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Posted by BarbaraAnne Helberg Jun 10, 2008 |
Riding Thoroughbreds is Kent Desormeaux's career choice, and the Hall of Fame jockey became a lifetime vision for his son, who is losing his sight, when he made the decision to ease his failed mount, Big Brown, in the Belmont Stakes as the touted horse fell short of a Triple Crown title.
Nine-year-old Jacob glowed in the stands, waiting for pop to bring home a Triple Crown winner. He couldn't see well, for, born deaf as well, he suffers from the genetic disorder Usher syndrome, which is slowly robbing him of his sight.
Jacob's dad wanted to give his son a vision he could hold forever, even after his son's failing sight finally slips away altogether.
Easing up his mount had to be, in Desormeaux's career field, about the toughest blow he's had to take. Desormeaux was a dead cert on Big Brown to win the twelfth ever Thoroughbred Triple Crown. The beginning of the race was riddled with difficulty for the jockey and his favored mount. The experienced Desormeaux patiently piloted the unusually rank Big Brown through that and found a good spot from which to still launch a winning drive.
But Big Brown had nothing when asked to surge. Within seconds, Desormeaux made the huge choice to "take care of my horse" by easing him in the failed effort, rather than pushing him unconscionably to the brink of injury.
Celebrate Kent Desormeaux. He gave his son that vision, the vision of a man doing the right thing in the midst of heart-rending career circumstances.
Pans for those fans who booed Big Brown when he came home last. You all missed the whole bleeping point!