Kent Desormeaux

Inglewood, Calif.--Kent Desormeaux is no longer the kid who tore through Maryland, first as a cocky adolescent, then as racing's latest wunderkind. He is much more a man. The teen-age blemishes are gone, the deep brown eyes are more intense, the cuteness has become California handsome.Experience, something he was once so short on, is also his. He has a history, a sensational past. When Kent Desormeaux, all of 21, speaks now, there is an added measure of credibility, something only time could give.

When I'll Have Another narrowly dodged being clipped by a rider-less horse who had gotten loose on the Belmont Park track last week, he avoided the sort of complication nobody had been talking about. Who could worry about something like that when there are so many other things that could go wrong? The final leg of the Triple Crown has proved, for almost a century, to be difficult enough without factoring in unruly horses. Eleven of the 30 colts who won the Kentucky Derby and Preakness managed to win the Belmont Stakes.

Edgar Prado can't remember the last time he took a day off. But he knows precisely why he's working seven days a week.The dominant jockey in Maryland throughout the 1990s, Prado is closing in on one of horse racing's most elusive marks. He is 50 victories shy of 500 in one year.Only three jockeys have ever topped 500. With 64 days left in 1997 and Prado winning a race or two or three a day, he seems assured of joining the exclusive 500 club."To reach 500 would be excellent," said Prado, a 30-year-old native of Peru.

Graham Motion can't help but hear snippets of news coming from Elmont, N.Y., where I'll Have Another is preparing for a shot at the first Triple Crown in 34 years. "It's great for the sport," the Fair Hill-based trainer said. "But for us, it's tough, too. The length that he won by at Preakness, we lost by that much last year. " Motion can take some solace in knowing the colt that gave him such a gallant run, Animal Kingdom, is finally headed back toward the race track.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- Kent Desormeaux was moving from one interview to another, still floating in the moment, when someone handed him his 4-year-old son, Joshua."

LOS ANGELES -- Kent Desormeaux is reliving his first Kentucky Derby victory.It's a week after the fact, but the feelings are still close to the surface. He's sitting at Los Alamitos Race Course having dinner with his wife, Sonia, and 5-year-old son, Joshua, and his voice goes hoarse with emotion.Specifically, he's recalling his thoughts as he crossed the finish line at Churchill Downs aboard Real Quiet.He remembered his first pony. His first ride. His first starts from the gate in Louisiana and Maryland.

9 Diabolical Ramon Dominguez Steve Klesaris 8 Bernardini Javier Castellano Tom Albertrani 7 Sweet- northernsaint Kent Desormeaux Mike Trombetta 6 Barbaro Edgar Prado Michael Matz 5 Brother Derek Alex Solis Dan Hendricks 4 Greeley's Legacy Richard Migliore George Weaver 3 Hemingway's Key Jeremy Rose Nick Zito 2 Platinum Couple Jose Espinoza Joe Lostritto 1 Like Now Garrett Gomez Kiaran McLaughlin

ARCADIA, Calif. -- Just when Kent Desormeaux was starting to look invincible, he did the rest of the Southern California jockey colony a giant favor Monday.He got Siam Ruler disqualified from first to last for interference in the last race of the Oak Tree season at Santa Anita, and will almost certainly face a five-day suspension early in the Hollywood Park meet that started today.One handicapper said he's still even money to win the riding championship there.Desormeaux, 22, capped his third straight Oak Tree title by gunning Missionary Ridge to the lead coming down the grassy hill and holding on to win the Carleton F. Burke Handicap in front of 15,993 fans.

ARCADIA, Calif. -- Although Kent Desormeaux was quicker to reach 3,000 wins than any other jockey in history, it took him a bit longer than expected to crest the plateau.Desormeaux, a former Maryland standout, had 2,999 wins Thursday, then was blanked at Keeneland on Friday and Golden Gate Fields on Saturday.On his home turf yesterday at Santa Anita Park, Desormeaux didn't waste much time. After finishing fifth in the first race, Desormeaux gained 3,000 with a victory on 6-1 shot Maisonsaire in the second.

Before yesterday, there was only one major omission on jockey Gary Stevens' resume.Stevens had won the Kentucky Derby three times and the Belmont Stakes once, ridden four winners in the Breeders' Cup and earlier this month was elected to the Thoroughbred Hall of Fame.But the Idaho native had gone 0-for-8 with previous Preakness mounts, finishing third five times, including last year on Editor's Note.That all changed at Pimlico yesterday, when Stevens got Silver Charm to stick his head in front of Free House in a stirring stretch duel, with favored Captain Bodgit only another head behind.

Kent Desormeaux will not ride Dullahan in the Belmont Stakes June 9, the Des Moines Register reported Monday . Javier Castellano, who leads all jockeys with $7.9 million in earnings this year, will replace the three-time Kentucky Derby winner. Desormeaux has struggled with alcohol problems in the past and failed a breathalyzer test last Friday at Belmont Park. He was pulled off Tiger Walk for the Preakness Stakes. “We are confident that Kent will address his issues and be back at the track better than ever and we hope to ride him when that happens,” Donegal president Jerry Crawford told the Register.

