Veteran jockey Kent Desormeaux and his mount, veteran 5-year-old gelding Stilleto Boy, were the perfect pair when they entered the gate on Saturday in the Grade 1 Santa Anita Handicap. With the Hall of Famer Desormeaux in the midst of resurrecting his career and Stilleto Boy frequently a major player in graded races but rarely the winner, the duo proved an inspired combination to score the upset win in a thrilling renewal of the marque event for older horses on the Santa Anita calendar.
The win led the panel of racing experts to vote Desormeaux Jockey of the Week for Feb. 27 through March 5. The award recognizes jockeys for riding accomplishments and who are members of the Jockeys' Guild, the organization which represents more than 1050 active, retired and permanently disabled jockeys in the United States.
Trainer Ed Moger, Jr. reconnected with Desormeaux for the Santa Anita Handicap after Mike Smith, who had ridden Stilleto Boy in the Pegasus World Cup Invitational on Jan. 28, chose to ride Hopper in the Big Cap. Desormeaux had ridden Stilleto Boy in five stakes races in the second half of 2021.
Breaking sharply from post position four in the field of nine, Stilleto Boy raced a close fourth at the rail behind There Goes Harvard, race favorite Defunded and Hopper as they ran into the far turn. Turning for home, Stilleto Boy had There Goes Harvard to his inside with Defunded and Hopper in front of him. Stilleto Boy collared Defunded in the final sixteenth and held off a late charge from Fair Grounds invader Proxy to win by a neck. He Completed the 1 1/4-mile course in 2:01.96, paying $29.80 for the win.
“I just wanted to let him run out front, but they shut me off and we had to settle back,” said Desormeaux. “Everything else, I followed Ed Moger's instructions. He wasn't enjoying himself, so we moved out and he kept going,”
The win was Desormeaux's third in the Big Cap after Best Pal in 1992 and Milwaukee Brew in 2002.
The multiple Eclipse-award winner Desormeaux, 53, has been back riding since November, restarting his career after his well-chronicled off-track troubles. Desormeaux was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2004 and has won seven Triple Crown races and six Breeders' Cup races. His 598 wins in 1989 is a record that still stands today.
Other contenders for Jockey of the Week included Kazushi Kimura who won the G1 Kilroe Mile, Jose Lezcano who won the G2 Gotham, Irad Ortiz, Jr. who was the leading rider for the week by wins with 14 as well as total and stakes purse earnings, and Flavien Prat with two graded stakes wins.
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