Sonny Leon’s Rich Strike makes his first start after his disappointing run in the Belmont Stakes at the Travers Stakes this weekend at Saratoga Park. But some bettors have their doubts about Strike winning this race but others think he can pull off another win as he had at the Kentucky Derby. Here’s a look at Rich Strikes’ preview before he races in this year’s Travers in our Good the bad and the ugly.
Good Things For Rich Strike
Strike only has one win in major stakes race the Kentucky Derby and his only other win is a Claiming race at Churchill downs but his workout performances are huge. Strike most recently ran an incredible workout time doing five furlongs in 59.8 on August 19th which is better than the rest of the field as Early Voting ran his workout in 1.01. A huge run like that in the Travers is what Strike will need in order to pull off a win against the rest of the field.
Bad Things For Strike
Rich Strike has a hard field of seven to face off against multiple horses he has never run against and others that he has. Though he has shown strong racing in the Kentucky Derby he has only raced one time following that win. Strike hasn’t raced since June 11th which is an interesting choice to make as he faces off horses fresh off of racing like Travers favorite Epicenter, Preakness winner Early Voting, and then Haskell winner Cyberknife. It would’ve been great to see Strike race a smaller stakes race like the Jim Dandy, which Epicenter won, or another one during the early parts of the Saratoga Meet so he could get a feel for the track.
Ugly things for Rich Strike
Rich Strike is known for his incredible racing win in the Kentucky Derby where he beat a field with Travers and Kentucky Derby Favorite Epicenter at 80-1 odds. Now Strike’s performance in the Kentucky Derby is one to remember, but his most recent run at Belmont Park is one he wants to forget. Strike ended in sixth which was a huge disappointment to those wanting him to win as the field rallied late to overtake him. But here’s the thing when it comes to the ugly in Rich Strikes’ performance. Trainer Sonny Leon didn’t have Strike run a workout making the Belmont Stakes day his first ever time being on the Belmont Park Track. Luckily Strike has put up good numbers in his workout at Saratoga before the Travers.
Final Thoughts
Now even though Strike has yet to have raced at Saratoga in his lifetime he’s been doing much stronger in racing than the times he put up before the Kentucky Derby. Furthermore, it’s good to see Sonny Leon decide to have Strike run some workouts before the big Travers weekend. So my final thoughts with Rich Strike from a bettor’s perspective are low for winning the Travers I definitely see him placing or showing. For my exotic bettors, I would add Strike in my Quinella, Trifecta, and Superfecta bets as well, and for those just watching make sure to cheer him on this Saturday.
To bet use NYRABETS for all up-to-date odds.
Follow us on Twitter!
Follow our Facebook!
Subscribe to our Youtube!
Sign up for our Newsletter!
