It has to happen someday. Since the scoring system eliminated sprinters from the Kentucky Derby, the previous second leg has almost always been a more protracted speed race of the kind that has dominated the North American senior middle. in recent times. However, get enough of that to go out fast enough together in a race, and there will be a speed race in the end.
The 2022 Kentucky Derby presented by Woodford Reserve (G1) saw a quarter open at: 21.78 and a half at: 45.36, a pace that caused so much carnage that the segment had the fastest pace. from three quarters to a mile is: 26.20 (shared over Epicenter and Zandon ). That duo bounced back quickly last quarter, but the initial pace got its job done and unannounced. Rich Strike who had only one pony span in the first inning, was able to wriggle across the field and run down Epicenter and Zandon scored three-quarters of the length as an 80-1 long shot.
Rich Strike’s dramatic improvement since his debut saw him go home tenth, beaten 14 1/2 lengths, in a grass-first event at Ellis . Park has been recalled in detail elsewhere. From a genealogical perspective, however, it brings us back to another major disappointment in a 3-year-old historic contest, the 2015 Travers Stakes (G1).
Winner of the Three Crowns American pharoah —It is the modern thoroughbred long-distance horse that has speed — runs early until it is attacked by Frosted on the last turn. For a moment, Frosted actually had the American Pharoah on the ropes, but as a horse that would run the race of his life to score a spectacular victory in the Mohegan Sun Metropolitan (G1) handicap next year in For a mile, Frosted didn’t have the stamina to deliver a knockout punch. As his ordeal faltered, American Pharoah reasserted himself and sought victory, until belatedly caught by Keen Ice whom the only previous victory had come in a Churchill Downs first the previous September, but was third to close late in the Belmont Stake introduced by DraftKings (G1) and second in the William Hill Haskell Invited Stake (G1).
Keen Ice (left) beats American Pharoah to win the 2015 Travers Stakes at Saratoga . Racecourse
The son of Curlin Keen Ice retired to Calumet Ranch during the 2018 breeding season, for a fee of $20,000, down to $7,500 in 2022. He had 138 ponies in his first crop and through Saturday, had 96 people start with only one winner, Bold Leadership who won this year’s Clasico George Washington Stakes at the Camarero Raceway in Puerto Rico.
Now, after the victory of Rich Strike, who has clearly inherited Keen Ice’s late-running style, Keen Ice is second in the list of Demons leading season two, just behind Gunman .
Keen Ice is clearly a good horse and will go on to participate in several other tier one events before the end of his career. However, he only had one win in 13 starts after Travers when he defeated Shaman Ghost in the 2017 Suburban Shares (G2) in Belmont Park. Rich Strike is also clearly a very good horse under the right circumstances — his Kentucky Derby Beyer of 101 was only beaten by Messier Epicenter, and Taiba this year among the sophomores will go a mile or more — but one wonders if, like his majesty, he needs the right setup to show his best in the future. or not.
Rich Strike’s Dam, Gold Strike , won the title of 3-year-old Film Champion in Canada, where she won four black events, including Selene Stakes (G3) and Labatt Woodbine Oaks, and she also took third place first. men in Canada’s top classic, The Queen of Bets. She is smashed out of three other winners, topped by Sky Mesa dirty Llanarmon successful in Natalma Staking (G2T).
The second dam, Brassy Gold, an uneducated daughter of Dixieland Brass, is a half-sister to a trio of ponies, one of which is Miss Regal Classic, which produced the Classic Verse, a successful two. times in limited stock company bred by Pennsylvania.
This family came to America from England in 1936, in the form of the Tetratema mare, Crestema. Since then, the family has produced a number of small-stakes winners, but with few real consequences, the most notable exception being perhaps the California star, Warren’s Veneda winner of four black events, including 2015 Santa Margarita Stakes (G1), and multi-event graded winner Warren’s Showtime .
The fourth dam of Crestema’s granddaughter, Pulcinella, is Rich Strike’s fifth dam. Crestema’s full sister, Fire Maiden, has a family branch that has gone to New Zealand, where it produced the AJC Derby and Australasian Champion Stakes that won the Yellow Brick, and the Late Show, who won the Sydney Cup (G1) and Rawson Staking (G1).
In addition to his odds, Rich Strike also seems to have made Derby history with his genealogy. As mentioned, his male, Keen Ice, is from Curlin, who is Smart Strike’s in turn, and Rich Strike’s dam, Gold Strike, is also Smart Strike’s, placing that horse 3×2 in the pedigree. by Rich Strike. That, to what we can determine, makes him the Kentucky Derby winner with the closest inbreeding, and certainly in terms of the related male/female lineage. Coincidentally, Smart Strike is the sire of another nasty Kentucky Derby winner from his sire’s line, Smart Strike, in Mining that bird but he only has Mr. Pros Inspector 5×3.
In general, this level of inbreeding is not practiced much with today’s higher-class breeds, but we can note that one of the greatest classic European breeds of recent times , Allow has Sadler’s Wells 3×2 in the same locations where Smart Strike occurs in the Rich Strike pedigree.
We will conclude by noting that in addition to having Mr. Prosecutor 4×3 via Smart Strike, Rich Strike also has Mr. Prosecutor’s brother, Gold Search, as a child of the third dam, which leads to the System. especially high inbreeding number is 9.27.
