Eric Reed

With three weeks until the GI Kentucky Derby, trainer Keith Desormeaux has accelerated Confidence Game (Candy Ride {Arg})'s work pattern, as the dark bay colt put in a mile breeze in 1:38.20 from the starting gate on Friday morning at Churchill Downs. Jockey James Graham began his mount's training session by breaking inside of an unraced 3-year-old workmate. Around the far-turn, after the Derby hopeful completed five furlongs in 1:00.20, fellow stablemate Giant Awakening (Mor Spirit) was waiting for him around the 5 1/2 furlong pole. Running in concert, Confidence...

RED TR-Racing's 2022 Kentucky Derby winner Rich Strike (Keen Ice) worked five furlongs at Keeneland Wednesday morning in preparation for a possible start in the Lexington oval's GIII Ben Ali S. Apr. 22. With Carlos Enriquez aboard, the chestnut covered the distance over a fast track in 1:01.20. "I thought he worked good and finished strong," trainer Eric Reed said. "We are looking here [1 3/16 Ben Ali] or Oaklawn [$1-million GII Oaklawn H. going 1 1/8 miles the same day]. We want to get the first one out of...

Every week, the TDN publishes a roundup of key official rulings from the primary tracks within the four major racing jurisdictions of California, New York, Florida and Kentucky. Here's a primer on how each of these jurisdictions adjudicates different offenses, what they make public (or not) and where. With the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA) having gone into effect on July 1, the TDN will also post a roundup of the relevant HISA-related rulings from the same week. California Track: Santa Anita Date: 02/03/2023 Licensee: Eoin Harty Penalty: $3,000...

Trainer Eric Reed has been penalized with a five-day suspension and a $1,000 fine for a phenylbutazone positive in a $15,000 claiming winner last month at Turfway Park. According to a Feb. 1 Kentucky Horse Racing Commission (KHRC) stewards' ruling, the 2022 GI Kentucky Derby-winning trainer waived his right to a hearing and will serve his days Feb. 10-14 without lodging an appeal. The ruling stated that the offense was Reed's second for a Class C positive within the past year. The KHRC classifies drugs on an A (most severe)...

Coady Photography has partnered with the connections of GI Kentucky Derby winner Rich Strike (Keen Ice) to offer fans a photo opportunity in the paddock at Churchill Downs with the chestnut Saturday, Nov. 26. Rich Strike will be making his last anticipated start as a 3-year-old the day prior in the GI Clark H. at Churchill and is scheduled to race next year. The "Rich Strike Golden Ticket" will be limited to just 80 and available in increments of a single person, a pair of two people, and a group...

With exercise rider Gabriel Lagunes in the irons, GI Kentucky Derby upsetter Rich Strike (Keen Ice) breezed five-eighths of a mile in :59.82 (3/34) over the Saratoga main track Friday morning in advance of his appearance in the $1.25-million GI Runhappy Travers S. at the Spa Aug. 27. "He worked really good. He worked faster than we thought he would, but he did it easily," trainer Eric Reed said. "I think my question on him liking the track was answered this morning. He came home well. It is probably as...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, NY - Trainer Eric Reed is looking back and ahead as he prepares GI Kentucky Derby winner Rich Strike (Keen Ice) for the GI Runhappy Travers S. With a firm opinion of what went wrong in the Rich Strike's sixth-place finish in the GI Belmont S. June 11, Reed is expecting a much better performance in the $1.25-million signature race of the Saratoga Race Course meet Aug. 27. He will be the first Derby winner to run in the Travers since Always Dreaming (Bodemeister) finished ninth in 2017....

GI Belmont S. winner Mo Donegal (Uncle Mo) and GI Kentucky Derby Rich Strike (Keen Ice), sixth in Saturday's Belmont, will now be pointed towards the Aug. 27 GI Runhappy Travers S., connections confirmed Sunday morning. "I haven't really talked to the ownership group about it too much, but both of our Travers winners went through the Jim Dandy," Mo Donegal's trainer Todd Pletcher said Sunday. "So to me, if he has a prep between now and the Travers, that would make the most sense." The GII Jim Dandy will...

This week's TDN Triple Crown feature examines the GI Belmont S. entrants listed in "likeliest winner" order. 1) Mo Donegal (c, Uncle Mo--Callingmissbrown, by Pulpit) O-Donegal Racing & Repole Stable. B-Ashview Farm & Colts Neck Stables (KY). T-Todd Pletcher. Sales History: $250,000 yrl '20 KEESEP. You could argue that Mo Donegal lost the GI Kentucky Derby at the post draw after getting stuck with the dreaded rail gate. But his fifth-place effort, beaten 5 3/4 lengths in a stretch finish that featured the 1-2-3 horses all running full-tilt to the...

ELMONT, NY - With regular exercise rider Gabriel Lagunes in the saddle, GI Kentucky Derby winner Rich Strike (Keen Ice) circled the shedrow shortly after 8:30 a.m. on a sticky Thursday morning at Belmont Park. Making his way through the picturesque Belmont backstretch about 10 minutes later with a good-sized entourage in tow, Rich Strike entered the paddock via the tunnel as owner Richard Dawson and trainer Eric Reed, both sporting plenty of black-and-red Rich Strike swag, chatted by the famed Secretariat statue. With torrential pre-dawn thunderstorms leaving the main...

Rich Strike (Keen Ice), the winner of the GI Kentucky Derby and a starter in the upcoming GI Belmont S., was placed on the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission's veterinarian's list May 22 and did not come off the list until last Sunday. However, trainer Eric Reed reports that the horse's presence on the vet's list is not a cause for concern. "He was on there because of routine stuff that we had a chiropractor work on," Reed said "In Kentucky, with anything like that you have to report it to...

ELMONT, NY -- With GI Kentucky Derby winner Rich Strike (Keen Ice) exiting from post four, a field of eight was drawn Tuesday morning for Saturday's 154th GI Belmont Stakes. The historic, come-from-behind 80-1 Derby upsetter heads to the final leg of the Triple Crown fresh after breaking the norm and skipping the GI Preakness S. He has been installed as the third choice on the morning line at odds of 7-2. The $30,000 claim-to-fame will attempt to be the first non-Triple Crown winner to capture both the Kentucky Derby...