Kent Desormeaux

A highly competitive race looms in the Grade II, $200,000 Dixie, the turf showdown over 1 1/8 miles that will headline today's Preakness undercard.Included in the field are Sky Colony, second to Yagli in this event last year, Sharp Appeal, who has Edgar Prado in the saddle, and Elliott Walden-trained Merlin's Ring.Sharp Appeal has the highest lifetime earnings in the field -- more than $500,000 -- and was third in the 1997 Dixie behind Ops Smile. He finished second to Federal Trial in the Hialeah Turf Cup in his most recent outing.

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."

Edgar Prado may leave the racetrack, but never the horses.Thundering thoroughbreds in photos and paintings hang on the walls of his home in Woodstock. Cupboards and coffee tables gleam with equine trophies. In Prado's living room, a big-screen TV trumpets race after race from track after track, an endless montage of flying hooves.It's the jockey's day off, and he's immersed in the ponies.Prado, who on Friday celebrated a milestone -- 1,000 wins over two years -- watches videotapes of each victory not to savor the race, but to pick it apart.

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.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- When trainer Bob Baffert accepted the trophy last year for Silver Charm's thrilling victory in the Kentucky Derby, he said on national TV: "This is for Mike Pegram."His friend Pegram stood in the background, a grin plastered across his face.Yesterday, Pegram leaped from the shadows into the wondrous glow of the winner's circle when his horse Real Quiet, nicknamed "The Fish," won the 124th Kentucky Derby on a picture-perfect spring day here at Churchill Downs.The festive crowd of 143,215, many sipping mint juleps, was the third largest in Derby history.

After four races trying to record his 3,000th victory, Edgar Prado might have asked for a favor from above. The racing gods bestowed upon him a horse named Praise Heaven. What the gods giveth, Prado rideth home.At the end of a year when Prado joined the elite of his profession, the 30-year-old jockey won his 3,000th race aboard Praise Heaven in yesterday's fourth race at Laurel Park. After winning his 2,999th in Friday's seventh race, Prado's mounts fell short in Friday's last two races and in yesterday's second and third.

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.

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.

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.

Three weeks after winning his 500th race this year, jockey Edgar Prado is on the verge of another milestone: the 3,000th win of his career.Yesterday, Prado rode three winners at Laurel Park, leaving him one short of 3,000. Today, the 30-year-old jockey is scheduled to ride in nine of Laurel Park's 10 races -- all but the first race.Post time for the first is 12: 15 p.m. Prado's pursuit of 3,000 will commence in the second.After winning yesterday's third, fourth and seventh races for victories 2,997, 2,998 and 2,999, Prado had chances in the eighth and ninth for 3,000.

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.

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.

A highly competitive race looms in the Grade II, $200,000 Dixie, the turf showdown over 1 1/8 miles that will headline today's Preakness undercard.Included in the field are Sky Colony, second to Yagli in this event last year, Sharp Appeal, who has Edgar Prado in the saddle, and Elliott Walden-trained Merlin's Ring.Sharp Appeal has the highest lifetime earnings in the field -- more than $500,000 -- and was third in the 1997 Dixie behind Ops Smile. He finished second to Federal Trial in the Hialeah Turf Cup in his most recent outing.

Edgar Prado may leave the racetrack, but never the horses.Thundering thoroughbreds in photos and paintings hang on the walls of his home in Woodstock. Cupboards and coffee tables gleam with equine trophies. In Prado's living room, a big-screen TV trumpets race after race from track after track, an endless montage of flying hooves.It's the jockey's day off, and he's immersed in the ponies.Prado, who on Friday celebrated a milestone -- 1,000 wins over two years -- watches videotapes of each victory not to savor the race, but to pick it apart.

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.

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."

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- When trainer Bob Baffert accepted the trophy last year for Silver Charm's thrilling victory in the Kentucky Derby, he said on national TV: "This is for Mike Pegram."His friend Pegram stood in the background, a grin plastered across his face.Yesterday, Pegram leaped from the shadows into the wondrous glow of the winner's circle when his horse Real Quiet, nicknamed "The Fish," won the 124th Kentucky Derby on a picture-perfect spring day here at Churchill Downs.The festive crowd of 143,215, many sipping mint juleps, was the third largest in Derby history.

After four races trying to record his 3,000th victory, Edgar Prado might have asked for a favor from above. The racing gods bestowed upon him a horse named Praise Heaven. What the gods giveth, Prado rideth home.At the end of a year when Prado joined the elite of his profession, the 30-year-old jockey won his 3,000th race aboard Praise Heaven in yesterday's fourth race at Laurel Park. After winning his 2,999th in Friday's seventh race, Prado's mounts fell short in Friday's last two races and in yesterday's second and third.

Three weeks after winning his 500th race this year, jockey Edgar Prado is on the verge of another milestone: the 3,000th win of his career.Yesterday, Prado rode three winners at Laurel Park, leaving him one short of 3,000. Today, the 30-year-old jockey is scheduled to ride in nine of Laurel Park's 10 races -- all but the first race.Post time for the first is 12: 15 p.m. Prado's pursuit of 3,000 will commence in the second.After winning yesterday's third, fourth and seventh races for victories 2,997, 2,998 and 2,999, Prado had chances in the eighth and ninth for 3,000.