‘You’re always a Derby champion.’ How Rich Strike changed lives in year after 80-1 shocker.

In an interview following Rich Strike’s improbable 80-1 victory in the 2022 Kentucky Derby, owner Richard Dawson said that the moment felt like a dream. Nearly a year later, Dawson believes the experience is even better.

“No way I could have predicted what it’s really like afterward,” Dawson said. “I think reality is probably better than the dream. And not only for me, but for my trainer and his family, and my family and friends and all those connections. It is an unbelievable thing. It’s something that’s always there and never taken away from you. You’re always a Derby champion.”

Rich Strike shocked the world when he became the horse with the second-longest odds to ever win the Kentucky Derby after gaining access to the field the day before the race. Rich Strike qualified as an “also-eligible” entrant after Ethereal Road scratched.

Rich Strike’s trainer, Eric Reed, didn’t claim to know his horse could do it, but he did always think he stood a chance.

“He was such an underdog and he was thrown out by all the handicappers and the experts,” Reed said. “I never told anybody he would win the race, but I always knew — if he got in — he could run well in it because the distance and the track, and getting back to the dirt was going to be a big plus. Plus, the way he had finished all the other races, we were eager to have a chance at a mile and a quarter.”

Up to that point, Rich Strike had just one career win in seven starts and none in 2022. His singular win arrived at Churchill Downs, a track he’s clearly taken to, in a maiden claiming race in September 2021. Dawson and Reed paid $30,000 at the claiming booth for Rich Strike in 2021.

Rich Strike defied the odds in a race he wasn’t even supposed to run. So what has his victory done for his team?

Dawson, who’s always been passionate about supporting both veteran causes and the breast cancer awareness campaign Tough Enough to Wear Pink, said that winning the Derby opened the door to further help others where he can. Now semi-retired at the age of 66, Dawson is pleased to have been given the opportunity.

“Life has been pretty good to me,” said Dawson, whose team collected the Derby’s $1,860,000 winner’s share of the race’s $3 million purse. “I was able to go and share and help others. So winning the Derby has allowed me to do that in a little bit bigger and better way.”

Dawson has also started a record label/multi-media company in Nashville called RedSunset Entertainment with country artist Colton James. The pair has produced several patriotic songs, featured on James’ 2023 release “America.”

“When you talk about the dream,” Dawson said. “People tell me, ‘Rick, you’re living the dream.’ Because, racehorses and music? How do you get better than that? I mean, what a great retirement.”

For Reed, Rich Strike’s victory provided some peace following a dark period.

Reed’s farm, Mercury Equine Center, suffered a 2016 fire that killed 23 horses. In the years leading up to the Derby, the team lost assistants James Wellman and Nelson “Hollywood” Sweeting, as well as Reed’s own grandson.

“The biggest thing was,” Reed said of Rich Strike’s victory, “it took away all the bad memories of all the bad things that had happened leading up to the Derby. For all the employees and people involved. It shed a big ray of light on some things that have been awful tough for us.”

Reed, who keeps a photo of both Wellman and Sweeting in his wallet, said Mercury is a family that rallied together for the Derby win.

“Soon as we would try to pull ourselves back up something else would knock us down. But nobody gave up, and then when you win that race it just makes you happy and you know that all of it wasn’t for nothing.”

As far as Rich Strike himself, he’s about to make his 2023 racing debut in Friday’s Alysheba Stakes at Churchill Downs following a well-earned rest. According to Reed, the team made the decision to debut Rich Strike in the $600,000, Grade 2 Alysheba to ease him back into things.

“We saw the race at Churchill even though it’s a little short for him,” Reed said of the 1 1/16-mile event. “It’s on a good track that he runs well over and it’ll give him a chance to get his first race of the year without just completely exhausting himself trying to beat these seasoned Grade 1 horses that he’s going to have to face the rest of the year. And the distance of the race is short for him, but I liked it because he won’t be completely spent when the race is over. He may not be able to catch them, but he’ll be running at them and then I’m sure he’ll want to gallop out normal and he’ll be set up good for the rest of the year.”

Rich Strike has run five times since his win in the Derby — finishing sixth in the Belmont Stakes, fourth in the Travers Stakes at Saratoga, second in the Lukas Classic at Churchill, fourth in the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Keeneland and sixth in the Clark Stakes at Churchill.

The Clark took place Nov. 25, and he has not raced since. Rich Strike’s team considered racing him in Dubai, at Turfway Park, at Oaklawn Park and at Keeneland this spring before settling on Kentucky Oaks Day in Louisville.

Rich Strike turned 4 on April 25, celebrating with “about 50 pounds of peppermints,” Reed laughed.

The horse also spent his birthday conducting a 4-furlong, 47.8-second workout at Churchill Downs. Reed said he was “really happy with the workout.”

“He didn’t want to come back off track,” Reed said. “He was a little upset he didn’t do more. But because we’re running a shorter distance I want to keep him on edge and a little sharper, so he won’t have so much ground to make up. You know, he’s compromised by his running style. He likes to lay back and try to run horses down and this is a quality group.”

West Will Power is the 2-1 morning-line favorite for the Alysheba. Pegasus World Cup winner Art Collector is the 5-2 second choice. Next is Rich Strike at 7-2. The seven-horse field also includes Last Samurai (4-1), Smile Happy (8-1), Milliken (10-1) and Giant Game (30-1). As Friday’s fifth race on Oaks Day, post time is 12:43 p.m.

“There’s some really nice horses in there. And it’ll be hard for him to catch them,” Reed said. “But at the mile and a sixteenth, even if he doesn’t catch them at the wire he’ll catch him in the gallop out and he’ll think he’s won again. And it won’t have taken so much energy from him and then we have seven weeks to get ready for the biggest race of the year at that point. And I think the field will be a lot more level after he gets one start under his belt.”