Desormeaux suspended three days over questionable ride

DEL MAR, Calif. – Jockey Kent Desormeaux on Monday was suspended for three days by Del Mar’s stewards for “failure to give his best effort to his mount and the public, costing him a better finish position,” as a result of his ride aboard Take a Leap in the fourth race here on Aug. 25.

Take a Leap, second for most of the stretch run, was caught in the final strides of that turf race and was nosed out for second, finishing third.

After initially speaking with Desormeaux on Aug. 26, stewards said they were turning the matter over to California Horse Racing Board investigators.

“They will talk to the trainer of the horse, the vets, and at the conclusion of their investigation decide if they should put forth a hearing,” John Herbuveaux, one of Del Mar’s stewards, said at the time.

But Herbuveaux and his colleagues, Grant Baker and Kim Sawyer, were subsequently told by their supervisor, the former jockey turned steward Darrel McHargue, that they were free to move forward without an investigation, and a second hearing was held on Sunday.

“We wanted to be fair, wanted to be thorough,” Baker said Monday.

Stewards suspended Desormeaux from Sept. 13 through 15, which are days when Los Alamitos will be running.

At the initial meeting with Desormeaux on Aug. 26, the stewards reviewed two specific portions of the race. They viewed tapes of upper stretch, where Desormeaux was aggressive with the whip, and then his actions nearing the wire, when he hand rode and flagged – or waved – the whip after looking back briefly at his trailing rivals.

Regarding upper stretch, Desormeaux “agreed that he hit the horse four times in a row, and he apologized,” Herbuveaux said at the time.

For that, Desormeaux was fined $200, as riders are not permitted to strike a horse more than three times without waiting for a response.

Regarding the final portion of the race, Herbuveaux said, “We heard his opinion regarding the last 100 yards, and took it under advisement.”

Take a Leap is trained by Jeff Mullins. He said the horse had come out of the race fine.

Desormeaux throughout his career has been repeatedly accused of not riding his mounts through the finish, and occasionally has been sanctioned. As far back as 1993, at Hollywood Park, he was suspended for five days for not riding out a mount. He had been fined $500 in 1992, and then $1,000 in early 1993, for similar issues.

At the fall meeting here in 2015, stewards voted 2-1 to not sanction Desormeaux after his mount What a View was caught in the final strides of a turf race and his effort was questioned.