Desormeaux Likes Dullahan's Versatility

Kent Desormeaux is looking at a chance to make some major Kentucky Derby history on May 5 and he has high praise for the horse that may take him there: Toyota Blue Grass (G1) winner Dullahan.

Desormeaux is one of six riders to win the Run for the Roses three times and only fellow Racing Hall of Famers Eddie Arcaro (five), Bill Hartack (five) and Bill Shoemaker (four) have won more. Desormeaux won on Real Quiet (1998), Fusaichi Pegasus (2000) and Big Brown (2008).

“He (Dullahan) finishes better than the other three,” Desormeaux said when asked to compare Dullahan to his Derby winners at this stage of their careers. “With Fusaichi Pegasus, I had a dream trip and never cocked my stick. Every time I’d move for a hole, it would open so wide you could drive a Mack Truck through it.”

Desormeaux likes the versatility of Dullahan.

“The other day (in the Toyota Blue Grass), he was with the pack for the first 100 feet, but I elected to take him back,” Desormeaux said. “I think he can be right in the thick of it; I’m not afraid of that.”

In Dullahan’s most recent start at Churchill Downs, he finished fourth in the Grey Goose Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (G1) after being bumped at the start and forced to the back of the 13-horse field.

“He made a seven-eighths (of a mile) run that day,” Desormeaux said. “I know one thing about him; at the quarter-pole he’s not going to raise the white flag. It will be more like the red flag to start the race.”