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Kent Desormeaux Completing In-Patient Treatment For Alcohol Abuse; Hopes To Return To The Saddle Dec. 26

The Daily Racing Form has reported that Hall of Fame jockey Kent Desormeaux is in the midst of an in-patient treatment program for alcohol abuse, and that the program is the most intensive program he has been a part of thus far.

Desormeaux's highly successful career has been comparatively erratic in recent years, and the rider has made no secret of his struggles with alcohol. Most recently, he was suspended following an incident at Del Mar when, according to a California Horse Racing Board complaint, he got into a physical altercation with a TVG cameraman while intoxicated and shouted repeated racial slurs at the man. The Form reports he has completed his suspension for that incident but the CHRB's ruling also required him to be evaluated by the Winners Foundation, a California-based organization that works with backstretch workers battling addiction.

Desormeaux checked himself into Pasadena's Impact House Oct. 1 and is scheduled to complete his program in mid-December. After that, he will be part of a sober living program for 60 days and continue with outpatient treatment for six months.

Sheppard To Send String Of Steeplechasers To Ireland

Hall of Fame conditioner Jonathan Sheppard will send six of his steeplechase horses to compete in Ireland for the first time this year, according to the Racing Post. The outlet reported last week that Sheppard, a native of Hertfordshire, will have assistance from jockey Ger Galligan and assistant trainer Keri Brion with the string, which will be based at James Doyle's barn in Wexford.

Galligan said top runner Winston C will be among the Sheppard representation headed to Ireland and will be pointing for a race at Cheltenham.

According to the Post, only American-trained steeplechaser to win over the jumps in Britain so far is Lonesome Glory, who triumphed at Cheltenham in 1992 and again at Sandown in 1995.

Hugh McMahon Gets Career Win No. 1,000: ‘Everything That We Have Is A Gift’

Larry Rabold's Polished Gal provided trainer Hugh McMahon with his 1,000th career victory in thrilling fashion, getting her nose down on the wire ahead of late-running Splendor Gal in Sunday's sixth race at Laurel Park in Laurel, Md.

Polished Gal ($8.60), a 4-year-old Maryland-bred filly ridden by Victor Rosales, ran six furlongs in 1:12.93 over a fast main track to earn her fourth lifetime win from 19 starts in the claiming event for fillies and mares 3 and older.

Rosales settled Polished Gal in third as Midnight Crossing led the way through splits of 24.86 and 47.92 seconds before being passed by 6-5 favorite Gottaflathaveher midway around the far turn. Once straightened for home, Polished Gal steadily reeled in Gottaflathaveher down the stretch and held off a furious late run to her outside by Splendor Gal for the milestone victory.

McMahon, a 52-year-old native of Doncaster, England, has won with four of his last nine starters, winning once on each of Laurel's four racing programs this week. Polished Gal – his only starter on Sunday's card – was preceded by Paynterbynumbers Nov. 19, He's Zippin On By Nov. 20 and Gary Doing Biz Nov. 21.

“I'm excited. It's a significant landmark,” McMahon said. “It's humbling as well. I was just speaking with one of our grooms and he congratulated me and I told him it's not really me, it's a team, But, we're more than a team, we're a family. My name is up there but it's not really me. There are a lot of people that are involved in this, but more than anything it's God's gift to us. Everything that we have is a gift.”

A steady presence among Maryland's leading trainers since first going out on his own in 2011, McMahon was the state's overall wins leader in 2013. This year, one abridged by the coronavirus pandemic, he has 33 wins from 206 starters with purse earnings of more than $930,000. McMahon has topped the $1 million mark in each of the past nine years, with highs of 166 wins and $3.981 million in 2013.

McMahon is currently tied for fourth with nine wins from 37 starters at Laurel's calendar year-ending fall meet, which began Oct. 8.

McMahon was introduced to the sport by watching the races on television with his father, a coal miner in northern England. He was encouraged to become a jockey and attended the riding academy there, winning 59 races after coming to the U.S. in the 1990s before hanging up his tack in 1998.

In 2005 McMahon became an assistant to trainer Scott Lake, at the time running one of the biggest operations in the country with a peak of 287 horses in 2008. McMahon worked for Lake, a winner of more than 6,100 career races, through 2010, having saddled 108 winners in his own name starting with Flying Retsina Run June 9, 2005, at Pimlico Race Course at odds of 35-1.

McMahon won 98 races the first year on his own and followed with seasons of 146, 166 and 108 wins from 2012-14. He won individual meet titles at Laurel's 2013 winter and fall stands and shared its 2014 winter crown, and has also been the leading trainer at Timonium and Colonial Downs.

