Desormeaux rallies Stilleto Boy to 13-1 upset win in Big 'Cap

With his first victory in Santa Anita’s signature race for older horses coming 31 years ago, jockey Kent Desormeaux, 53, added a third Santa Anita Handicap win to his Hall of Fame resume Saturday when he coaxed 5-year-old gelding Stilleto Boy to a neck triumph over eastern invader Proxy.

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Trained by Ed Moger and owned by his brother Steve, Stilleto Boy, a well-beaten third in last year’s Big ’Cap, got the 1 1/4 miles in 2:01.96.  The Grade I, $500,000 race was run for the 86th time Saturday under an increasingly cloudy sky and blustery conditions.

Breaking sharply from the No. 4 post, Stilleto Boy relaxed into a nice rhythm and a close fourth at the rail in the run to the far turn. With Desormeaux niggling to the chestnut son of Shackleford while two from the rail leaving the three-furlong pole, Stilleto Boy had There Goes Harvard to his inside and race favorite Defunded and Hopper in front of him by about two lengths turning for home.

From there Stilleto Boy managed to overhaul Defunded, who had spurted clear by a length a sixteenth of a mile out, and he held off a valiant late charge from Midwestern shipper Proxy in a thriller.

“I just wanted to let him run out front, but they shut me off, and we had to settle back,” Desormeaux said. “Everything else, I followed Ed Moger’s instructions. He wasn’t enjoying himself getting hit by dirt, so we moved out, and he kept going. At the (seven-sixteenths pole), I asked him for his best, but there was nowhere to go. Then at the (five-sixteenths), I asked him again, and he made the drive. I was yelling at him and pushing him, and he gave me everything. I didn’t know until two jumps prior to the wire that we were going to get there.”

Most recently third, beaten by 5 3/4 lengths going 1 1/89 miles in the Pegasus World Cup Invitational (G1) at Gulfstream Park on Jan. 28, Stilleto Boy returned to steady training at his Golden Gate Fields base, which Moger noted as an advantage given the fact training was repeatedly interrupted at Santa Anita by protracted wet weather.

A huge overlay off of his 5-1 morning line, Stilleto Boy was off at 13-1 in a field of nine older horses and paid $29.80, $11.00 and $4.40.

With the Californian (G2) ranking as his lone graded-stakes win before Saturday, Stilleto Boy broke through with his first Grade 1 triumph in his ninth try and collected $300,000. Out of the Marquetry mare Rosie’s Ransom, Stilleto Boy has career earnings of $1,711,675 from an overall race record of 21: 4-4-8.

Trained by Michael Stidham and ridden by John Velazquez, Proxy, who shipped in from Fair Grounds in New Orleans, rallied wide from far back to get up for second by a half-length over Defunded on the wire. Off at 3-1, Proxy paid $4.60 and $2.60.

The 6-5 favorite with Juan Hernandez riding for Bob Baffert, Defunded tried to make every pole a winning one, but he tired just a bit late to check in third, 1 1/2 lengths in front of stablemate Hopper, and paid $2.40 to show.

With Moger getting his first Santa Anita Handicap win at age 67, Desormeaux, who has been beset with personal issues the past few years, added Stilleto Boy’s score to previous Big ’Cap victories with Best Pal in 1992 and Milwaukee Brew in 2002.

I’ve come full circle. I just have to stay clean. It’s up to me,” Desormeaux said. “It took a lot of bravado for the owner and trainer to let me ride the horse again. This horse, I’ve always known him as a good horse, a great horse. I willed him to win today.”

Early fractions for Saturday’s race were 23.34, 46.16, 1:10.72 and 1:35.10.