Rick Dawson's RED TR-Racing's Kentucky Derby (G1) winner Rich Strike Strike breezed a half mile Saturday at trainer Eric Reed's Mercury Training Center in Lexington, marking his first timed move since finishing sixth in the Belmont Stakes (G1) June 11.
The son of Keen Ice was clocked in :50.40 for the four furlongs to launch his preparations for the Runhappy Travers Stakes (G1) August 27 at Saratoga. His workout was moved up a day due to the threat of severe thunderstorms in the area.
“It was really easy work,” Reed told the BloodHorse. “But he behaved and he didn't try to overdo it, which is what I was more concerned with than anything else since I tried freshening him up. But he actually was very, very comfortable in the work, just super easy. So very happy with it.”
Rich Strike sprung an 80-1 upset in the Kentucky Derby, winning by three-quarters of a length from favorite Epicenter. Skipping the Preakness (G1), he went on to finish unplaced in the 1 1/2 mile Belmont. The Travers is run at the Kentucky Derby's 1 1/4 mile distance.
Reed added that Rich Strike would work again around July 16 before shipping to Churchill Downs, where he would have a couple of works before heading to upstate New York.
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