ARCADIA, Calif. – Jockey Kent Desormeaux, who is scheduled to ride Preakness Stakes winner Exaggerator in the Belmont Stakes in New York on June 11, is currently undergoing an alcohol rehabilitation program in Utah, according to a statement released by Santa Anita publicity.
Desormeaux, 46, made the announcement Saturday through his agent, J.R. Pegram.
“It was time to take a sober look at my life and take this step,” Desormeaux said in the statement.
Belmont Park
Weather: Overcast
Track: Fast
Temp.: 70
Elmont, N.Y. – The Roman(s) Empire took center stage on the Belmont Stakes watch Saturday morning, with CHERRY WINE and BRODY’S CAUSE working within minutes of each other shortly after the renovation break, the pair proving to be a study in contrasts during their final major preps for the Belmont Stakes.
ELMONT, N.Y. – To this point, Brody’s Cause and Cherry Wine have performed at their best in races where the pace was swift and they could sit back and make one run.
Dale Romans, who trains both horses, realizes that the pace in next Saturday’s $1.5 million Belmont Stakes will be markedly slower than what these horses have previously experienced, at least in their respective tries in Triple Crown races.
On Saturday at Belmont Park, Romans worked both horses with the purpose of sharpening them up in order to lay somewhat closer to the early pace.
Belmont Park
Weather: Cloudy
Track: Fast
Temp.: 67
ELMONT, N.Y. – Finally, some serious action to report on the Belmont Stakes watch, with nine of the potential 12 starters on the grounds. Three worked Friday and five others visited the racetrack for varying degrees of exercise.
Skies were overcast, and some light rain fell briefly after the renovation break, with both the main and training tracks remaining fast throughout the morning.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Stradivari was the wild card entering the Preakness Stakes. Brilliant in his first two starts this year, Stradivari was sent off as a solid third choice in the wagering for the middle jewel of the Triple Crown behind Kentucky Derby one-two finishers Nyquist and Exaggerator.
Most of the horses contesting the 2016 Triple Crown series arrived at the barns of their trainers roughly a year ago as 2-year-olds almost ready to begin their careers. With the exception of some homebreds, Thoroughbreds are generally foaled, raised, broken to saddle, and in some cases consigned and sold by other individuals prior to arriving with their racing connections.
Belmont Park
Track: Fast
Weather: Clear
Temp.: 66
ELMONT, N.Y. – It was a relatively quiet morning on the Belmont Stakes watch here Thursday, with the favorite, Exaggerator, getting a day off from training, Lani doing little more than walking after having breezed the previous day, and a trio of recent arrivals – Preakness runner-up Cherry Wine, stablemate Brody’s Cause, and Creator – all getting themselves acclimated to their new surroundings.
As one of the sharpest jockey agents in the history of racing, Ron Anderson has won plenty of tight photos in major races over the years, but his closest call came a little more than a year ago, and it wasn’t even on the track.
Anderson was experiencing some pressure in his chest and was summoned to his doctor’s office to do a treadmill test. The rest is a blur – into an ambulance, right to the hospital, then surgery for a quadruple bypass the next morning.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Lani may be shedding his reputation as the bad boy of the Triple Crown.
A horse who gave his handlers fits before the Kentucky Derby, would act studdish around fillies and mares, and was tough around the gate, Lani has been on his best behavior at Belmont Park.
If he didn’t wear a saddle towel with his name on it and didn’t make four laps around the track every day, it would be hard to distinguish him from any other horse.
Nyquist, whose bid for a Triple Crown ended with a third-place finish in the Preakness Stakes at Pimlico on May 21, was scheduled to resume jogging at Pimlico on Thursday in advance of a flight to trainer Doug O’Neill’s base at Santa Anita on Sunday.
The winner of the Kentucky Derby on May 7, Nyquist was declared from the Belmont Stakes last week after he was found to have a high white blood cell count. O’Neill said on Wednesday that Nyquist has responded to treatment and will have light exercise before being flown to California.
