After winning his 6,000th career race on Sunday, Kent Desormeaux was named Jockeys’ Guild Foundation Detox Jockey of the Week for January 21-27, 2019. The award is voted on by a panel of experts for riding accomplishments by members of the Jockeys’ Guild, the organization which represents more than 950 riders in North America. Jockey of the Week is sponsored by FoundationDetox.com, America’s #1 Equine Toxin Remover.
Only 18 other North American jockeys have accomplished what Kent Desormeaux achieved on Sunday: win 6,000 career Thoroughbred races. The Hall of Fame jockey had four mounts on the card and won his first start of the day; the lone win was all he needed to roll the win odometer over to the new milestone.
The historical win came in the opener at the Santa Anita card in a one-mile allowance race over the turf. Desormeaux and X S Gold ($7.20) defeated nine other fillies and mares by just a head as the lukewarm post-time favorite.
A native of Louisiana, Desormeaux began his riding career at Evangeline Downs in 1986. Since then, he has started in 31,626 races to get to the 6,000 mark.
In addition to Sunday’s accomplishment, he has earned three Eclipse Awards, won six Breeders’ Cup races, and has seven victories in Triple Crown races, including Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes wins with Real Quiet and Big Brown. In 2008, the same year that he won two of the three Triple Crown races with Big Brown, Desormeaux reached a career milestone of 5,000 wins at Saratoga.
In his 10 starts last week, Desormeaux won three races for a win rate of 30%; he finished in the money on 60% of his mounts. He has won 6 of his 32 starts in 2019.
Desormeaux cracked the top 25 North American jockeys by total earnings last week, adding $230,837 to his 2019 total of $424,023. He has earned $283,407,476 in his career to date.
Voters also expressed support for Javier Castellano’s performance last week. Castellano won four stakes races, including the $9,000,000 Pegasus World Cup Invitational (G1) with City of Light. He led all North American jockeys by total earnings and stakes earnings.
Jockey of the Week is sponsored by FoundationDetox.com, America’s #1 Equine Toxin Remover. For your horse to bounce back quicker, remove the toxins from their body. Add Foundation Detox to their Diet! Order Now at FoundationDetox.com.
JockeyTalk360.com spotlights the riders across North America and around the world who may be the bravest, toughest and most accomplished of all athletes. The Jockeys’ Guild Jockey of the Week is selected by a vote of representatives of TVG, America’s Best Racing, The Daily Racing Form, Equibase, Horse Racing Nation, The Jockeys’ Guild, The Paulick Report, The Thoroughbred Daily News, National Thoroughbred Racing Association, National Turf Writers and Broadcasters, Thoroughbred Racing Associations, Turf Publicists of America and Racing Stats & Info on Twitter.
