Awesome Saturday can add to Hernandez's exceptional year
RACE REPLAY IS NOT AVAILABLE
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Brian Hernandez Jr. is having an outstanding spring meet at Churchill Downs. Heck, he’s having an outstanding year. Check that – he’s having an outstanding career.
With just a few programs to go at the 38-day spring meet, Hernandez trailed only perennial champion Corey Lanerie in the Churchill jockey standings. He rode five winners on the Stephen Foster Handicap card last weekend, and heading into this weekend, he had seven graded-stakes victories in 2017, just one shy of his career best for a year.
Since his first full year of riding in his native Louisiana in 2004, when he won a career-high 243 races, Hernandez, 31, has been about as steady as they come. His national profile continues to rise, with trainers entrusting him in recent months with graded winners such as McCraken, Girvin, Tom’s Ready, Bird Song, Finley’sluckycharm, and many more.
“Pretty good horses we’re riding,” said Hernandez, whose mounts have won 1,674 races and earned $60 million in his 14 years of riding. “I feel really fortunate with the way things are going.”
:: Add a 5-card pack of PPs and save 55¢/card!
At Churchill on Sunday, trainer Bret Calhoun will give Hernandez a leg up on Awesome Saturday, the likely favorite in the nominal feature on a 10-race card. Never worse than third in four career starts, Awesome Saturday will be looking to get through his first allowance condition after finishing second at the level in each of his last two starts, including a narrow defeat to Colonelsdarktemper here May 29.
Awesome Saturday will break from post 6 when facing seven other 3-year-olds in the ninth of 10 Sunday races, a $55,300 allowance at 1 1/16 miles. His chief threats appear to be Watch Me Whip (post 2, Robby Albarado) and Power Walker (post 7, Florent Geroux), both exiting stakes on the Eastern seaboard.
With first post set for 12:45 p.m. Eastern, Sunday marks the final daytime card of the meet. It’s Family Adventure Day, and yes, Hernandez’s two young children – Joshlyn, 2, and Benjamin, almost 1 – will be here with their mother, Hernandez’s wife, the former Jamie Radosevich.
“The kids love it,” Hernandez said.
Three starter allowances (races 2, 4, 8) and two maiden special weights (races 6, 10) are also part of an interesting afternoon of racing.
After Sunday, Churchill goes dark for two days before the final three-day stretch starts Wednesday. Twilight programs will be Wednesday and Thursday, and then a Downs After Dark finale ends the meet Friday night. Ellis Park wastes no time in starting its summer meet with four straight days of action July 1-4.
