The 2022 horse racing season will not see a Triple Crown winner.
After a stunning victory in the Kentucky Derby, Rich Strike will not run in the Preakness Stakes on May 21 and instead prepare for the Belmont Stakes on June 11, owner Rick Dawson and trainer Eric Reed announced.
The colt was an extremely late entry into the Kentucky Derby field, drawing in on Friday after a scratch opened up a spot in the field. That saw the three-year-old’s odds languish at 80-to-1 before pulling off the second-largest upset in Derby history.
Rich Strike becomes just the third horse to win the Kentucky Derby and skip the Preakness since 1996. Justify in 2018 remains the last horse to win the Triple Crown.
Full statement, no Preakness for Kentucky Derby winner Rich Strike: pic.twitter.com/TEEnWq41oS
— Morgan Adsit (@MorganAdsit) May 12, 2022
Kentucky Derby winner Rich Strike will NOT run in the Preakness Stakes, per his owner, Rick Dawson. Story to come. " we are going to stay with our plan of what's best for Ritchie is what's best for our group, and pass on running in the Preakness, and point toward the Belmont." pic.twitter.com/ezjxz2pZC9
— Eric Crawford (@ericcrawford) May 12, 2022
Over the last 30 years, Derby champions who won with odds of 10-to-1 or longer have won the Preakness four times (I’ll Have Another in 2012, Funny Cide in 2003, War Emblem in 2002 and Charismatic in 1999). In 2019, Country House won the Kentucky Derby at 65.2-to-1 odds before skipping the Preakness after contracting a virus.
Here's how every horse who won the Derby at odds of > 10-1 fared in the Preakness over the last 30 years. Notably, the 5 longest shots to win at Churchill all finished in the top 3 at Pimlico — with one (Charismatic in '99) winning it: pic.twitter.com/6CO8TXCOtL
— Steve Kornacki (@SteveKornacki) May 9, 2022
Mandaloun, which was deemed winner of the 2021 Kentucky Derby following the disqualification on Medina Spirit, also skipped the Preakness.
The remainder of the 2022 Preakness field has yet to be announced.
