OAK TREE : Desormeaux Bounces Back at Oak Tree

Kent Desormeaux is back in familiar territory these days after sub-par meetings at Hollywood Park and Del Mar.

Santa Anita’s leading rider last winter is second behind Corey Nakatani in the jockey standings through the first 13 days of the Oak Tree season and Desormeaux is tied with Chris McCarron for most stakes victories with three.

This is certainly better than the previous five months. The three-time Eclipse Award winner struggled--by his standards--at Hollywood Park, finishing fifth in the standings. Then things got worse at Del Mar, where he was the leading rider in 1992 and ’93.

He won only 19 times in 197 rides. He won his only graded stakes race of the seven-week meeting on the final day, when Future Quest ran first in the Del Mar Futurity. Desormeaux was aboard the 2-year-old only because Alex Solis had chosen to ride Exetera, Future Quest’s stablemate, and Chris McCarron had opted for Cavonnier.

Now, a little more than a month later, Desormeaux, 25, is in pursuit of his fourth Oak Tree title in six years and winning on more than 20% of his mounts. He also is named to ride in five of the seven Breeders’ Cup races.

Gene Short, Desormeaux’s longtime agent, says the jockey is doing nothing different.

“At Del Mar, our major barns were cold and now they’re heating up,” he said. “It’s that simple. And when you start to win races, you start to get into other barns. Suddenly, everybody wants you.”

Desormeaux agrees he hasn’t changed anything, saying his lackluster Del Mar meeting resulted from a shortage of live material and was a carry-over from the Hollywood Park meeting, during which he had a falling out with trainer Bobby Frankel.

He says he knows why he struggled at Hollywood, where Nakatani ran away with the title.

“I had kind of a lazy, lackadaisical attitude there,” Desormeaux said. “I worked very, very hard [last winter] at Santa Anita and by the end of the meeting, I was burned out. I didn’t even want to see a horse.

“When Hollywood Park started, I shouldn’t have been there and I showed up anyway. I was just going through the motions. I should have taken two weeks off. I should have gone to Hawaii or Cancun or just stayed home.

“It just proves this is an eight-day-a-week, 32-days-a-month, 366-days-a-year business. You have to stay focused 100% of the time and I wasn’t focused at Hollywood.”

The youngest jockey to reach 3,000 victories, Desormeaux said his attitude improved heading into Del Mar and he was determined to make a serious run at being leading rider.

Instead, business was slow and he finished eighth in the standings, 29 winners behind Chris McCarron.

“It was very frustrating,” he said. “I felt like I gave everything I had and there was no production. I went there with the attitude of winning the meet and I didn’t do it. . . .”

Bolstered by the time off between Del Mar and the start of Oak Tree on Oct. 4, Desormeaux began the meeting strong, winning the Goodwood with Soul Of The Matter and then winning again with the now-injured Future Quest the opening weekend.

“It’s just a matter of getting off to a good start and having [owners and trainers] look at you [in a positive light] and everything snowballs from there,” he said.

He is also confident he is going to improve on his one-for-15 record in the Breeders’ Cup on Oct. 28. However, a victory by any of his five mounts--Soul Of The Matter in the Classic, Talloires in the Turf, Desert Stormer in the Sprint, Lakeway in the Distaff, and Gastronomical in the Juvenile Fillies--would be considered an upset.

“I think this is the most stellar group of horses I’ve ever ridden in the Breeders’ Cup,” he said. “Soul Of The Matter’s got a chance. We all have to beat Cigar, but he’s got to show up again. I think [Soul Of The Matter] can finish 1-2-3 and I wouldn’t be real distraught finishing second in that race.”

The Classic purse, of course, is $3 million.

“Gastronomical has a lot of work to do. I think she could improve five-10 lengths off her last race [third in the Oak Leaf]. I don’t feel either of the fillies that beat her that day [Tipically Irish and Ocean View] will beat her again and they’re considered contenders. I just don’t know if she’s on the same level as [Juvenile Fillies favorite] Golden Attraction.

“Talloires is going to win one of these big races. It may not be the Breeders’ Cup, but he will win one. I think everybody has a chance to win the Sprint, so Desert Stormer’s got a shot. Too much can happen in the Sprint.

“I know that Lakeway, on her best day, is very capable of beating those fillies and it could be her day to shine. I know what her capabilities are and I’m going to try to let her do what she does best--run.”

Horse Racing Notes

Corey Nakatani won four races for the second consecutive day Friday, including a $56.60 upset on Toll Road in the fifth race. Toll Road keyed a $2 trifecta worth $32,140.80. Seal Your Fate, a 48-1 shot, was second and 21-1 outsider Kay’s Darling was third. . . . Eddie Delahoussaye was absent Friday because of an upset stomach. . . . Kent Desormeaux will be at Keeneland today to ride Auriette in the $250,000 Queen Elizabeth Challenge Cup. The race will be simulcast between the second and third races at Santa Anita. . . . There is a Pick Six carry-over of $66,695.83 for today.