Ranked third overall in 2012, McMahon's 74 wins led all Maryland trainers in 2013. His first big horse was Don'tgetsuspicous, who he inherited from Lake and trained to 10 wins, three in stakes, and $324,817 in purse earnings from 28 starts from 2010-12.

Other top horses for McMahon include 2018 Dave's Friend winner Colonel Sharp, 2017 Jameela winner Daylight Ahead and 2017 Camptown winner Northern Eclipse. He trains a 5-year-old Maryland-bred gelding named Brooks Robinson for owner-breeder Mary Boskin and helped facilitate a meeting between the horse and its namesake, a Hall of Fame third baseman for the Baltimore Orioles from 1955-77, in mid-February.

“A lot of what gets lost is that we wouldn't be here if it weren't for the owners. I've been lucky to have a lot of great owners over the years that have carried us, especially through the dry spells,” McMahon said. “They've been very loyal to us, even through the losing streaks, and gotten us where we are.”

Notes: Jockey Sheldon Russell bookended card with wins in Sunday's opener aboard Bound for Broadway ($6.40) and the eighth-race finale with Champagne Toast ($29) … Live racing returns with a special Thanksgiving Day holiday program Thursday. Post time for the first of eight races is 11:25 a.m. … There will be carryovers of $9,593.05 in the 20-cent Rainbow 6 and $5,237.62 in the $1 Super Hi-5 wagers. Tickets with four of six winners in Sunday's Rainbow 6 each returned $218.28.

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Glatt On 1,000-Win Milestone: ‘You’re Only As Good As Your Help And I’ve Been Very Fortunate”

Asked if the countdown days to his milestone win – from 990 to 1,000 – were nerve-wracking or business-as-usual, trainer Mark Glatt went with the latter.

“You do think about it when you're a few wins away and when you enter (horses) you have a pretty good idea of what your chances are,” Glatt said. “I knew we were getting close and I thought that maybe it would happen sooner than this because we've had a tremendous amount of seconds this year as it turns out.

“I knew it was going to happen and I was just looking forward to when it did.”

Win No. 1,000 happened for Glatt in Friday's third race at Del Mar racetrack in Del Mar, Calif., when Zestful ($6.40), with Edwin Maldonado in the irons, went wire-to-wire as the second choice in the betting and was 2 ½-lengths clear of favored Potantico at the wire in the 1 1/8-mile allowance/optional claimer.

“I thought this horse had a really good chance,” Glatt said of his only representative on the eight-race card. “On paper it looked like he could get a pretty easy lead, which he did, and luckily the other riders left him alone. When he gets that kind of trip he can be double tough.

“Also, it was his first start off a long layoff which is oftentimes a horse's best start.”

If, outwardly, Glatt took the milestone victory in stride, his responses in interviews afterward showed how he valued it inwardly.

“It is real important and a very nice accomplishment,” Glatt said. “We work extremely hard to train and race these horses and there are a lot of ups and downs. This is certainly an up, and we're going to enjoy it.

“The big ones (race wins) you remember more, but they all count and they all feel the same in that moment when your horse crosses the finish line first.”

Glatt, 47, grew up on a farm in Auburn, Wash., about 30 miles south of Seattle. His father, Ron, was a racehorse trainer throughout the Northwest. He served as an assistant to his father and others, took out his training license soon after graduation from Western Washington University at the age of 21, and has gone from the Pacific Northwest to Northern and then Southern California circuits, the last move coming in 2000.

“I grew up with horses and I knew at a very young age that there wasn't going to be anything else that I really wanted to do,” Glatt said. “This isn't going to a factory and doing the same thing day after day. A new challenge is almost a daily occurrence. It's the love of the horses that keeps us all going and to get to work with horses and be outdoors – how can you beat it?”

Glatt was dutiful in pointing out that it was not an individual accomplishment.

“You're only as good as your help and I've been very fortunate to have very good assistants and a heck of a crew,” Glatt said. “And I've been fortunate to have (owners) who have given me quality horses to train, have been loyal and have stuck with me through the good times and the bad.”

The beauty of recording No. 1,000 at Del Mar was that his entire family was able to be on hand to witness it.

“There are times when I've got to be away at a sale or something and the most important thing is I was able to be here and have my family here with me,” Glatt said.

But a family celebration was not in immediate plans.

“This is kind of a tough time of the year,” Glatt said. “I've got a lot of workers (this) morning at Santa Anita and then I've got to get back down here because I've got six entered here in the afternoon.

“So we'll be on the road a lot. Maybe Sunday evening we'll find time to celebrate.”

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