Steve Serby chatted with jockey Kent Desormeaux who is looking to ride Big Brown to the Triple Crown with a victory in the 140th Belmont Stakes on June 7.

Q: Your 9-year-old son Jacob was born with Usher’s syndrome.

A: He’s got a lot of cosmetic problems. . . . He was born deaf, and he’s gonna lose his sight by adulthood. In a nutshell, that’s Usher.

Q: When did he have the cochlear implants so he could hear?

A: At 2.

Q: What kind of a kid is he?

A: He’s the happiest kid on earth

. . . photographic memory.

Q: What has it been like for you and your wife [Sonia]?

A: We at times were the saddest walking here . . . from the happiest child on earth, he always has been, and never has been anything but . . . but his parents were just miserable. We felt . . . sad . . . for him. . . . It’s really sad.

Q: A lot of prayer, a lot of tears?

A: A lot of prayer . . . a lot of books

. . . a lot of reading . . . a lot of searching . . . and a lot of soul-searching.

Q: You're hoping for a miracle, obviously.

A: Yes.

Q: What does this magical run mean to him?

A: I know he saw it. I know he saw it.

Q: His issues have made you a better rider?

A: The reality is at the end of the day, whether I win or lose, it doesn't matter that much. . . . How'd you like to come home to a child that's not gonna be able to see by the time he's 20? It'd be different if he was born blind. But to be losing his sight is completely different.

Q: Your older son, Joshua.

A: My 15-year-old is angelic - he's perfect in every way, and he's my [younger] son's idol.

Q: People have described you as brash and cocky. . . . Do you agree?

A: You can call it that. I'd call it confidence.

Q: You have a swagger about you.

A: I do believe I'm pretty good at what I do.

Q: How haunting or devastating was it being beaten on Real Quiet by a nose by Victory Gallop for the 1998 Triple Crown after leading by four lengths?

A: I don't think about it until you ask me about it. I thought I gave it my all, and I still today think if I did it all over again, I would do it exactly the same way.

Q: You were quoted as saying near the finish line you could taste it and feel it, winning the Triple Crown. What did it taste like and what did it feel like?

A: I tell you what, if I were a light, I would have been glowing bright. If I were water, I would have been ice. It was just awesome. If I were fire, I would have been blue hot. It was awesome. . . . It's hard to explain, but I just think it's a feeling of joy . . . overwhelming joy.

Q: What was going through your head that night at home?

A: I just remember wishing that he would have been able to see the horse . . . what could I have done? What could I have done? What could I have done?

Q: You've said you have an idea how this Belmont is going to be run.

A: I haven't seen all of the entrants yet, but I have a funny feeling that I'll probably have a horse to catch turning for home.

Q: Have you or will you dream about the race?

A: Absolutely. But I haven't seen the field yet so I can't daydream it yet. . . . I have a piece of paper at home that I'm so proud of because the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness went exactly the way that I drew it on paper. It's fun to be able to have a premonition and then live it.

Q: How do you draw it?

A: With dots . . . with names . . . the horses, where they're gonna be.

Q: How would winning a Triple Crown change your life?

A: Wow. Immortal . . . never forgotten . . . wow.

Q: That would be a dream come true.

A: I don't think you can dream that. Really, does anyone dream it? I've dreamt of winning the Kentucky Derby, I've dreamt of winning Saratoga, the leading rider there . . . but I've never had that one Triple Crown dream.

Q: How is Big Brown going to handle the big stage?

A: He's one cool customer.

Q: What do you like best about him?

A: His mind. He trusts me 100 percent.

Q: How many horses have you ridden that trust you 100 percent?

A: None. Not like that. Not like that.

Q: Is he cocky and brash like you?

A: (Chuckle) I think if you watch him walk you might think that because he doesn't walk, he kinda struts. He's definitely got an aura about him. I think he knows. He's the man.

Q: How would you compare his personality to [trainer] Rick Dutrow's?

A: Opposite.

Q: But Rick Dutrow's full of braggadoccio.

A: Well, I think that [Big Brown] lets Mr. Dutrow talk and he does the showing.

Q: Your first Belmont.

A: Kinda uneventful . . . I rode a longshot, and it's still running.

Q: What do you remember about Affirmed?

