Rich Miller’s Mountain Springs Farm was already full of some of the top Thoroughbred sires in Pennsylvania including Enticed and Uptowncharlybrown. When an opportunity came to acquire Kentucky Derby winner Rich Strike and bring him to his 200-acre property in Palmyra, he couldn’t say no.
“I wasn’t expecting it,” Miller said. “I was given the opportunity, and at the time I didn’t really want another stallion. I already had eight, but the more I thought about it, I just thought ‘Well hey, I’ll take a shot.’ ”
The 2022 Kentucky Derby winner will start his stud career in Pennsylvania standing for $6,500 with lifetime breeding shares separately available.
It's a big win for the state’s breeding program to get a Kentucky Derby winner’s first crop. Miller said there has also been some interest in Rich Strike for the Southern Hemisphere breeding season in South America.
A Chester County, Pennsylvania, Thoroughbred breeding farm will have two foals from Thoroughbred racing royalty American Pharoah in its paddocks by spring.
Miller and his syndicate partners’ new stud arrived in early January.
“He’s a very nice-made horse, well balanced, straight, correct,” Miller said after getting a first look at him in person. “I can’t really fault him at all to tell you the truth.”
The farm held a stallion show shortly after the second biggest long shot in Kentucky Derby history got settled in. While a lot of fans were there to see Rich Strike, they also got a look at the rest of the roster which includes Alejandro, 29-time winner Beverly Park, Eastwood, Tight Ten, Uncle Benny, Well Spelled, the aforementioned Uptowncharlybrown, a mainstay in the top-10 sires in Pennsylvania, and Enticed, who finished as the second-leading sire in 2024 in his first season in Pennsylvania.
“We had over 100 people here, it went really well,” Miller said. “We signed a bunch of contracts to several of the stallions. I think most of the stallion owners were pleased.”
Miller said the farm has earned a lot of interest with the addition of Rich Strike, but he expects Enticed to lead the way for him at stud this year based on his big 2024 results.
“I think we have enough pedigree here that there is something for everybody,” Miller said. “I think we are going to have a pretty good year. It’s probably more mares than I have ever bred with all these stallions.”
