Keith Desormeaux ‘proud' that brother got help for alcohol problem
ELMONT, N.Y. – Keith Desormeaux, the trainer of Preakness winner Exaggerator, said he is proud that his brother Kent, the Hall of Fame jockey, has sought help for an alcohol problem and is hopeful that he will be ready to perform at his best when he rides Exaggerator in Saturday’s Belmont Stakes.
“His focus should be better,” Keith Desormeaux said Monday at Belmont Park. “I don’t quite know what to expect. I imagine it’s a change for the better. How can it not?”
Kent Desormeaux, 46, announced Saturday through his agent, J.R. Pegram, that he was attending a weeklong alcohol rehabilitation program at Cirque Lodge in Sundance, Utah.
“It was time to take a sober look at my life and take this step,” Desormeaux said in the statement.
Desormeaux was scheduled to leave that facility Monday and fly to New York, where he was to work Exaggerator on Tuesday morning at Belmont Park.
“I just spoke to Kent, and all his travel arrangements are made,” Pegram said Monday. “He sounds great, sounds better than he has in a while.”
Pegram said that Desormeaux will have a “faculty member” from Cirque Lodge with him for the next 10 days. Desormeaux is named to ride one horse at Belmont Park on Thursday, Shrinking Violet for trainer Wesley Ward in the $150,000 Intercontinental Stakes, and one on Friday.
Pegram said Desormeaux will have a few other mounts Saturday in addition to Exaggerator and could ride here Sunday as well. He is expected to return to California thereafter and start riding at Santa Anita on June 16, Pegram said.
Desormeaux’s last ride was at Santa Anita on May 30 at Golden Gate Fields.
Desormeaux has had his share of alcohol-related issues in the past. Last July at Del Mar, he was fined $2,500 by the stewards for riding under the influence of alcohol. He was also suspended 30 days but later received a stay of that suspension provided he did not incur another alcohol-related infraction through the term of his current license, Feb. 2, 2018.
Desormeaux failed breath tests at Woodbine in 2010 and again at Belmont Park in May 2012. As a result of the failed test at Belmont Park, Desormeaux was taken off Tiger Walk for the Preakness Stakes.
Keith Desormeaux said he was aware last week that his brother was going to enter the program.
“On a personal level, I’m glad to see him try to straighten up, which was an ongoing problem for a while,” he said. “I’m happy for him. We’re all proud of him for finally making the move. It can only affect in a positive manner what we’re trying to accomplish.”
Desormeaux ranks fourth all time in purse money won with $265 million and 19th all time in wins with 5,745. He has won the Kentucky Derby and Preakness three times each and won the 2009 Belmont Stakes on Summer Bird.
– additional reporting by Steve Andersen