Desormeaux extols the virtues of knowing the dimensions of Belmont Park

Desormeaux extols the virtues of knowing the dimensions of
Belmont Park

Kent Desormeaux has come up short twice at Belmont Park on Triple Crown hopefuls (Benoit Photo) If there’s ever been a tougher beat than Real Quiet’s in the 1998 Belmont Stakes, any dedicated racing fan would be hard-pressed to find one. Not in a major race, anyway. And not, assuredly, in the minds of Bob Baffert and Kent Desormeaux. The Baffert-trained Real Quiet, winner of both the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness that year, was ridden by Desormeaux, who made early moves at the three-eighths pole to capture the first two legs of the Triple Crown comfortably. He made the same move in the Belmont and Real Quiet opened a four-length lead in midstretch, looking like a proverbial cinch with the wire in sight. But Victory Gallop and Gary Stevens refused to pack it in, closing inches from the head of the interminably long stretch. The two horses were separated by an eyelash at the finish. It was so close, no one was sure who won.

But it was Victory Gallop by a nose. Sixteen years later, the 1998 Belmont
remains one of the most controversial races ever. Some critics say it was pilot
error that cost Real Quiet the Triple Crown, although Stevens has absolved
Desormeaux, saying Real Quiet was inclined to pull himself up once he got an
easy lead.

Baffert is less committed to that opinion, but did posit that noise from fans
at the inner rail in deep stretch caused Real Quiet to lose just enough focus to
cost him victory.

All this would have nothing to do with the price of tea in China if
California Chrome and his jockey, Victor Espinoza, weren’t on the threshold of
possibly becoming the first Triple Crown winners since Affirmed and Steve
Cauthen in 1978. All they have to do is win the mile-and-a-half classic at
Belmont Park a week from tomorrow with the whole world watching.

If Desormeaux and Baffert set a record for replaying the 1998 Belmont and
expecting a different result, no one could blame them. It’s that hard to accept.

Perhaps it’s the three races in five weeks, the fresh horses targeting the
Derby and Preakness winner, or that marathon Belmont course. Desormeaux believes
the latter.

“I think it gets everybody,” said the Hall of Fame rider, who is making a
resurgence at Santa Anita at the age of 43. “It gets the riders, it gets the
horses, it gets the trainers, everybody involved, especially the first time
they’re on it.

“They don’t realize how obscure the circumference of that track is. There’s
mass confusion about it. Knowledge is power in that situation and I think
everybody on the team needs to realize how different Belmont is.”

Familiarization, then, is an advantage?

“Definitely; absolutely,” Desormeaux said. “I know I rode two that I would
have assumed to be cinches (Real Quiet, and Big Brown in 2005), but the racing
gods weren’t in our favor. California Chrome will have to run to win it. He’ll
have to run.”

Desormeaux is pleased with the success he’s enjoyed to date at Santa Anita,
where he is a three-time champion and ranks eighth all time with 1,027
victories.

“I’m very happy with the move so far,” he said. “I’m overwhelmed.”

Still, he’d be the first to admit that the stigma of the 1998 Belmont is a
wound that will never heal.

“I’ve watched the race a thousand times,” Desormeaux said, “and I still think
I’m going to win it.”

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