kent desormeaux | Horse Racing Free Tips

Desormeaux to be Subject to Breathalyzer Before Every Race Day or Morning

As a result of failing a breathalyzer test March 31 before the first race at Santa Anita, Kent Desormeaux will now be subjected to a breathalyzer test before every race day and every time he rides a horse in a morning exercise or work, according to a stewards' ruling posted Friday on the California Horse Racing Board's website.

A complaint posted on the site April 8 read, “On 3/31/2023, Jockey Kent Desormeaux failed an alcohol breathalyzer test administered by CHRB Investigators at Santa Anita Park prior to riding in the 1st race.” Desormeaux did not ride that day, but was back riding the following day, April 1.

A hearing date was set for May 18.

Friday, the stewards ruled: “Jockey KENT DESORMEAUX, having entered into a Settlement Agreement and Mutual Release with the California Horse Racing Board (CHRB) for violation of CHRB rules 1874 (Disorderly Conduct) and 1680 (Jockeys and Drivers to Report) on March 31, 2023, at Santa Anita Park, is placed on probation for the remainder of his license period, subject to the following terms and conditions of probation: He is placed on a testing agreement with the following conditions: (a) He will be tested by a CHRB investigator before entering the racetrack to exercise a horse or participate in a race. (b) On scheduled race days, he will report to the CHRB investigative office no later than 1.5 hours before the scheduled post time. (c) In the event CHRB investigators obtain a PAS reading detecting the presence of alcohol (Anything greater than 0.00) his license will be summarily suspended until a noticed hearing before a Board of Stewards is held and a ruling is issued. (d) Upon renewal of his Jockey license, a testing agreement will be part of his next license period.”

Desormeaux has had a long history of alcohol-related issues on and off the track. He missed most of 2022 after getting into an altercation in a parking lot at Del Mar when intoxicated. He was arrested in January and charged with domestic battery and abuse. He spent time in a rehab facility in 2016, and was back in an in-patient program in 2020.

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Proxy Gets ‘Last’ Laugh In Oaklawn Handicap

The names of some of this country's most accomplished Thoroughbred owners grace the honor roll as winners of the GII Oaklawn H., including Loblolly Stable, Greentree Stable, Allen Paulson, Golden Eagle, John Franks, Ogden Phipps, Jerry Moss, Pin Oak Stable and the late Oaklawn president Charles Cella.

Following the conclusion of nine sometimes rough-and-tumble furlongs Saturday in Hot Springs, you can now add the name of Godolphin to the list, as the operation's immaculately bred 5-year-old Proxy (Tapit) stormed down the center of the track and managed to outfinish defending champion Last Samurai (Malibu Moon) by a head, with the hard-knocking GI Santa Anita H. hero Stilleto Boy (Shackleford) another unlucky nose away in third.

Sent off the 37-10 third pick, Proxy was sporting cheekpieces and landed in fourth position into the first turn, as Stilleto Boy showed slightly more speed than Classic Causeway (Giant's Causeway), who applied the pressure from the outside. On the back of 'TDN Rising Star' Charge It (Tapit), blinkered for the first time and very erratic through the opening stages, Proxy was guided into the clear by Joel Rosario a turning into the backstretch. Racing as many as six paths off the inside approaching the entrance to the second turn, Proxy was asked to pick it up a bit at the seven-sixteenths, but there wasn't much of a response, as Last Samurai improved at the rail.

When longshot Senor Buscador (Mineshaft) commenced a sharp rally of his own that saw him overtake Proxy to his inside, that seemed to serve as a wake-up call and Proxy jumped back into the bridle while widest into the lane. In the meantime, Stilleto Boy had left the rail open, and leading rider Cristian Torres tried to send Last Samurai through a razor-thin opening, appearing to bounce off the fence at the furlong grounds and ricocheting off the rail to brush with Stilleto Boy and consequently putting Charge It in tight. But all the while, Proxy had worked up a full head of steam, was zeroing in on the leaders while out of harm's way down the center of the track and was shoved across the line first.

“I knew there was enough speed to set up his late run,” said winning trainer Michael Stidham. “The way it went, with Charge It sitting right in behind them [speed horses] and us outside of him, the only concern was turning for home it looked like he was trying to drop out of it again. But Joel [Rosario] had him out there for a reason, to stay out from behind the dirt.”

