Desormeaux Gets Record and Goes On

Kent Desormeaux rose out of a slight slump at Laurel Race Course Thursday and rode three winners, breaking Chris McCarron’s single-year record of 546 winners, a mark that had stood for 15 years.

Desormeaux now has 548.

The victories sent Desormeaux’s three-year total of winners to 1,526.

He has dominated Maryland racing for three years and greeted the record, aboard Gilten in the fifth race, with a raised fist, a swing at an imaginary opponent and a moment of private exultation.

“Damn, we broke the world record,” he said aloud.

Then he faced interviews and cameras in a frenzy that Maryland jockeys rarely get to experience. It was a goal he first thought about three years ago, when he was a 16-year-old apprentice, just in from tiny Maurice, La.

“This became an obsession,” he said. “I’m glad I broke the record, but I’m anxious to ride. I wake up every morning and say, ‘I have to go to work,’ then I say, ‘No I don’t. I have to go ride some race horses.’ ”

Long after the last race at Laurel Thursday, when Desormeaux had finished 13th and last on Treasure Forever, the jockey said: “The adrenaline is still pumping. I’m still baking in my shoes. I’m breathless. I’m trying to feel the reality.”

When he came out for the fifth race, Desormeaux said he was oblivious to the chilly weather.

“I wore just a T-shirt (under the silks) and didn’t feel a thing. After I got back from the sixth race (he was second with Sconneltown Road) I said, ‘Man, it’s cold out there.’ But I had no idea until then.”

The excitement had been expected for days but after great fanfare, it subsided quickly. By the time Desormeaux reached winner No. 548, most of the cameras were gone and the interviews were about over. He will next go after 52 more winners before the end of the year.

Soon afterward, he will leave Maryland to ride in New York or California.

Desormeaux rode almost every day that he could in Maryland. He also took many forays to New Jersey for night-time mounts and added to the growing total with other weekend trips to stakes races.

In the last week, Desormeaux moved closer to the record by riding two winners Friday, two Saturday and one Sunday. Then he was shut out Tuesday, going zero for five.

He broke the record Thursday with several well-backed horses in a style that brought cheers to racing fans usually silent except when yelling for their own bets.

He tied the record on Lucked In, a filly, in the fourth race, and was rewarded with unusually loud applause from the crowd of 7,341.

As soon as he reached the winner’s circle and dismounted, he was surrounded by television camera crews and photographers out just for this occasion.

“We’ll be meeting again right here after the next race,” he said as he rushed away. “I’ve got another horse to ride.”

Then he went to the track on a filly named Gilten and came back the record-holder. Gilten led most of the way and won by three-quarters of a length. Desormeaux was excited to have ridden No. 547 on a horse trained by Charles H. Hadry.

“He’s one of the men who first helped us to get started and stuck with us,” he said. “When we were losing the bug (the apprentice weight allowance) Mr. Hadry said, ‘Look, if you promise to stay with us, you’ve got yourself an outfit.’ ”

In that outfit was Private Terms, who went on to win many stakes races and contribute greatly to the total of $20 million that his mounts have earned since Desormeaux began riding.

Desormeaux was also excited to get No. 548 in the eighth race on the gelding, Show Sum Respect, trained by King Leatherbury.

“We must have ridden 160 winners for Mr. Leatherbury this year,” he said. “Mr. Leatherbury and Mr. Hadry were a great help,” he said.