He followed this with a victory in the Preakness Stakes. However, Desormeaux lost his bid to win the Triple Crown when Victory Gallop beat Real Quiet by a nose in the final stride in the Belmont Stakes. "It hurts that I'll live in infamy. Who wants to be known for the closest ever to almost win the Triple Crown?" Later that year, he went on to ride the Canadian 3-year-old champion colt Archers Bay to victory in the Queen's Plate, becoming the first jockey since Bill Hartack in 1964 to complete the Kentucky Derby/Queen's Plate double in the same year.