Eric Reed (born ) is an American

horse trainer A horse trainer is a person who tends to horses and teaches them different disciplines. Some responsibilities trainers have are caring for the animals' physical needs, as well as teaching them good behaviors and/or coaching them for events, which ...

. He is best known as the former trainer of

Rich Strike Rich Strike ( foaled April 25, 2019) is an American Thoroughbred racehorse that won the 2022 Kentucky Derby, racing at 80:1 odds. Rich Strike is the second-biggest longshot to have won the Kentucky Derby after Donerail (91:1 odds) in 1913. He ...

, the winner of the 2022 Kentucky Derby.

Early life

Reed's father, trainer Herbert Reed, was 16 years old when Eric was born. His father Herbert trained for over 40 years apprenticing under the guidance of

Mack Miller Andrew Markley "Mack" Miller (October 15, 1931 – February 16, 2020) was an American cross-country skier, trainer, and high school teacher. He represented the United States twice at the Winter Olympics. The son of a children's fiction writer ( ...

. Eric has trained since 1983.

Career

In 1986, Native Drummer provided Reed his first stakes win in the

Forego Stakes The Forego Stakes is a Graded stakes race, Grade I American Thoroughbred horse race for horses four years old and older over the distance of seven furlongs on the dirt, scheduled annually in August at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, New Y ...

Latonia Race Track Latonia Race Track on Winston Avenue in Latonia ( Covington) Kentucky, six miles south of Cincinnati, Ohio, was a Thoroughbred horse racing facility opened in 1883. The track hosted a spring-summer racing series and a second in late fall. It w ...

. Reed is the owner of the Mercury Equine Center, a 60-acre thoroughbred training facility in Lexington, Kentucky. In 2016, a fire ravaged the center, killing dozens of horses. Reed believed that a lightning strike was the cause. Rich Strike closed at 80-1 odds before the start of the 2022 Derby, the longest odds among all 20 horses. With Rich Strike's win, Reed won his first

Kentucky Derby The Kentucky Derby () is an American Graded stakes race, Grade I stakes Thoroughbred racing, race run at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky. The race is run by three-year-old Thoroughbreds at a distance of . Colt (horse), Colts and geldin ...

. This win in 2022 makes for the biggest underdog champion since the 1913 Kentucky Derby. With odds of 91–1, winning horse

Donerail Donerail (1910 – after 1918) was an American Thoroughbred racehorse that was the upset winner of the 1913 Kentucky Derby. His win stands as the biggest longshot victory in the history of the Kentucky Derby. Going off at 91–1, Donerail provid ...

is the longest odds winner in Kentucky Derby history. One year after Rich Strike's Kentucky Derby it was announced that Reed had entered into an agreement with Omaha Productions, a production company headed by former

NFL The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The N ...

quarterback The quarterback (QB) is a position in gridiron football who are members of the offensive side of the ball and mostly line up directly behind the Lineman (football), offensive line. In modern American football, the quarterback is usually consider ...

Peyton Manning Peyton Williams Manning (born March 24, 1976) is an American former professional American football, football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 18 seasons. Nicknamed "the Sheriff", he spent 14 seasons with the In ...

, for an

Amazon Prime Amazon Prime (styled as prime) is a paid subscription service of Amazon which is available in many countries and gives users access to additional services otherwise unavailable or available at a premium to other Amazon customers. Services inclu ...

documentary about his training career. RED-TR Racing's Rick Dawson, owner of Rich Strike, took issue with what he claimed to be portions of promotional material released containing some of the horse's story, which he said he owned the

trademark A trademark (also written trade mark or trade-mark) is a form of intellectual property that consists of a word, phrase, symbol, design, or a combination that identifies a Good (economics and accounting), product or Service (economics), service f ...

and rights to. On May 11, 2023, Reed quit as the trainer of Rich Strike and all RED-TR Racing horses in his care after receiving what he interpreted to be an ultimatum from Dawson, telling him to choose either the documentary or the horse. In the end, Reed said that he wanted to do what was best for his family, while Dawson said he felt obligated to protect Rich Strike's legacy.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Reed, Eric American racehorse trainers Living people Year of birth missing (living people)