Kent Desormeaux nearing return to riding
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Hall of Fame jockey Kent Desormeaux plans to resume riding at Santa Anita on Saturday after a break of more than two weeks, he said on Wednesday.
Desormeaux, 53, worked a horse last weekend at Santa Anita after missing time earlier this month because of illness.
“I don’t know what this is,” he said. “It’s not the flu, it’s not Covid - I’ve tested myself several times.
“I’ve been under the weather. I was bed ridden for eight days. I’m never sick. This one got me.
“Hopefully, Saturday will be my return.”
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Desormeaux, who won 49 races in 2023, is winless in three mounts at the current Santa Anita winter-spring meeting, riding from Dec. 29 to Jan. 1. He was out of action for most of the last two months of 2023 to spend time with family in Louisiana.
Desormeaux is the only member of his family active in California racing.
His older brother, Keith, relocated a small group of horses from Santa Anita to Fair Grounds in the fall. Keith Desormeaux said on Wednesday that he will focus his stable’s activity in Louisiana and Kentucky in coming months, but said he could have runners at Del Mar in the summer.
Keith Desormeaux said that last fall his California stable shrunk to a level that made operating at Santa Anita too difficult financially.
“I lost a few horses and that sealed the deal,” he said. “That got me below 10 horses. Anytime you get below 10 with an assistant and rider, the economics do not make sense.
“I wish I could be there.”
In California, Keith Desormeaux has won such races as the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile in 2014 with Texas Red, and the Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby in 2016 with Exaggerator, who later that year won the Preakness Stakes and Haskell Invitational.
“I have nothing but fond memories of my time in California,” he said. “It totally changed the trajectory of his career.”
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