Fun the name of the game for Kentucky Derby-winning Reed Racing and friends
May 15, 2022
It was on one of those fun-filled road trips to tracks like Mountaineer, Turfway Park, Ellis Park, and Indiana Downs more than a decade ago that trainer Eric Reed first extended an open invitation to Dr. Ben Lyon, a client who was rapidly becoming a close friend.
“He always said, ‘If we ever get to the big race, I want you to be there with me. Whether it’s yours or not, I want you to be there,’” said Lyon, who practices internal medicine in Georgetown, Kentucky. “’It’s probably never going to happen, but you never know. Maybe one of these days.’”
That day finally arrived when Reed was informed by Churchill Downs stewards on Friday morning, May 6, that his colt, Rich Strike, had drawn into the Kentucky Derby (G1) field from the also-eligible list.
“He texted me multiple times during the week. ‘I don’t know if I’m getting in, but if I get in you’re coming,’” Lyon said. “Sure enough, on Friday morning, he called. As soon as I pick up the phone, I heard that big loud laugh. ‘C’mon man, we’re going to the Derby!’
“The thing about Eric is it’s impossible to be around the guy and not have a good time. He’s constantly laughing. You’re with him five minutes, you’ll be laughing about something because he likes to have a good time. The business is tough, but he’s always about making it fun.”
Lyon first met Reed in 2005, when in partnership they campaigned a two-year-old named Gallows, a Red Ransom colt who broke his maiden second time out and later placed in the Mountaineer Juvenile.
In addition to having horses with Reed off and on in the ensuing years, Lyon’s relationship with the trainer also extended to the entire Reed organization, which is based at the Mercury Equine Center on Russell Cave Road in Lexington.
“Over the years I’ve become the Reed Racing team doctor/medical consultant,” Lyon said. “Anytime somebody would get hurt in the morning, or they’d get thrown, they would show up in my waiting room. It got to the point where my office staff would (take) them back — they knew who they were – and say ‘This is a Reed Racing person.’”
With their developing bond of friendship, Reed and Lyon have been there to support the other at his lowest ebb. For Lyon, it was a life-threatening illness that required extended stays in New York and multiple surgeries.
“In early 2016, my wife (Tracee) had lunch with Eric. She said ‘Hey, our 25th anniversary is coming up and, honestly, he’s still struggling. I want to get him a horse, because that’s what he loves.’ Eric said he had a really nice yearling he was going to put us all in on. He also wanted us to have the opportunity to race at a higher level and to have a really good racehorse. Basically, out of the goodness of his heart, he stuck me into Bold Cait.”
Bold Cait, an Ohio-bred filly, would win nine of 18 starts, including three stakes, for Lyon and Reed and earned more than $259,000.
Bold Cait and the yearling were both stabled at Mercury when a freakish, unseasonable thunderstorm in mid-December 2016 resulted in one barn being struck by lightning and catching fire. Upon hearing the news about the overnight fire the next morning, Lyon rushed to the training center.
“I knew Bold Cait was in one barn and the yearling was in another. I didn’t know which one,” Lyon said. “The closer I got, I realized it was the yearling’s barn. When I arrived, it was still chaos as you can imagine. Some of the horses were running down Russell Cave Road.”
The direction of the wind spared other barns from being engulfed by flames, but 23 horses were lost in the fire.
“It was a horrible and tragic scene, even for a guy like me who’s been in medicine all these years,” Lyon said. “It was traumatic for everyone.
“Eric had a bad time, as did we all. I think he was close (to quitting training), I really do because he was down. Eric had other interests. He was involved with the Bluegrass Boys Outdoor Show (a hunting program). He liked to go to Florida to fish. I felt that maybe he was at a point in his life, especially when it happened, ‘Is this my sign that it’s time to give it up?’
“The roles kind of reversed. Eric was at rock bottom. His friends came to his rescue, helped pick him back up. A lot of the same people that were at Churchill Downs on Saturday were out there that Sunday morning.”
At the Kentucky Derby post-race press conference, Rich Strike’s owner, Rick Dawson, said of Reed: “Eric easily undersells and over performs.” Who would have thought that also extended to hosting the best Kentucky Derby party possible?
“I arrived at the barn about 10:30 (Saturday morning) and there’s a bunch of guys there and everybody’s having a good time already,” Lyon said. “Everybody’s relaxed. Eric’s relaxed. Just having fun. That’s part of what he does. I’d never met Rick before. Met him that morning at the barn. That’s the way it is with Reed’s organization. That’s the way he operates.”
To put it another way, thanks to Reed, strangers immediately become friends.
“Once you’re a part of Reed Racing, you’re always a part of it. If you’re at a race and you’re a part of the Reed organization, and the horse wins, you go to the winner’s circle,” Lyon said. “I’ve got all kinds of win pictures where I’ve got people in the winner’s circle I don’t know, but they’re part of the Reed organization. And vice versa. I’m sure I’m in people’s win pictures and they’re like ‘Who’s that guy?’ That’s just the way it’s always been.”
Having made the field at the 11th hour, and with credentials the betting public felt were deserving of being the longest shot on the board, expectations within the Rich Strike team were realistic. With virtually no pressure, there was nothing to do but to enjoy the day and experience. If Rich Strike outperformed expectations, that part would be gravy.
“We watched the race from the owner’s suite. It didn’t feel like it was overly nervous to be in the Kentucky Derby,” Lyon said “I used to be nervous when we’d run for $5,000 at Belterra Park. I’d be a nervous wreck, but it didn’t really feel like that.
“When they went by us in the stretch, I saw Rich Strike cut to the inside and then I looked up at (the Big Board) and saw him to get through the inside (of Epicenter). Everyone was in complete shock. Through it all it was just fun.
“To be there and be a part of that was just amazing. It’s almost like a Forrest Gump moment. I’m out on the track and my wife and I are in the winner’s circle. You’re looking at the grandstand with 150,000 people and you’re thinking ‘How did I get here? What am I doing here?’ It was just so awesome.
Dr. Lyon (far left) in the winner's circle
“As awesome as it was for Eric’s people, I know everybody there was even more thrilled for him and Kay (Reed’s wife) for everything they’d been through. To have something like that happen to them and finally be recognized for the great horse people that they are, everybody can’t be more thrilled for them.
“I think the stars just aligned. It’s a fairy tale story.”
A fairy tale story with potentially more chapters to be written, perhaps as soon as June 11 in New York.
Photos by Coady Photography
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