Derby winner Rich Strike faces another stiff test in Belmont Stakes

After so many things went right for Rich Strike to win the Kentucky Derby, he’ll likely need even more good fortune at the Belmont Stakes with so much stacked against him.

Rich Strike won’t go off at odds of more than 80-1 this time, but even after bypassing the Preakness to run in the final leg of the Triple Crown, he’s not expected to be the horse to beat in the field of eight. That distinction belongs to 2-1 morning line favorite We the People, a newcomer to the Triple Crown trail who could set the pace in the 1 1/2-mile race and thrive if it rains in New York on Saturday.

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If it’s a wet track similar to We the People’s romp to victory in the Peter Pan Stakes at Belmont Park last month, trainer Mark Casse doesn’t like anyone else’s chances.

“We’re all going to be running for second, even the Derby winner,” said Casse, who’s set to saddle Golden Glider in the Belmont. Golden Glider finished a distant second to We the People in the Peter Pan on May 14.

Rich Strike ran past 19 other horses in shocking fashion on May 7 to become the second biggest long shot to win the Derby. Even that took myriad factors to happen: sharp training at Churchill Downs the week before, the withdrawal of Ethereal Road to get into the field, a hot pace, the perfect trip and the kind of acceleration he had never shown before in a race.

“Is that his lifetime best? I don’t know,” retired jockey Jerry Bailey said. “History will only tell us that. But I think he’s going to have to run better than that, actually, to win.”

That’s in part because horses don’t typically run as fast early in the longer Belmont, which is known as the “test of a