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Kent Desormeaux |
| Riding Career: | 1986-present |
| Number of Mounts: | 23,898 (through December 31, 2006) |
| Number of Winners: | 4,687 |
| Winning Percentage: | 19.6% |
A native of Maurice, Louisiana, Kent Desormeaux grew up riding horses at his father’s farm and competing at local bush league tracks. In 1986, at age sixteen, Desormeaux won his first official Thoroughbred race. In 1987, after moving to Maryland, he led the nation in number of wins and earned the apprentice jockey Eclipse Award. Also an Eclipse winner in 1989 and 1992, Desormeaux joined Chris McCarron and Steve Cauthen as Eclipse winners in both the apprentice and overall jockey categories. Desormeaux led the nation in wins from 1987 through 1989. In 1989, he rode 598 winners: a national record that still stands for wins in a year . After relocating to southern California, Desormeaux was the national leader in earnings in 1992. In 1993, his fellow riders voted him the George Woolf Memorial Award. At age 25, in 1995, Desormeaux became the youngest jockey to win 3,000 races. Two years later, he became the youngest jockey to win more than $100 million in purses. In 1998 Desormeraux won the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness on Real Quiet. He won his second Derby on Fusaichi Pegasus in 2000. He rode the 1993 Horse of the Year Kotashaan and champions Fiji, Possibly Perfect, and The Wicked North.
His major victories include the Breeders’ Cup Turf with Kotashaan and Breeders’ Cup Sprint with Desert Stormer; the Santa Anita Handicap with Best Pal; Pimlico Special with Golden Missile; Oaklawn Handicap with Best Pal and The Wicked North; the Queen’s Plate with Archer’s Bay; Santa Anita Derby with Free House; Wood Memorial with Fusaichi Pegasus; the Spinster Stakes with Keeper Hill; Iselin Handicap with Formal Gold; and the Beverly D. Handicap with Kostroma. He also has won several million-dollar races in Japan and is the first non-Japanese rider to win a Classic race in that country. Kent Desormeaux was inducted in the Hall of Fame in 2004.
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