A: I remember a gutsy, gutsy [1978] Triple Crown. . . . I remember just a horse that refused to lose.

Q: How scary was your 1992 spill [lost hearing in right ear, fractured skull] at Hollywood Park when a trailing horse ran over you and kicked you in the skull?

A: I wasn't scared. . . . I was scared that you would think I was scared. When you return as a jockey, I don't need to be on the six-wide freeway. You need to be cutting corners and trying to win races. And the first thing I did was get a little white paint on my boot from the fence and snuck through on a horse on the rail, and my first race I won a very daring ride. It really wasn't the smartest ride, but I was just trying to prove a point that I wasn't scared.

Q: Jockeys you admired growing up.

A: First when I started at Acadiana Downs, I was supposed to be the next Randy Romero. And then I grew into racing and started raceriding, and I always wanted to be Pat Day until the quarter pole and then turn into Angel Cordero.

Q: Jockeys you've admired over the years.

A: Eddie Delahousse . . . Chris McCarren . . . Mario Pino.

Q: And you also wanted to be a basketball player.

A: Absolutely. Used to leave my shoes under the bed so that I had to reach down there, get on my knees and say a prayer to be 6-2. . . . Thank God for unanswered prayers (smile).

Q: You can't dunk, can you?

A: (Chuckle). If the goal's short enough I can.

Q: You wanted to become a jockey after watching [Gato Del Sol] win the 1982 Derby.

A: The seed was already planted. I was already practicing my trade, but after hearing the race call . . . that was when I was certain.

Q: Your father's influence.

A: He more or less forced us as young kids to be responsible for our horses. I mean, I got in a lot of trouble one time after school for not first of all, watering my horse. . . . It kept me out of so much trouble. Honestly, my friends were out stealing bikes and I was brushing my horse.

Q: The most mischievous thing you did as a kid.

A: Baseball diamond . . . cross bridge . . . train track . . . climbed to the top and dove into a muddy river. Had to be taller than you've ever seen any telephone pole, and the muddy river's always got logs floating in it and whatnot. . . . I do have an angel, someone's looking over me.

Q: Best piece of advice your mother gave you.

A: Probably not to forget where I'm from. . . . When you get to a fork in the road, what would Jesus do?

Q: Best piece of advice your father gave you.

A: (Chuckle) My father's best advice was a long belt.

Q: Describe your hometown Maurice, La.

A: Well, every time a baby's born, a man leaves town, so . . . when I lived there it was 400 people, there's still 400 families - that was a joke, by the way. Small town, country living - just the best place in the world to grow up, and I think it has a lot to do with who I am.

Q: How did you propose to your wife?

A: I was on my knees in a Chinese restaurant in Washington, D.C.

Q: Boyhood idol.

A: My [older] brother.

Q: Why?

A: Just tried to beat him at everything we did . . . couldn't.

Q: If you weren't a jockey, what would you have been?

A: A veteranarian.

Q: You have two puppies at home.

A: A Bichon and a Shih Tzu (chuckle).

Q: Three dinner guests.

A: My wife better be there, Franklin Roosevelt, Einstein.

Q: Favorite movie.

A: "The Black Stallion." One of the reasons I became a jockey.

Q: Did you see "Seabiscuit"?

A: Of course!

Q: What did you think?

A: I enjoyed it. It was a $100 million commercial for our game. That and "Casey's Shadow." If anyone who wants to know how I was raised, born and introduced to this racing game, watch "Casey's Shadow."

Q: Favorite actor.

A: Denzel Washington.

Q: Favorite actress.

A: Jodie Foster.

Q: Favorite entertainer.

A: Usher.

Q: Favorite meal.

A: Filet mignon from Ruth's Chris.

Q: Are you ready to make history?

A: I am. I am. I feel like it's at my doorstep.

Q: Joe Namath was known for his Super Bowl III guarantee. . . . What guarantee do you have about the Belmont?

A: Guarantee I'll be on Big Brown.

Q: That's it?

A: No Joe Namath.

Q: Give me a guarantee.

A: I'll give you a guarantee - Big Brown-Casino Drive, that's a cold exacta.

Q: There it is. Congratulations on your Triple Crown.

A: (Chuckle) You dug it out of me.