The first time Kent Desormeaux came to this venerable old racetrack, he was a kid from the bayou, barely removed from Louisiana bush track match races where boys like him, as part of their early lessons, rode against horses strapped with bags of rocks, or a rooster, and sometimes a monkey. He was the Cajun Kid, who won nine riding titles in Maryland and still holds a single-season record for victories here – 599 of them in 1989. Now Desormeaux, 38, is a Hall of Fame jockey, a hard-knocks one. He moved his wife and childhood sweetheart, Sonia; and his two boys, Joshua, now 15, and Jacob, 9, to New York from California two years ago. Desormeaux had gone sour out West and needed to be reminded what it felt like to be on a good horse. As the sun dimmed here Saturday, and he was peeking under one shoulder and then the other, looking for somebody – anybody – to come and get him, Desormeaux knew that he was on a great horse, not a good one. Big Brown had floated him around the track; they had maybe an eighth of a mile to go and, lord, if Desormeaux did not feel his colt had sprouted wings. The chart is going to say Big Brown soared to a five-and-a-quarter-length victory in the 133rd running of the Preakness Stakes. Anyone who watched the big bay colt with a celestial stride here or on television knows he could have won by 12 lengths. The performance will not make folks forget about the injury the filly Eight Belles sustained moments after finishing second in the Kentucky Derby and led to her euthanization on the racetrack. After a tragedy-free afternoon, however, the sport of horse racing will welcome the talk of Big Brown perhaps becoming the 12th Triple Crown champion, and the first since Affirmed in 1978, over the next three weeks. Macho Again was second and Icabad Crane was third. “This is the best horse I've ever ridden – I've said it,” said Desormeaux, an ebullient man who has won the Kentucky Derby three times and, in 1998, pulled into Belmont as the pilot of Real Quiet with a chance to capture the Triple Crown. “The important thing is we get to move into the next town and he's going back to the barn with only using a half a tank.” Horse enthusiasts have plenty to be excited about as Big Brown joins Majestic Prince (1969), Seattle Slew (1977) and Smarty Jones (2004) as the only colts who headed to the Belmont Stakes undefeated and trying for the Triple Crown. Only Seattle Slew managed to cement that piece of sports immortality. – NYT __
