"The Voyeurs" is Surprisingly Solid
BY LOUIS CHIASSON ‘23
In a dramatic upset that sent over 150,000 fans at Churchill Downs roaring, Rich Strike won the 148th Kentucky Derby Saturday, May 7, giving horse racing a welcome reboot in the process.
The increasingly controversial sport that is thoroughbred horse racing has suffered some serious blows to its reputation recently. In March 2021, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals released its findings from an investigation into the sport, highlighting the misery and pain, dulled by a myriad of painkilling and performance-enhancing drugs, that many of these young horses experience in their racing careers. Written off by many in the sports world, horse racing needed redemption or at least a respite from these controversies, and, though its problems cannot be ignored, it just may have found both. A sport plagued by elitism, horse racing occasionally bucks the conventional wisdom and elevates winners that one would never expect. And, to be sure, almost no one saw Rich Strike coming.
At the start of the Derby Week, Rich Strike was not in the field for the race but was the first replacement to enter should another horse scratch. That Friday morning, Ethereal Road, who was set to race from the 20th gate, withdrew from the competition, giving Rich Strike an unexpected chance at the crown. "We came here on a prayer," said Rich Strike’s trainer, Eric Reed, during an interview after the race. The horse entered the race at 80-1 odds, which, in the world of horse racing, is the longest-shot wager. Prior to Saturday, Rich Strike had won exactly one race in his life, and most racing fans did not know his name until that morning. Nevertheless, at 6:57 p.m. on Saturday evening, a blank was fired, the gates opened, and the Kentucky Derby began, with Rich Strike coming out of the 20th gate.
For most of the race, all eyes focused on the battle for first between betting favorites Epicenter and Zandon. According to Sports Illustrated, it was not until the very end, when Rich Strike, a “nobody of a horse, with a nobody trainer and nobody jockey and nobody owner,” escaped the middle of the pack and surged along the rail only a few strides before the finish line, edging past the front-runners. Epicenter and Zandon finished in second and third place, respectively, while Rich Strike claimed the crown. “I couldn't even breathe,” Reed said in an interview the next day. “This is the reason everybody does this. We weren't even supposed to be here.”
Epicenter trainer Steve Asmussen, one of the most accomplished in the nation, shared this sentiment of awe, and lauded the success of Rich Strike in an interview this past Sunday. After the race, it seemed Asmussen could only laugh about the result; “it’s as improbable as any scenario any of us ever imagined,” Asmussen said. “As they were loading into the gates, I was thinking how much goes into this exact moment and all of the buildup. And all the scenarios my rambling mind can come up with? That wasn’t one of them. At the head of the stretch, this is what you’re dreaming about. Oh, and by the way, you’re about to get run down by a claimer. And I don’t mean that as any disrespect to the winner. What a beautiful story.”
It is a beautiful story, indeed; such a win will go down in history. Only ever so often are the big-name jockeys and owners outshone by a group of racing no-names. The 2022 Kentucky Derby shed a positive light on thoroughbred racing as a whole, and it reminded the sports world of what an exhilarating and elegant sport it can be despite its flaws.