A fringe player on the Louisiana road to the Triple Crown two years ago, Proxy was third in last year's GIII Ben Ali S. and filled the same spot behind Olympiad (Speightstown) in the GII Stephen Foster S. before returning from a 4 1/2-month break to defeat West Will Power (Bernardini) in the GI Clark S. in November. He was a non-threatening fifth in the GI Pegasus World Cup Jan. 29 ahead of the Big 'Cap, where he got home well, but the wire came a couple of strides too soon.

Pedigree Notes:

Proxy's dam, a $260,000 purchase by Glencrest Farm out of the 2006 Keeneland April Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training, was one of the more versatile performers of her generation, winning the GII Black-Eyed Susan S. on conventional dirt in May 2007 and the GI American Oaks on turf two months later before doubling her Grade I tally in that year's Juddmonte Spinster S. over the Keeneland all-weather.

Panty Raid was purchased by John Ferguson on behalf of Sheikh Mohammed's operation for $2.5 million at the 2008 Fasig-Tipton November Sale, but took some time to make her mark in the breeding shed. Her first foal of note was Proxy's year-older half-sister Micheline, a Grade II winner on turf and second in the GI QE II Challenge Cup at Keeneland. Panty Raid, whose full-sister St. John's River went excruciatingly close in the 2011 GI Kentucky Oaks, is the dam of the 2-year-old colt Out in Force (Frosted) and a yearling filly by Into Mischief. Panty Raid was among the first book of mares bred to Tapit's two-time Eclipse Award winner and 'TDN Rising Star' Essential Quality.

Saturday, Oaklawn

OAKLAWN H.-GII, $1,000,000, Oaklawn, 4-22, 4yo/up, 1 1/8m, 1:49.68, ft.
1–PROXY, 122, h, 5, by Tapit
                1st Dam: Panty Raid (MGISW, $1,052,380), by Include
                2nd Dam: Adventurous Di, by Private Account
                3rd Dam: Tamaral, by Seattle Slew
O/B-Godolphin (KY); T-Michael Stidham; J-Joel Rosario. $620,750. Lifetime Record: GISW, 16-5-6-2, $1,775,970. *1/2 to Micheline (Bernardini), GSW & GISP, $695,103. Werk Nick Rating: A+++. *Triple Plus*. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree. Click for the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–Last Samurai, 123, h, 5, Malibu Moon–Lady Samuri, by First Samurai. ($37,000 RNA Ylg '19 KEESEP; $175,000 2yo '20 OBSMAR). O-Willis Horton Racing LLC; B-Stonestreet Thoroughbred Holdings LLC (KY); T-D. Wayne Lukas. $191,000.
3–Stilleto Boy, 122, g, 5, Shackleford–Rosie's Ransom, by Marquetry. ($420,000 3yo '21 FTKHRA). O-Steve Moger; B-John & Iveta Kerber (KY); T-Ed Moger, Jr. $95,500.
Margins: HD, NO, 2 3/4. Odds: 3.70, 2.80, 5.80.
Also Ran: Senor Buscador, Charge It, Classic Causeway, Rated R Superstar. Click for the Equibase.com chart and the TJCIS.com PPs. VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.

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CHRB On Santa Anita Turf: ‘Back To Normal And Safe’

On the day before racing at Santa Anita is scheduled to resume Friday with five turf races following an 11-day break that had been planned before recent grass-course drainage issues arose, staffers with the California Horse Racing Board (CHRB) deemed the turf to be ready to handle horses.

The last two dates that Santa Anita had raced, Apr. 8 and 9, a total of five turf races had to be swapped from the “firm” grass course to the “fast” main dirt track because of slippage problems on the far turn.

That Apr. 8 card was the meet's premier race date, featuring the GI Santa Anita Derby and its undercard stakes. But when Midnight Jostar (Midnight Lute) lost his footing and fell at the top of the stretch, unseating jockey Kent Desormeaux, one remaining late-card Grade III stakes and two allowance races got transferred to the main track.

The trouble spot was then aerated overnight and jockeys walked the course with track management on Sunday, Apr. 9. They rode four races over the “firm” course, but continued complaints slipping and bobbling necessitated the removal of two later races from the course.

Scott Chaney, the CHRB's executive director, said Apr. 20 both the fallen horse and jockey ended up being “perfectly fine” and that the removal of turf racing was “completely the right call” by track management.

