Desormeaux is riding high

After years of ups and downs, jockey is sitting pretty atop Derby champion

His win in the Kentucky Derby brought Kent Desormeaux back to the top of the racing world. (Jamie Squire/Getty Images)

BALTIMORE - It is all so smooth now. Almost full circle from 21 years ago when, riding in Maryland, he earned an Eclipse Award as outstanding apprentice jockey and two years later won another Eclipse Award as outstanding jockey, a rare double.

For Kent Desormeaux, flush with the success of winning his third Kentucky Derby two weeks ago on Big Brown, coming back to Pimlico and Saturday's Preakness Stakes is another milestone in a career that has taken him from Louisiana riding quarter horses to learning his trade in Maryland to a higher profile in California and finally back to the East Coast, where he is trying to reestablish dominance.

It's a career that almost ended tragically with a spill, was damaged by his cockiness, and is now soaring again.

Ask Desormeaux about the glamour that comes with winning the Derby and compare it to the Preakness, and the answer might surprise you.

"Everyone knows how excited people get for the Kentucky Derby," said Desormeaux, who won the Derby and Preakness a decade ago on Real Quiet. "Well, I get just as excited or even more about the Preakness.

"I may have grown up in Maurice, La., but I grew up in the industry at Pimlico and Laurel Park. So to come back and ride in Maryland's signature event is really important to me personally."

If you want to know about the soul of Kent Desormeaux, look no further than "Casey's Shadow," a 1978 movie starring Walter Matthau about a down-on-his-luck Cajun trainer and his three sons trying to succeed in Louisiana quarter horse racing.

"That's how I grew up," said Desormeaux, who is long removed from his Louisiana days and two days away from attempting to take a second step toward the Triple Crown aboard Big Brown, the overwhelming 1-2 favorite in the Preakness. "I was raised on a bush track."

Having ridden three Derby winners, Desormeaux is now in the company of legendary jockeys such as Willie Shoemaker, Angel Cordero, Gary Stevens, and Eddie Arcaro.

But it has been anything but a smooth trip for the 38-year-old Desormeaux, who began riding quarter horses at Acadiana Downs, a track near his home run by his father, Harris.

"I was overconfident," said Desormeaux of a decade-long run in Maryland and California. He once won 598 races (in Maryland in 1989), still a record for victories in one season, and led the jockey standings 11 times in California. Desormeaux won so much and so quickly - in 1995, he became the youngest jockey to win 3,000 races; in 1997 the youngest to surpass $100 million in career earnings; and in 2001 the third youngest to win 4,000 races - that he lost focus.

Such as pulling up three times when he realized his horse would not win. Or the time he miscalculated the finish line. Acts that prompted a suspension from the racing commission, and booing from fans who questioned the integrity of his ride.

Perhaps the lowest point came in the spring of 1997, when he drew no mounts for the two premier races of the California spring season, the Santa Anita Derby and San Carlos Handicap. This for the rider known as the comeback kid after recovering from a spill at Hollywood Park in 1992 when he was thrown from his horse and trampled, causing skull fractures and deafness in his left ear.

By 1997, he had come back so well that he was by his own admission "overconfident." Even more damaging was that he was vocally cocky, which caused owners and trainers to avoid Desormeaux when they were looking for riders. And were it not for trainer Bob Baffert, who allowed him to ride several 2-year-olds during the Del Mar season of 1997, Desormeaux might have flamed out.

But when Baffert had Desormeaux ride Real Quiet in the spring of 1998, his career took off again. Real Quiet won the Derby and Preakness before being beaten by a head in the Belmont by Victory Gallop.

Two years later, Desormeaux won the Kentucky Derby for the second time, riding Fusaichi Pegasus, and again his confidence soared. As did his arrogance, so much so that when he started losing, he again had trouble getting mounts in California and spent three months a year riding in Japan.

Two years ago, he faced another career crisis as he left California and came East - this time to New York, uprooting wife Sonia and sons Joshua and Jacob, who suffers from a rare disease called Usher syndrome, which causes hearing loss and impaired vision.

In New York, and in Florida during the winter season, Desormeaux connected with trainer Rick Dutrow and Mike Iavarone, who train and co-own Big Brown, respectively. Desormeaux had ridden horses for Dutrow and Iavarone, but none that could be considered special.

"Kent had really gone down on his belly for us over the last year and ridden really hard," said Iavarone. "We went out to dinner and he said, 'When are you going to put me on a good one?'

"At the time, Big Brown was still struggling physically and I said, 'I might do something personal for you.' I spoke to his agent the next day and said, 'I'll give you the opportunity to ride him, but you have to commit to ride him through the Triple Crown.' "

Desormeaux quickly agreed. The first chapter was written two weeks ago in Kentucky, and Desormeaux has called Big Brown the best horse he has ever ridden. He says he is confident and nervous about Saturday's second leg of the Triple Crown.

"The butterflies are going to be there," said Desormeaux. "We just don't know how resilient the horse is. We don't know if he gets into a dogfight that he'll just say, 'Not this time. I'll catch you next time.'

"That's what is so awesome about the Triple Crown and the 11 horses who have accomplished the feat. It takes an absolute freak to be ready to go again in two weeks."

No matter what happens, it has been a remarkable trip that Desormeaux says is far from over, which isn't bad for a kid who started riding quarter horses at a dirt-water track in Louisiana 30 years ago.

Material from the Associated Press was used in this report; Mark Blaudschun can be reached at blaudschun@globe.com.