Desormeaux brothers team up to take Osunitas with Cozze Up Lady

DEL MAR, Calif. – They had won races together before, even some lesser stakes, but not until Saturday did trainer Keith Desormeaux and his brother, Hall of Fame jockey Kent Desormeaux, team to win a stakes at Del Mar. They did it in concert with Cozze Up Lady, who pulled off an 11-1 upset in the $103,250 Osunitas Stakes for older female grass runners.

Cozze Up Lady ($24.20) was prominent from the start of the 1 1/16-mile grass race. She stalked pacesetting Yahilwa early, dueled that one into submission after seven furlongs, and held off a late bid from 32-1 Warren’s Veneda to win by a half-length.

Rhagori, an 8-1 chance, was another 1 1/4 lengths back in third. Premier Steps, the lukewarm 3-1 favorite in the field of 12, was fifth.

Cozze Up Lady completed the distance on firm turf in 1:39.95, just .43 of a second shy of the course record. The new turf course installed before this meet has produced fast times thus far.

“Anytime we win is gratifying, because we’re not going to get that many more chances,” Keith Desormeaux said, citing that his brother’s career, as a jockey, does not have as long a horizon as his training career.

Kent Desormeaux said the biggest obstacle Cozze Up Lady overcame was breaking from post 10.

“She had the speed to put herself in a great spot,” Kent Desormeaux said. “The turf is fast, she’s fast.”

Cozze Up Lady, 5, has now won 7 of 16 starts, including 3 of 7 on turf. She raced here once previously, in 2012, when third in the Sandy Blue Handicap for 3-year-old fillies. In four starts earlier this year, she raced at Fair Grounds, Keeneland, Churchill Downs, and Arlington Park.

Bret Calhoun is the usual trainer of Cozze Up Lady, but he sent her to Keith Desormeaux at Del Mar for the summer. Keith Desormeaux has 15 horses here.

“I can’t take any credit. She just got here a week ago. Bret did all the work,” Keith Desormeaux said. “But it won’t say that on the trophy!”