Just two minutes and two seconds where the life of a noble horse and a handful of people changed forever. Is about Rich Silver, the thoroughbred ridden by Venezuelan jockey Sonny León, who impressed the world with his success in the Kentucky Derbyone of the classic competitions that made up the Triple Crown of turf in the United States and caused a bump in betting that hadn’t occurred in 109 years and left Donald Trump, tycoon for life and former president of the North American country, who could not speak.

A simple example is enough to understand the impact it has on the box office: whoever put two dollars for Rich Silver took 4 thousand greenbacks. You put the money worth of a promotional menu into a well -known hamburger chain and you picked up, along with the change from the blue market, a used car in good condition.

The story has all the seasonings to be a documentary from Netflix or any of the trending streaming platforms. It could even be a miniseries. The horse, which until Friday was not among the participants, has never been from the start of a major event on the turf.

Nor was Leon, the rider who offered victory to his country. “We won the Kentucky Derby. We did it, Venezuela,” the jockey wrote on his Twitter account after his spectacular victory.

Furthermore, 232 days before the miracle in Kentucky, Rich Strike is not owned by its current owner, Rick Dawson.. It belongs to the Calumet farm, winner of eight Derby editions, a record, but no smile since 1968, when the Forward Pass was preceded by disqualification.

Dawson, a visionary, bought it for $ 30,000 after a career he won 17 lengths in a minor event. This Saturday, after passing 9 horses in the last 20 seconds and crossing the disc before the rest, he got $ 1.86 million. Probably the best investment in history.

León took 10% of that prize. This is approximately $ 186,000. Honestly, as the US media explains, you should give 25% to your manager and 5% to your assistant starter. He still has $ 130,200 left in his bank account. On Saturday, the average income per race in his eight years as a professional jockey was just over $ 2,500.

There is more to this story. It’s time for revenge for the coach Eric Reedanother Kentucky debutant, that is lived a tragedy five years ago, when he lost twenty horses to a fire in a stable inside his training center in Lexington. “I almost fainted in the paddock when he got to the finish line,” he said.

The numbers are impressive and there is still no question of the money transferred by the bets. Rich Strike, which entered the final list of competitors 30 seconds before registration closed, started on Saturday paying 99-1. Because of what was happening in the bucket world, it fell to 92-1 in the afternoon. Until then, he was the smallest Thoroughbred to win in Kentucky, surpassing Donerail, who in 1913 paid out 91-1 and set a record that no one has ever broken. Not even for Rich Strike.

The surprising 80-1, however, resulted in annoying victories for those who played in full.. The exact two -dollar bet paid $ 4,101. A superfecta, that is, hitting the first four, paid 321,500 for every dollar, of those with Washington faces, invested.

Mata. According to the site Action Network of the United States, in Australia it paid up to 300-1. And in Las Vegas the horse closed at 200-1. With a pair of hard bets the bank will jump and explode.

To measure the scope of the crash another example is worth it: a bettor from Sin City who bet exactly on all the horses in the race for guaranteed money won $ 2,500. Yes, the good old Rich Strike paid off even the most conservative.

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The race

Rich Strike remained for most of the race behind the main pack, but was able to carve space inside and find a clear path for a dazzling final sprint.

When Zandon and Epicenter, along with Dominican jockey Joel Rosario, seemed to be battling for victory in the final stretch, Rich Strike overtook them from behind and sealed the victory in the final steps in a time of 2: 02.61.

Epicenter, coached by Steve Asmussen, finished in second position and Zandon, ridden by Frenchman Flavien Prat and coached by Chad Brown, was third.

“I knew my horse and I knew he was ready for this race. I didn’t know if I was going to win but when we were in the race, in the end, I felt in my heart that it was hard,” Leon recalled.

“I was left behind and there was a lot of traffic, but I didn’t give up, I saw a hole and when I got to the last 70 yards I thought I had this race and I had to run more than ever,” he said. he explained.

Total normality

The Kentucky Derby was once again played under traditional conditions this Saturday by admitting a full 20 participants and the public. About 100,000 fans packed the stands after only being allowed to reach 60% capacity last year and held behind closed doors in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The race was also held under the shadow of last year’s scandal, when the winner, Medina Spirit, was later disqualified for failing a doping test. The horse tested positive for betamethasone, a corticosteroid banned before a race, and died suddenly in December during training in California. His coach, Bob Baffert, was suspended and banned from Churchill Downs for two years.

Triple Crown will continue in Preakness (Baltimore, Maryland) on May 21 and end at Belmont Stakes (New York) on June 11

Source: agencies