Kent Desormeaux all praise for the Kentucky Derby contender Dullahan
Veteran jockey, Kent Desormeaux has done it before, and not one or two, but three times he has been victorious in the Run for the Roses and only five other jockeys have gone on to land it more times than him, with three being Racing Hall of Famers.
Born on 27 February, 1970, in Maurice, Los Angeles USA, Kent Desormeaux was excellent in one of the major prep races for the Grade 1 Kentucky Derby, where he guided a solid looking Dullahan to an amazing run in the stretch to win the Grade 1, $750,000 Toyota
Blue Grass Stakes over the 2011 juvenile champ, Hansen, at the Keeneland’s synthetic surface on 14 April, 2012.
Desormeaux was asked to compare his previous Derby winners with the current Kentucky Derby contender, Dullahan, who might be the reason Desormeaux finds himself at the Kentucky Derby gate come 5 May, 2012.
“He (Dullahan) finishes better than the other three,” Desormeaux said. “With Fusaichi Pegasus, I had a dream trip and never cocked my stick. Every time I’d move for a hole, it would open so wide you could drive a Mack Truck through it.”
The three time Kentucky Derby winning jockey has won the event previously with Real Quiet in the 1998 edition of the Derby, Fusaichi Pegasus 2 years later in 2000 and his last Kentucky Derby came riding Big Brown in 2008.
However, he pointed out one quality in Dullahan which is rare in many colts at this point in their careers, let alone his Kentucky Derby winners, and that quality was that Dullahan is different because of her versatility, a crucial attribute which could
be a lot more useful in the Derby than it sounds.
“The other day (in the Toyota Blue Grass), he was with the pack for the first 100 feet, but I elected to take him back,” Desormeaux said. “I think he can be right in the thick of it; I’m not afraid of that.”
“I know one thing about him; at the quarter-pole he’s not going to raise the white flag. It will be more like the red flag to start the race.”
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