Yearlong Record Chase Has Desormeaux With One Victory to Achieve

Kent Desormeaux’s yearlong record chase has endured two days of letdowns and disappointments.

Since pulling within one winner of Chris McCarron’s 15-year-old record of 546 victories in a year on Sunday, Desormeaux has ridden in 12 races without a visit to the winner’s circle.

That has made for 12 hopeful pre-race conversations with 12 trainers and 12 owners.

“They all say: ‘I hope it’s this one. I’d like to be in the circle when the record breaks.’ Right now they all want to be there when I tie it,” Desormeaux said after coming up empty Tuesday. (Story in Section C.)

“I can see the anticipation and desire to be there to enjoy the feeling of it all. Today (Tuesday) and all day (Sunday) it’s been a letdown to them.”

Laurel is dark today and Desormeaux, who has promised to stay in Maryland to break the record, has been named on horses in six of the track’s 10 scheduled races Thursday.

“It’s Christmas season, and my fiancee is off tomorrow, we’ll probably do some Christmas shopping,” Desormeaux said Tuesday. “We’ve got some things to do about the wedding and to go home for Christmas.

“We’ll just probably be out . . . tackling the malls, and just trying to forget about all this.”

Desormeaux will be trying to file away his second day of failing to equal McCarron’s mark. He came away without a winner in five mounts at Laurel Tuesday.

A day off can only do some good for Desormeaux, who has won once in his last 16 mounts, and has three winners in his last 26 mounts after averaging better than one winner in every four rides the rest of the year.

With 11 mounts on Sunday, including five favorites, Desormeaux won only once, giving him 545 victories in 1989.

“We’re still a long two away,” Desormeaux said. “It’s like the last two pounds of a diet. This is where it really gets tough.”

Desormeaux even heard a few boos after his final ride Tuesday.

“They’ve been really good up until the last race,” he said of the boo birds. “They know there wasn’t much stock today.”

Or much action for the rider who has been averaging eight or nine mounts a day. Three of the horses he was named to ride on Tuesday were scratched.

“I was a little upset,” he said. “It’s not usual for me to only ride five horses. We always do the best we can with what we have to work with. . . . We had three scratches. That would have been three extra shots. We’re playing to win. We only played half the time today.”