BALTIMORE — A little before boarding Big Brown for the Preakness, Kent Desormeaux doubled back to the jockeys’ room. Realized he had to go grab a piece of missing equipment: his whip.
Turned out, Desormeaux would have been just fine without it on Saturday.
There was no need to push this horse. All Big Brown’s jockey had to do was take a couple of quick looks at the fading pack to see just how large their margin of victory would be.
“I started slowing him down and watching TV — make sure nothing went crazy,” Desormeaux said after Big Brown’s 5¼-length victory.
The 38-year-old Desormeaux led Big Brown to the Preakness’ winner’s circle only two weeks after he guided the colt to a thrilling 4¾-length victory in the Kentucky Derby. The victory sets up a Triple Crown try at the Belmont Stakes in three weeks, where a victory would culminate the ride of a lifetime for the horse’s owners and fans.
“There are so many hurdles,” Desormeaux said of Big Brown’s chance to become racing’s 12th Triple Crown winner and the first since Affirmed in 1978. “I can’t wait to find out what happens.”
Desormeaux’s been at this point before. This time, the jockey wants to finish what he started. Ten years ago he suffered a crushing near-miss at racing history. Now, Desormeaux has one more shot at winning the Triple Crown.
In 1998, he rode trainer Bob Baffert’s Real Quiet to nearly a four-length lead at the Belmont, only to have Victory Gallop catch him in the final stride of a sensational stretch run and win the race by a nose.
“It’s very comparable,” Desormeaux’s wife, Sonia, said of 1998 and ‘08. “But winning as impressive as (Big Brown) has been, it’s definitely a lot more exciting for all of us.”
Desormeaux called Big Brown the best horse he’s ever ridden, even better than Real Quiet. But can the horse win that elusive Triple Crown? Steve Cauthen, the jockey who rode Affirmed, the last Triple Crown winner, thinks so.
“When you can win geared down like Kent had (Big Brown), it’s amazing,” Cauthen said. “The thing is, I think somebody said today if (Big Brown) gets boxed in and gets dirt in his face, maybe that would stop him, but he’s proven that doesn’t bother him.”
Win the Triple Crown, and an ordinary jockey’s life would never be the same. Desormeaux seems fit to handle all the chaotic changes that come along with grouping your name with such winners like Cauthen or Ron Turcotte. That will be nothing, Desormeaux said, compared to his past professional disappointments, which have been a mere blip compared to the personal hardships in his family. His 9-year-old son Jacob was born with Usher syndrome, a genetic disorder that stole the boy’s hearing at birth and is slowly robbing him of his sight.
“I’m thankful that I’ve been blessed with three beautiful people and a freak of a horse,” Desormeaux said.
That freak horse could provide what the sport has been waiting for these past 30 years: a sweep of the Derby, Preakness and Belmont and history’s 12th Triple Crown winner.
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