BALTIMORE — They are Louisiana horsemen, Keith and Kent Desormeaux, who, as soon as they were able to walk, were strapped atop quarterhorses and inexpensive thoroughbreds, to race at bush tracks named Cajun Downs and the Quarter Pole. Their father and uncles and neighbors placed bets on them while their mamas and aunts fingered rosary beads, praying they wouldn’t get hurt.
They mostly came home safe, and when it was time to continue their racetrack education, they worked their way through their home tracks like Evangeline and Jefferson Downs and other minor Midwest outposts until they landed here in Maryland: Keith as an aspiring trainer, and Kent hoping to be a big-time jockey.