But Chaney did add that from a standpoint of inconvenience, “it certainly wasn't a good look for [Santa Anita] and it was bad for the wagering public.” He termed the mid-card need to remove races from the turf on a cloudless, non-raining day to be “less than ideal, and frankly Santa Anita lost a fair amount of money because of it.”

Chaney continued: “The current explanation is that it was wet, therefore slippery, [and] that water was not draining well enough through the turf course. My understanding is that that's partly because they've changed the composition because of the inordinate amount of rain. So it can take more rain, but it doesn't drain quite as well.

“There was no racing this week. We've been getting daily reports from our safety stewards on the grounds there about the measures they've taken in terms of aeration and [the addition] a substance that promotes drainage on the turf course,” Chaney said. “I know they worked three horses [Wednesday] morning [and everybody] seemed happy with how that was supposed to go. ”

CHRB equine medical director Jeff Blea concurred with Chaney.

“It's frustrating for those owners. It's frustrating for the betting public, and those trainers as well. I heard a lot of those frustrations,” Blea said. “But, as Scott said, there were some issues with horses slipping on one area of the racetrack around that turn. The stewards decided, and I think they made a good decision, in the safety of the horses and riders, to take it off the turf.

“I know Santa Anita was affected paramountly with the loss of wagering,” Blea said. “[But] they've gone through, they've evaluated and looked at what the problem was [and concluded] that the turf was back to normal and safe.”

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Afternoon Deelites, Bacharach’s Best Runner, Dies at Old Friends

Just six days after the passing of his owner Burt Bacharach, Afternoon Deelites, a six-time graded-stakes winner, was euthanized Feb. 14 at Old Friends, the Kentucky-based Thoroughbred retirement farm, due to complications from colic. He was 31.

Old Friends President and Founder Michael Blowen announced his passing Wednesday morning.

The dark bay stallion, who was the farm's oldest resident, was just two weeks shy of his 31st birth date.

Bred by Blue Seas Music Inc., the son of Private Terms–Intimate Girl, by Medaille d'Or, was foaled in West Virginia on Feb. 28, 1992. For his entire racing career he was owned by Bacharach, trained by Richard Mandella, and ridden by Kent Desormeaux. He ran nine of his 12 races at West Coast tracks.

Afternoon Deelites opened his racing career in spectacular fashion, winning his first five races between 1994 and 1995, four of them stakes races.

He broke his maiden as a 2-year old in 1994, winning a maiden special weight race at Santa Anita on Oct. 23. Next out, he won the GIII Hollywood Prevue Breeders' Cup S. to earn his first graded stakes win, and followed that up with a win in the GI Hollywood Futurity, defeating future Kentucky Derby winner Thunder Gulch.

In 1995 as a 3-year old, Afternoon Deelites continued his winning streak with victories in the GIII San Vicente Breeders' Cup S. and the GII San Felipe S. His final win in 1995 was in the GI Malibu S. He was second in the GI Santa Anita Derby, and eighth in the GI Kentucky Derby.

At four, Afternoon Deelites won one of his four races, the GII Commonwealth Breeders' Cup S. at Keeneland. In his final career start, he finished second in the GI Metropolitan H. at Belmont Park on May 27.

Following that race, Afternoon Deelites was retired with seven wins, three seconds, and $1,061,193 in earnings in 12 career starts. He won six of the 11 graded stakes in which he ran..

Afternoon Deelites began his stud career in 1997 at Brereton Jones's Airdrie Stud in Midway, KY, and stood there through 2003. He then moved to Clear Creek Stud, LLC, in Folsom, LA, where he stood the rest of his career.

His top progeny included graded stakes winners Zappa, Three Hour Nap, and Miss Pickums. He also sired recently deceased Old Friends retiree Popcorn Deelites, who starred in the 2003 movie Seabiscuit, based on the best-selling book by Laura Hillenbrand.

Afternoon Deelites was pensioned in 2011, and sent to Old Friends courtesy of Val Murrell of Clear Creek Stud.

“Afternoon Deelites was a beautiful friend,” said Blowen. “I remember Kent Desormeaux standing in front of his stall a few years ago saying 'Michael, I won the Kentucky Derby on Real Quiet, Fusaichi Pegasus, and Big Brown, and this is the fastest horse I ever rode.' And he was one of the best retirees who ever called Old Friends home.

“Thanks to Burt, his ex-wife, Angie Dickinson, and his widow, Jane, for loving Afternoon Deelites as much as we did.”

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