Gold Strike made the trip from Assiniboia to Woodbine back in 2005 after declaring that she needed a bigger pond to splash in after winning two races straight previously.
It was a good decision for her team because, in her very next race in the Star Shoot stakes at Woodbine, she made a big effort and ended up second. The very next two races she won both of them with one of them being the Woodbine Oaks ridden beautifully to victory with Jim McAleney in the saddle.
The team decided to take a shot at the Queen's plate against the boys and ended up third with a really strong effort. That was the last race she ran for the year and evidently the beginning of her career-ending losing streak. Gold Strike did manage to come back the following year and finished her career with two additional races with a second-place finish in the Grade 3 Hendrie and a fourth-place finish in the Hill N Dale stakes. So with what looked like a very good record, her career ended with nine starts 4 firsts, 3 seconds, 1 third, and a fourth.
She went off to the pastures and no one ever heard of her again until sixteen years later when Rich Strike won the Kentucky Derby at crazy odds of 80-1, her son!
Rich strike is the son of Gold Strike, yes that Manitoba mare who splashed her way to Woodbine under the hands of the great trainer Reade Baker and team made every Manitoba horse person very proud by producing the 2022 Kentucky Derby winner in spectacular fashion.
Oh, well that makes striking sense!