
Things could get interesting Saturday at Churchill Downs, where the winners in 2019 and 2021 were disqualified.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — With interest among the general public at its highest with the 148th Kentucky Derby coming up Saturday, horse racing is once again under intense scrutiny.