By Brian DiDonato
ELMONT, New York – Brothers Keith and Kent Desormeaux, trainer and rider respectively of GI Belmont S. favorite Exaggerator (Curlin), were in a jovial mood Tuesday morning after the GI Preakness S. winner and GI Kentucky Derby runner-up turned in his final breeze for Saturday's “Test of the Champion.” With Hall of Famer Kent in the irons, the dark bay was clocked in 1:00 4/5 for five panels.
“The best I can say is, in comparison [to his work before the Derby and Preakness], it was the same. All systems go,” Kent offered at a press briefing trackside.
Kent continued to describe the work, and older brother Keith took to asking the questions.
Kent: “Good energy.”
Keith: “He wasn't stronger?”
Kent: “Lots of fluidity.”
Keith: “I'd prefer him to be stronger. Was he stronger?”
Kent: “No, he was the same.”
That final quip got a hearty laugh from the assembled members of the media.
“He did switch leads early,” Kent acknowledged. “I probably knocked him off balance–it was probably my fault. It was no concern of mine. He floated the turn for maybe 30, 40, 50 yards. I asked him to come back to center, which to me is the two path. He straightened away, cruised to the eighth pole and I asked him to quicken and he was full of life and full of speed.”
The unique configuration of Belmont's 1 1/2-mile oval might have had something to do with how Exaggerator worked.
Keith said that Kent had pointed out to him that the colt had never been on his left lead for as long as he was Tuesday.
“With the huge, sweeping turns here, he wasn't accustomed to being on that left lead that long, so that's why he switched to his right one early at the 5/16 pole,” the conditioner explained.
While Kent is based mostly in Southern California these days, he has spent plenty of time in Elmont.
“I rode here eight years–I rode longer here than I did Maryland,” he said. “I know to get from Manhattan to all the beaches. This is home away from home, again. I've had a tenure here of eight years… I got to take a spin around here this morning. It was an eye opener. It is 'The Big Sandy.' It's different, but Exaggerator seemed to enjoy the going.”
Keith and Kent have openly admitted that they aren't particularly close, and their adversarial relationship was evident in their interactions Tuesday, but of the impact that Exaggerator has had on them as brothers, Kent said:
“I would have to say it has definitely brought us closer, because we have to talk now. It's been wonderful. We've been brothers all our lives–you can't pick your family–but he's been my idol all my life and now I'm getting to perform for him.”
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