Rich Strike wasn’t even supposed to be there: How extraordinary, then, that with one of the most stunning runs in Kentucky Derby history, the 80-to-1 steed became the toast of the town — and along the way helped heal a racing world in a state of grave disrepair.

The race Rich Strike won is notoriously difficult to handicap, an exercise in unpredictability. As 20 3-year-olds vie for an edge in a crowded field, all betting rules are as suspended as famed trainer Bob Baffert is from the sport. More on him later.

Even the most experienced horse players, accustomed to the vagaries of the sport of kings, are stumped when it comes to Churchill Downs. Should one bet on a favorite? Lay down money on a long shot? How about exotic wagers that predict the order of the first two or three horses?

I boxed a three-way exacta on the 1-3-10 entries. That, to the uninitiated, is a bet that delivers victory if any of three horses — Mo Donegal, Epicenter, or Zandon, in this case — arrive at the finish line first and second.

And, indeed, Epicenter and Zandon, two of the favorites, were set to win until almost the very end.

Almost, that is, until a Venezuelan-born jockey named Sonny Leon struck it rich. In his first Derby run, Mr. Leon led the frisky, unknown Rich Strike to Derby victory.

Wait, Rich who? “An 80-to-1 bum beat us, and that was beautiful,” I told my horse svengali, Michael Minogue. 

Still, a shadow could have stalked the contest. Mr. Baffert, the Derby’s winningest trainer, has been banned from participating in the race. His horse-doping shenanigans have made him a pariah at almost every track in the land.

Yet, last month two horses he formerly trained, Taiba and Messier, won and placed, respectively, at the prestigious Santa Anita race in California. Trained now under Mr. Baffert’s former assistant, Tim Yakteen, both horses were in the small group of favorites to win the Kentucky Derby as well.

They didn’t, and some racing fans were quietly happy: Additional doubt about the sport is far from what Kentucky, or horse racing, needs. 

Mr. Baffert’s stain on racing is far from the only setback to the sport in recent years. Today’s race, for one, marked the first time since the start of the Covid pandemic that Churchill Downs hosted a full-capacity crowd for the Derby. 

Instead of doubt and fear pervading the track, a star was born out of nowhere, reviving what horse racing should be all about. It was a moment of bluegrass magic. 

A legendary trainer, D. Wayne Lukas, decided yesterday to scratch his Derby entrant, Ethereal Road, from the race. Rich Strike’s owner, Rick Dawson, was the beneficiary, discovering about 30 seconds before the deadline for entering that his unknown horse would become the 20th Derby entry, donning number 21.  

“We already made plans to work tomorrow and we’re going to head to the Peter Pan,” trainer Eric Reed, referring to a third-grade race at Belmont Park, New York, said. Instead, Mr. Reed headed to Churchill Downs to compete in racing’s most prestigious event.

After stunning every hat-wearing, julep-sipping person in Kentucky, Mr. Reed confessed that even he did not believe he could win with Rich Strike. Nobody gave a second glance to the late-entry with the longest odds in this first leg of the Triple Crown. 

Yet Mr. Leon’s magnificent come-from-behind run resulted in a three-quarter-length victory that garnered the coveted roses, and made Rich Strike the steed with history’s second longest odds to win the Derby.

“Anything is possible in horse racing, and anything is possible in Kentucky,” the state’s governor, Andy Beshear, said afterward.  

Anything, that is, except handicapping the Derby.