A hearth engulfed one of the barns at his Lexington, Kentucky, equine middle, in the middle of a December evening, killing 23 thoroughbred horses and producing hundreds of 1000’s of bucks in destruction.
“When we drove up on that that night, I explained to my wife, I reported, ‘we’ve possibly lost almost everything,’ ” Reed recounted this 7 days. “The future early morning, when we noticed the devastation … I just considered of all the years and all the stuff we experienced done to get this gorgeous farm and to have this happen, that one thing may possibly be telling me it is the end of the line.”
That was 2016.
Reed did not give up, and with mates — and in some cases strangers — who showed up to assistance, he continued teaching. “I just decided, I wasn’t going to let it get me out.”
It compensated off: Reed is now a Kentucky Derby winner.
Loaded Strike, the horse he trains, entered as the major lengthy shot in the race (80-1 odds) and surged forward in the dwelling stretch to cross the end line first with a 2:02.61 time.
The victory was all the additional stunning for the reason that Rich Strike wasn’t even in the subject till Friday, when derby officers declared a different horse pulled out. Reed told reporters he introduced his workforce down a several days in advance of the race, on the possibility the horse may get a likelihood to run, to commence planning “in opposition to all odds.”
“Nobody thought we could get in,” he claimed. When the horse came in 1st area, Reed virtually passed out. Rich Strike is his initially winning horse in the derby.
“Everybody would like to acquire the Derby. I constantly would, but I under no circumstances thought I would be in this article, at any time,” Reed claimed.
Venezuelan jockey Sonny Leon, in his initially Kentucky Derby, rode Prosperous Strike to the surprise victory. Wealthy Strike is owned by Red TR-Racing, LLC, in accordance to the derby’s web site.
The following leg of the coveted Triple Crown, the Preakness Stakes, will be run at Pimlico Race Training course in Baltimore, Maryland, on Might 21.
