Desormeaux Wins Battle of Cajuns In Belmont
Borel's Guaranteed Win Half Right in Triple Crown Race
Jun 9, 2009
It was an all-Louisiana-boy finish in the electric Triple Crown series of 2009. The sons of Birdstone flew high.
The races also featured a Triple Crown race triple try in jockey wins by Louisiana Cajun rider Calvin Borel, who calls Catahoula his childhood home. Borel guaranteed his attempt to become the only Thoroughbred jock in history to ride a winner in all three Triple Crown races using different mounts would be successful.
Borel was only half right. His guarantee was for a Birdstone son to win the Belmont, and he did. However, Borel had named Mine That Bird to cross the wire first. He didn't. Son Summer Bird turned the trick, instead.
In the end, it was the experience and sure will of fellow Cajun Kent Desormeaux, from Maurice, that won out in the Belmont, leaving Borel with only two trophies from the three races.
Cajuns have won the last three Kentucky Derbys and seven of the last nine Triple Crown classics.
- Robby Albarado --- 2007 Preakness Stakes --- (Horse of the Year) Curlin
- Borel --- 2007 Kentucky Derby --- Street Sense
- Desormeaux --- 2008 Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes --- Big Brown
- Borel --- 2009 Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes --- Mine That Bird and Rachel Alexandra
- Desormeaux --- 2009 Belmont Stakes --- Summer Bird
Desormeaux Used Experience to Outduel Borel
Putting past experience to good use, Desormeaux rode Summer Bird, a half brother to Borel's Mind That Bird, to a 2-3/4 lengths victory. Borel had won the Kentucky Derby May 2, switched to filly Rachel Alexandra, whom he rode regularly, for the Preakness Stakes and captured his second Triple Crown race of the year.
Desormeaux, well versed in the Belmont Stakes, told interviewers he believed Borel had taken the factors of the Belmont Stakes ratherly naively. Borel had indicated the race was just another mile and a half to get around.
Traditionally, the Belmont Stakes has been considered a jockey's race, one in which rating a horse and knowing when to send him is the ultimate key to victory. Desormeaux knows the winning and the losing ends of that game plan.
Borel spent Belmont Stakes week New Yorking, then moving too soon in the Belmont on Mine That Bird. The 'Bird was so ready to run, Borel said after the race, that he had to let him out early and it cost him in the end.
Borel is known for his attention to detail and dedicated work ethic, yet he didn't work a horse, or explore the Belmont course during the week prior to the biggest race of his life.
Desormeaux, who knew (unlike last year with Big Brown) that he had horse under him, was able to ride Summer Bird through to the position he wanted and let him loose accordingly.
Desormeaux's Triple Crown Race Wins
- 2009 --- Belmont Stakes --- Summer Bird
- 2008 --- Preakness Stakes --- Big Brown
- 2008 --- Kentucky Derby --- Big Brown
- 2000 --- Kentucky Derby --- Fusaichi Pegasus
- 1998 --- Preakness Stakes --- Real Quiet
- 1998 --- Kentucky Derby --- Real Quiet
Borel's Triple Crown Race Wins
- 2009 --- Preakness Stakes --- Rahcel Alexandra
- 2009 --- Kentucky Derby --- Mine That Bird
- 2007 --- Kentucky Derby --- Street Sense
Two other Cajun jocks, Eric Guerin and Eddie Delahoussaye enjoyed huge success in the Triple Crown series, winning four and five TC races, respectively. Guerin hailed from Maringouin, Louisiana, and Delahoussaye raced from New Iberia.
Eric Guerin's Triple Crown Race Wins
- 1947 --- Kentucky Derby --- Jet Pilot
- 1953 --- Belmont Stakes --- Native Dancer
- 1953 --- Preakness Stakes --- Native Dancer
- 1954 --- Belmont Stakes --- High Gun
Eddie Delahoussaye's Triple Crown Race Wins
- 1992 --- Belmont Stakes --- (Horse of the Year) A.P. Indy
- 1988 --- Belmont Stakes --- (Secretariat son) Risen Star
- 1988 --- Preakness Stakes --- Risen Star
- 1983 --- Kentucky Derby --- Sunny's Halo
- 1982 --- Kentucky Derby --- Gato del Sol
Louisiana jockey Craig Perret (New Orleans) won two Triple Crown races: the 1990 Kentucky Derby with Unbridled and the 1987 Belmont aboard Bet Twice, who spoiled Alysheba's TC attempt.
Eddie Arcaro Had Most Triple Crown Race Wins
Including his two Triple Crown sweeps aboard champions Whirlaway in 1941 and Citation in 1948, Eddie Arcaro remains on top of the leader board in number of TC races won with seventeen.
Arcaro was elected to the National Museum of Thoroughbred Racing's Hall of Fame in 1958. Cajuns Guerin, Delahoussaye, and Desormeaux joined him in 1972, 1993, and 2004, respectively.
