A fire engulfed one particular of the barns at his Lexington, Kentucky, equine center, in the center of a December night time, killing 23 thoroughbred horses and creating hundreds of 1000’s of pounds in harm.
“When we drove up on that that evening, I explained to my spouse, I reported, ‘we’ve in all probability dropped anything,’ ” Reed recounted this week. “The future morning, when we noticed the devastation … I just thought of all the several years and all the things we had done to get this gorgeous farm and to have this occur, that some thing could be telling me it is the stop of the line.”
That was 2016.
Reed didn’t give up, and with mates — and at times strangers — who confirmed up to support, he continued coaching. “I just decided, I was not going to allow it take me out.”
It paid out off: Reed is now a Kentucky Derby winner.
Abundant Strike, the horse he trains, entered as the greatest lengthy shot in the race (80-1 odds) and surged forward in the home extend to cross the finish line initially with a 2:02.61 time.
The victory was all the much more amazing for the reason that Abundant Strike wasn’t even in the area until finally Friday, when derby officers announced one more horse pulled out. Reed informed reporters he brought his workforce down a couple of days prior to the race, on the probability the horse could possibly get a possibility to operate, to start out preparing “versus all odds.”
“Nobody believed we could get in,” he stated. When the horse came in initial position, Reed virtually handed out. Rich Strike is his first winning horse in the derby.
“Most people would like to acquire the Derby. I generally would, but I by no means considered I would be here, at any time,” Reed reported.
Venezuelan jockey Sonny Leon, in his very first Kentucky Derby, rode Wealthy Strike to the shock victory. Wealthy Strike is owned by Crimson TR-Racing, LLC, according to the derby’s web page.
The next leg of the coveted Triple Crown, the Preakness Stakes, will be run at Pimlico Race Class in Baltimore, Maryland, on Could 21.