Kent Desormeaux, who was taken off his mounts Friday at Belmont after failing a Breathalyzer test, will not ride Sagamore Farm's Tiger Walk in the Preakness. Sagamore manager Tom Mullikin said Ramon Dominguez will get the ride. "We just can't have that," Mullikin said Friday after watching Sagamore filly Millionreasonswhy finish second in the eighth race. "We're trying to be professional. We don't need those distractions. " Dominguez is tied for the best winning percentage among all jockeys this year (with Javier Castellano, at 25 percent)

Rick Dutrow knows there's a difference coming into Preakness with a horse that has won the Kentucky Derby and one that didn't even make it to the starting gate at Churchill Downs. If anything, it might be a little easier for Dutrow coming to Pimlico for Saturday's race with Zetterholm than it was four years ago with Big Brown. "When you win the Derby, you have to ship to Baltimore and have to get ready to run in two weeks," Dutrow said by cell phone from New York earlier this week.

It's hot - but not too hot - and humid - but not too humid - here as 150,000 people make their way toward Churchill Downs, where the 138 th running of the Kentucky Derby will take place at about 6:30 tonight. Hard rain fell overnight, leaving the track sloppy in the morning and preventing any of the Derby's 20 contestants from going to the track (it has since been upgraded all the way up to fast). Graham Motion, the Fair Hill trainer who won the Derby last year with Animal Kingdom, had told me he hoped to take Went the Day Well out there.

Acting Happy, a lightly raced filly with the smallest earnings in the field, powered into the lead in the stretch and outran No Such Word to the finish line to win the $175,000 Black-Eyed Susan Stakes at Pimlico Race Course on Friday. The race was marred by an accident leaving the backstretch in which two jockeys were thrown and one horse went down, and the incident could have implications for today's Preakness. The problem started when Diva Delite clipped heels with C C's Pal and fell, throwing jockey Julien Leparoux.

ELMONT, N.Y. - -Kent Desormeaux and Calvin Borel not only took different paths around the track in Saturday's 141st running of the Belmont Stakes, with Borel going outside and Desormeaux hugging the inside, but the two jockeys also used different pre-race tactics. Desormeaux rode in a handful of early races on the card, winning three straight at one point, while Borel didn't ride until the Belmont. While Borel might have been better rested, Desormeaux said he felt as if the extra confidence he picked up from those victories helped him. He also got a good feel for the track, something Borel might not have had, considering he had not ridden in the Belmont Stakes before Saturday.

Kent Desormeaux, who was taken off his mounts Friday at Belmont after failing a Breathalyzer test, will not ride Sagamore Farm's Tiger Walk in the Preakness. Sagamore manager Tom Mullikin said Ramon Dominguez will get the ride. "We just can't have that," Mullikin said Friday after watching Sagamore filly Millionreasonswhy finish second in the eighth race. "We're trying to be professional. We don't need those distractions. " Dominguez is tied for the best winning percentage among all jockeys this year (with Javier Castellano, at 25 percent)

Edgar Prado's race toward 500 victories this year will be a prominent factor when Laurel Park stages $100,000 stakes events on three consecutive cards beginning Thanksgiving Day.A full field is expected for the opener of the rich weekend, the Grade III Anne Arundel for 3-year-old fillies at 1 1/8 miles. Prado will be aboard probable favorite Snit, who has won three straight.The Annapolis, a 3-year-old race at 1 1/8 miles Friday, will include Prado on another strong contender, the Carlos Garcia-trained Sharp Prospectus.

9 Diabolical Ramon Dominguez Steve Klesaris 8 Bernardini Javier Castellano Tom Albertrani 7 Sweet- northernsaint Kent Desormeaux Mike Trombetta 6 Barbaro Edgar Prado Michael Matz 5 Brother Derek Alex Solis Dan Hendricks 4 Greeley's Legacy Richard Migliore George Weaver 3 Hemingway's Key Jeremy Rose Nick Zito 2 Platinum Couple Jose Espinoza Joe Lostritto 1 Like Now Garrett Gomez Kiaran McLaughlin

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Two words tell the story: No whip. Not in the last quarter-mile, at least. Kent Desormeaux, the jockey of Fusaichi Pegasus, was so sure he was on the winning horse he didn't use his whip even once in the final furlongs of the Kentucky Derby yesterday at Churchill Downs. Even before "Pegasus" took the lead for good in the middle of the stretch, Desormeaux just sat back and let the colt run. Please understand. That just doesn't happen. Any jockey anywhere close to the lead in the stretch of the Derby usually beats a tattoo on the horse's side, offering a graphic portrait of just how desperately a win in America's greatest race is coveted.