Desormeaux, Imperative a Winning Team

It’s not just politics that makes strange bedfellows. Horse racing runs a close second, for instance:

Agent Danny Thomas and Kent Desormeaux recently parted company, but it was Thomas who booked the Hall of Fame rider on former claiming horse Imperative in the Grade II San Antonio Stakes on Feb. 8.

In the San Antonio, Desormeaux rode the hair off the son of Bernardini, who was beaten a desperate half-length at 26-1 by 15-1 shot Blingo, with odds-on favorite Game On Dude nearly seven lengths back in fifth.

With Desormeaux aboard in the March 8 Santa Anita Handicap, Imperative would finish a well-beaten seventh behind Game On Dude, almost 18 lengths back at odds of 35-1.

Fast forward to Saturday night at Charles Town, West Virginia. Trainer George Papaprodromou gives Desormeaux a leg up on 26-1 outsider Imperative against Game On Dude and five other rivals in the $1.5 million Charles Town Classic.

Desormeaux scores what he calls “his biggest victory” with a length-and-half triumph. Thomas, meanwhile, is on the outside looking in, since Mike Ciani now is Desormeaux’s new agent. But Thomas is in line for the agent’s share of Desormeaux’s cut of the $1 million that goes to winning owner KM Racing Enterprise, Inc.

“I saw Imperative was nominated to the San Antonio, I saw the probable lineup for the race and I saw his past performances,” Thomas recalled Sunday morning. “I thought he could run some. George said the horse had been working well and it looked like Game On Dude and Blueskiesnrainbows could soften each other up on the lead, and felt Imperative had a shot in the San Antonio, especially with a rider like Kent, who can get horses to run for him.

“I’m grateful to George for keeping Kent on for the Charles Town Classic. It’s not always easy for the connections of a longshot to run in a big race like that against a heavy favorite. I feel vindicated after last night’s race. All the hard work really paid off.”