Columnist Ralph Siraco: Desormeaux sizzling, but can’t shake Silic

Ralph Siraco

Monday, June 19, 2000 | 9:42 a.m.

Ralph Siraco's horse racing column appears Monday. Reach him c/o Las Vegas Sun, 800 S. Valley View Blvd., Las Vegas, NV 89107.

"The more things change, the more they stay the same," was probably what jockey Kent Desormeaux was saying to himself after Sunday's Shoemaker Mile at Hollywood Park.

The Father's Day feature race at the Southern California oval saw Desormeaux and his mount, Ladies Din, finish second for the second year in a row -- to the same horse.

Fortunately for trainer Julio Canani, that same horse is also Ladies Din's stablemate, and fortunately for the betting public he was also a coupled entrymate in the wagering.

Nevertheless, Silic hung it on them again. And again he was ridden by Desormeaux's close friend Corey Nakatani.

Last year, Desormeaux may have lamented, "A nose is as good as a mile," as Silic, a French-bred son of Sillery, prevailed by that short margin.

"I remember Silic coming up the fence," Desormeaux said. "I thought I had left him for dead, and he found a place to run through on the rail."

Desormeaux also found solace in the fact that Silic went on to win the Breeders' Cup Mile in 1999. Silic hadn't been seen under silks since that Nov. 6 performance until Sunday, when he returned, possibly to make another run at the Breeders' Cup Mile.

Owned in part by former MGM Grand chairman Terry Lanni, Silic will probably use an October start at Santa Anita to tune up for this year's Breeders' Cup.

As for Desormeaux, the 30-year-old Louisiana native has been on a whirlwind run since winning the Kentucky Derby with Fusaichi Pegasus.

With many out-of-town riding engagements over the last seven weeks, Desormeaux still enjoys a perch in the top 10 in the jockey standings at Hollywood Park. Since relocating to the Southern California jockey colony after breaking most Maryland riding records in the late 1980s, Desormeaux has won 14 riding titles on the circuit.

But even his career year of 1998 may be taking a back seat to his current run. In '98, Desormeaux just missed winning the Triple Crown with Derby and Preakness winner Real Quiet on the way to 28 Graded stakes wins -- including 9 Grade I's -- and career-high earnings of $14.5 million.

Since his second Kentucky Derby victory this past May 6, Desormeaux has won the Grade I Pimlico Special with Golden Missile, the Charles Whittingham Memorial Handicap with White Heart and the Gamely Breeders' Cup Handicap with Astra. Then there was a victory in the Black-Eyed Susan at Pimlico with Jostle the day before his second-place finish atop Fusaichi Pegasus in the Preakness Stakes.

Desormeaux returned to Churchill Downs on Saturday and was reunited with Golden Missile in the $750,000 Stephen Foster Handicap. Over a sloppy track, Desormeaux called an audible when he sent Golden Missile out to a fast start against 1999 Breeders' Cup Classic winner Cat Thief in a battle for the lead.

That gutsy move proved to be a winner, as Golden Missile splashed his way to a smashing gate-to-wire victory. Trainer Joe Orseno later said that he did not instruct Desormeaux to go for the lead, but -- understandably -- had praise for the strategy.

The close relationship in recent years between the Breeders' Cup and the Stephen Foster was not lost on Desormeaux. In the last two Breeders' Cup Classics run at Churchill Downs, the winner of that year's Stephen Foster went on to capture the race. In 1998 Awesome Again completed the parlay, and in 1991 Black Tie Affair won the Classic in gate-to-wire fashion after his summer victory in the Stephen Foster.

Desormeaux became the youngest jockey to reach 3,000 career victories at the age of 25, and the youngest, at 27, to surpass $100 million in career earnings. He has collected three Eclipse Awards, and even won Sunday's fifth race to kick off the $1 million guaranteed Pick 6 pool with a $76-plus outsider named Legendary Weave.

He is sitting on the top handicap horse in the country with Golden Missile and still believes that Fusaichi Pegasus is the best sophomore in the land. He is back as first-string rider for the powerful barn of trainer Neil Drysdale (Fusaichi Pegasus' trainer) and has the best percentage of wins at the current Hollywood Park meeting.

Now, if he can only get even with that Silic.