LOUISVILLE, Ky. — By Sunday afternoon, Eric Reed’s eyes were hooded, and his voice was as scratchy as a transistor radio. He had been unable to sleep, thanks to the entirely welcome replay loop of his colt Rich Strike scooting up the rail of Churchill Downs and into the history books as the 80-1 winner of the 148th Kentucky Derby.
Reed was the sole spokesman — for now at least — of this impossible dream. The horse’s jockey, Sonny Leon, who was equally little known before Saturday, was on his way with his family to Florida for a vacation that was on the calendar long before Rich Strike became an 11th-hour entrant in the Derby.