Fair Grounds notes: Keith Desormeaux following familiar path with Flat Gone

NEW ORLEANS – With three victories last weekend, trainer Keith Desormeaux continued to make his presence known at this Fair Grounds meet.

On Jan. 25, Desormeaux saddled two winners, including the 3-year-old Flatter colt Flat Gone. His 2 1/2-length win against maidens at a mile and 70 yards has Desormeaux aiming him at the Risen Star on Feb. 22.

Last Sunday, Desormeaux scored with a $55.80 winner when the 3-year-old filly T Lo ran away with a mile and 70-yard race for $12,500 maiden claimers by 6 1/4 lengths.

“We had indications, but if it was that easy to know that a horse would run that big at 30-1, I’d have been retired a long time ago,” Desormeaux said.

At the 2012-13 Fair Grounds meet, Desormeaux finished ninth among trainers in wins and 10th in purse earnings. For all of 2013, his 51 victories and $1,308,756 in earnings established single-year highs in a training career that began in 1991. He has maintained momentum at this meet. Through Thursday, he was in a four-way tie for fifth in the trainer standings in wins with 13 and ranked 10th in earnings at $253,030.

“There’s no secret,” said Desormeaux, 44, who is from Maurice, La. “Years of experience, quality help, and owners who invest with confidence. Not only with confidence, but they have enthusiasm for the game at all levels.”

A key owner in Desormeaux’s 25-horse, blue-collar operation is Texan Matt Bryan, who races under Big Chief Racing. Bryan won the Grade 2 Risen Star last year with Ive Struck a Nerve, who paid $272.40 and gave Desormeaux his first graded stakes winner.

Ive Struck a Nerve hasn’t raced since then. In a workout a few weeks later, he fractured a sesamoid in his left front ankle. He’s getting fit under April Mayberry in Ocala, Fla., and Desormeaux said he hopes to have him back at Fair Grounds on March 1.

“He was young when he did it,’’ he said. “This injury usually heals up nice when they’re young.”

Heading toward the Risen Star, Flat Gone, owned by the syndicate Don’t Tell My Wife Stables, has taken a career path similar to Ive Struck a Nerve’s pre-Risen Star run.

Ive Struck a Nerve finished sixth and third in maiden races at Del Mar in his first two starts. Flat Gone finished fifth and fourth in maiden races at Del Mar in his first two starts.

Ive Struck a Nerve then ran in Grade 1 company, finishing ninth in the Del Mar Futurity. Flat Gone also moved to Grade 1 company as a maiden making his third start, finishing fifth in the FrontRunner Stakes at Santa Anita, five lengths behind winner Bond Holder.

“The horse had indicated to me class and ability,” Desormeaux said. “If a horse is sound and mentally strong and fit, I don’t mind taking a shot with him. I may have to adjust my thinking: Am I going about it the right way? That’s my style. I like to run them.”

Still a maiden, Ive Struck a Nerve ran fourth in the Jean Lafitte at Delta Downs in his fifth start. Flat Gone was third in the Jean Lafitte, a prep for the Delta Downs Jackpot, as a maiden making his fourth start.

Ive Struck a Nerve didn’t run in the Jackpot. He won his maiden in a sprint for 2-year-olds at Fair Grounds before finishing second in the Sugar Bowl and fourth in the Lecomte en route to the Risen Star.

Flat Gone was ninth in Jackpot, in which he was atypically rank, Desormeaux said. Then, in a maiden race on a sloppy track Dec. 22 at Fair Grounds, Flat Gone was beaten by 21 lengths. Because of unusual circumstances that day – the horses were in the paddock for 45 minutes, and the rest of the card was canceled – Desormeaux considers the race a throw-out.

Flat Gone’s most recent performance supports the point, and the Risen Star seems like a logical next step to Desormeaux.

“I don’t see why not,” he said. “I’ll be at my customary spot at 50-1.”

Freeze keeps horses inside

The recent freezing weather that kept many New Orleans-area residents inside also kept Fair Grounds horses in the barns. The track was closed for training Tuesday morning as the freeze was approaching, and there was no training on a frozen surface Wednesday and Thursday. Racing resumed Thursday afternoon.

Some horses can get stir-crazy, said Sally Pierce, assistant to her husband, trainer Malcolm Pierce.

“But don’t we all?” she said. “We’re probably a little more used to it, because we’re used to bad weather.”

The Pierces are from Canada.

During the freeze, horses were ridden around shed rows and walked.

“They’re all different personalities,” Stuart Clilverd, assistant to trainer David Carroll, said Thursday morning. “Some are laid-back. Some are more hyper. But generally, they’re all doing pretty good. They are getting fresh. They’ve been locked up for three days.’’

Freshness was more of a concern than fitness, Clilverd said. A fresh horse might be more nervous in the paddock than usual, he said.