Desormeaux

[miller17]

I think he thought he was second a quit riding, he didn't see Ice Box, who had a brutal trip, coming and when he did it was too late.

[bisket]

classic deseaurmaux: quites riding when he shouldn't. beats a horse to a pulp when he's a clear winner. he's the only rider i know that could get brown beat against that crowd in the belmont.

[Tom]

He could have gotten BB beaten in a walk over.
The guy is something else.

[Donnie]

I agree 100% with this assessment of his ride....there was no reason for him to quit urging Paddy all the way to the wire!! Not taking anything away from Ice Box. Why the hell did Kent look back with only 50 ft to the wire?? DRIVE to the wire. If I were the owners I would ask for the difference in purse money lost to come from his share! That was a $200K backward glance!

[PhantomOnTour]

I have been a defender of Desormeaux for a long time now. He caught a lot of heat at Sar a few years back (from bettors) for not persevering when the win wasn't attainable. I pointed to the fact that he had the highest ITM% that year at Sar. Lots of Cali players said they were glad he left for NY. He's won 3 Ky Derbies and damn near a Triple Crown.
But whatever the heck he pulled today was unacceptable. He passed Noble's Promise and Kent paused to pull his goggles down, then cocked his whip and paused again for a sec, looked under his arm(as if he heard someone comin) and then got busy again...too late. That's how Calvin got caught on Street Sense in the Preakness vs Curlin. Looking back instead of pumping to the wire. No excuse...it's the Ky Derby. There's 18 horses behind you.

[Market Mover]

I think he thought he was second a quit riding, he didn't see Ice Box, who had a brutal trip, coming and when he did it was too late.


He's done this many times before. If he keeps it up, he'll join Jerry Bailey as two riders with the fastest quit if the win is not attainable...there's a place in the Hall-of-Fame for these crooks?

[Stillriledup]

Kent is trying to defend his ride, but the one thing that i was concerned about (from the point of view of the bettors who needed him to finish 2nd) was why was he looking under his arm? Why was he 'fixing' his goggles? Just put your head down and ride. Don't look around, dont fix the goggles, just ride for your life. Those are 20+ million dollar exacta pools.

Does anyone know if Churchill fined Kent for 'lack of effort'?