Desormeaux: 'Knowledge is Power' in Belmont

Baffert trained Real Quiet, surprise winner of both the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness that year. Desormeaux rode the colt, making 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, Real Quiet opening a four-length lead in mid-stretch and 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, 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,” he said, “and I still think I’m going to win it.”