HOLLYWOOD PARK : Desormeaux Is Kicked in Head by Horse After Being Thrown

Kent Desormeaux, who leads the nation’s jockeys in purse money, will probably be sidelined for at least a week after being kicked in the head by a horse in a second-race spill Friday at Hollywood Park.

Desormeaux was taken to Centinela Hospital Medical Center, where he was kept overnight while being treated for head trauma. The 22-year-year jockey also suffered head cuts and bruises when he was unseated in a bizarre finish to a six-furlong maiden race for $32,000 claiming horses.

Judge Hammer, the 3-year-old gelding Desormeaux was riding, was about a length ahead and only a few strides from winning the race. Gary Henson, the track announcer, had already called Judge Hammer the winner when the 3-5 favorite ducked sharply to the outside, dumping Desormeaux.

Cartagena Slew, behind Judge Hammer, kicked Desormeaux as he went by. Babyeyes won the race and Cartagena Slew finished third.

A track spokesman said that Desormeaux never lost consciousness and appeared to be coherent before he was taken to the hospital.

Winless in five starts, Judge Hammer has raced erratically before. In his first start, on Dec. 1, 1991, he swerved to the outside in the stretch at Hollywood Park, unseating jockey Mike Smith. In a race at Bay Meadows early this year, Judge Hammer drifted to the outside in the stretch and on Nov. 29 at Hollywood, the first time Desormeaux rode him, Judge Hammer finished second even though he drifted in with a sixteenth of a mile to run.

Desormeaux is a two-time Eclipse Award winner who began the week with 358 victories and $14.2 million in purses. About $600,000 short of breaking the purse record, set by New York-based Jose Santos in 1988, Desormeaux has been riding regularly in California and flying to tracks in Maryland, Louisiana and elsewhere in an effort to break the record.

With 598 victories, Desormeaux holds the record for most in a year, set when he was based in Maryland in 1989.

Desormeaux was scheduled to ride Gray Slewpy, one of the favorites in today’s $100,000 Underwood Stakes, and on Sunday he was to ride Jolypha in the $500,000 Hollywood Turf Cup. Later Friday, two horses scheduled to be ridden by Desormeaux won their races with substitute jockeys.

The day started at Hollywood Park with jockeys Alex Solis and Corey Nakatani calling in sick, and some of the riders who did work shared in Desormeaux’s bad luck.

In the first race, a horse stumbled and fell approaching the three-eighths pole and her jockey, Daniel Quezada, suffered a broken left collarbone in the spill. Another jockey, Corey Black, was thrown as his horse tried to avoid the fallen horse. Black and both horses were not seriously injured.

After that race, a horse ridden by Frank Alvarado kicked the jockey as she was being unsaddled. Alvarado was treated at the hospital for a bruised right knee and released.

Then, before the fourth race, Campo’s Christine, a 130-1 shot, dumped jockey Laurie Gulas during the post parade. Gulas got back on, riding the 2-year-old filly to a last-place finish.

Trainer Bobby Frankel, unsuccessful in trying to beat Fraise twice this year, likes his chances Sunday in the $500,000 Hollywood Turf Cup.

Frankel is optimistic about both of the 3-year-old fillies he has entered, Jolypha and Revasser, and is skeptical of Fraise’s chances because of the way the 1 1/2-mile grass race sets up.

“This is not a tough race,” Frankel said. “Fraise? There’s going to be no pace for him, and I don’t see how he can win. He doesn’t quicken when he runs.”

Brash words, for Fraise will go off favored after his victory by a nose over Sky Classic in the $2-million Breeders’ Cup Turf at Gulfstream Park on Oct. 31.

Seven horses are entered in the Turf Cup, but Frankel has indicated that he won’t run both of his fillies.

“I’ll take a look at the track and then decide,” he said Friday. “Revasser is by Riverman (a European stakes winner) and should run good when it’s soft.”

Bien Bien, a 3-year-old colt who lost a photo finish to Paradise Creek in the Hollywood Derby on the grass last month, drew the inside post, with Chris McCarron riding. McCarron is now winless in 18 Hollywood derbies, but has been exceptional in the Turf Cup, winning with Miss Alleged last year, Frankly Perfect in 1989, Alphabatim in 1984 and John Henry in 1983.

McCarron also came within a length of beating Itsallgreektome with Mashkour, a 20-1 Frankel trainee, in 1990. Itsallgreektome, second behind Miss Alleged last year, will be held out of Sunday’s race because of leg and eye injuries suffered in a stall accident Monday.

The other entrants, in post position order, are Tel Quel, with Gary Stevens; Campagnarde, Corey Black; Trishyde, Alex Solis; Revasser, Eddie Delahoussaye; Fraise, Pat Valenzuela; and Jolypha, whose rider, Desormeaux, will not be available.

Under the weight-for-age conditions, Fraise and Tel Quel will carry 126 pounds. Campagnarde, a 5-year-old mare, will run with 123 pounds. Bien Bien’s assignment is 122 pounds and Frankel’s horses and Trishyde, also a 3-year-old filly, drew 119 pounds apiece.

Horse Racing Notes

Because of continued rain, Hollywood Park has switched its two grass races to the dirt on today’s card. . . . Bill Mott, Fraise’s trainer, said that his horse prefers firm footing. . . . Because of common ownership, Fraise and Campagnarde are coupled for betting purposes in the Turf Cup, as are Jolypha and Revasser.