Preakness Stakes-winning jockey Kent Desormeaux has gone to alcohol rehabilitation but will return in time to ride Exaggerator in the Belmont Stakes next weekend. And in that moment, the grin on the Louisiana native’s face further stretched.
Advertisement
Kent has seven Triple Crown victories on a Hall of Fame resume and still holds the US record for races won in a single year with 599 in 2009.
“I would say Brody is the more talented, but Cherry Wine is on the improve, “. Now it’s time for the year-after-Pharoah Belmont next Saturday, with no Triple try, no Nyquist and certainly no sellout.
While debating which sophomores have the stamina to handle going 1¼ miles for the first time is annual rite of Kentucky Derby season, brilliant horses have shown pedigree can be outrun going 10 furlongs.
The wow moment of a repeat Triple Crown vanished in the Preakness, when Exaggerator defeated Kentucky Derby victor Nyquist. Two weeks later, he ended a personal 0-4 record against undefeated Nyquist with a 3½-length win in the Preakness, also in the slop. “You get a good foundation in the preps and then the Derby or the Oaks, a real good conditioning foundation you need to run a mile and a half”. His grand sire and grand dam – A.P. Indy and Afleet Alex – both won the Belmont Stakes.
Assistance arrived, and after almost 30 minutes pondering options and readying all into position, the horse – named Pimm’s Cup, who is trained by Ken McPeek – was extricated and walked to the awaiting horse ambulance.
There are a couple horses that I think will have no problem with the distance. Think what percentage of the race that was. A two-time victor with Rags to Riches (2007) and Union Rags (2012), he was last aboard Materiality in 2015 and did not finish aboard Ride on Curlin in 2014.
“Very close for Giacamo”, track announcer Tom Durkin exclaimed, surprised to see the come-from-the-clouds Kentucky Derby victor stalking the Belmont pace in 2005. Both trainers announced their intent to send their runners to NY for the Belmont.
“It’s a logical move for us if you’re not set on the Preakness”, said Todd Pletcher, who trained both Rags to Riches and Palace Malice and has Destin on a similar schedule this year, as he watched his horses train at Belmont Park. Unlike Suddenbreakingnews and Brody’s Cause, he tends to run close to the pace and could be on or near the lead which could be an advantageous position with only one confirmed pace setter in the field.
Advertisement
He also failed a breathalyzer at Woodbine in 2010 and one at Del Mar last July. Stewart has a pair of 30-1 long shots in Forever d’Oro and Seeking the Soul. Romans will send out Preakness runner-up Cherry Wine (8-1) and Derby also-ran Brody’s Cause (20-1), victor of the Blue Grass Stakes. He told Bloodhorse that they had dinner together the Tuesday after the Preakness and that he suggested “that he call a very fine doctor and interventionalist in Los Angeles, which he agreed to do, and I told him I would go with him”. Look back at Belmont charts and you’ll see closing winners like Jazil (2006) and Afleet Alex (2005) lingering near the back of the pack down the long Belmont backstretch, but by the time they hit the second turn, they’re already rolling.
