Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile: Hernandez hopeful he'll be back aboard Mystik Dan
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Trainer Kenny McPeek said Wednesday he is hopeful jockey Brian Hernandez Jr. will be able to be back aboard Mystik Dan for the Grade 1, $1 million Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile on Nov. 1 at Del Mar.
Hernandez was unable to team with the Kentucky Derby winner last month, when Mystik Dan won the Lukas Classic at Churchill Downs, because he was rehabbing from injuries he sustained in a spill a week earlier. Hernandez broke seven ribs, punctured a lung, and suffered a small laceration to his liver.
He was able to get back on a couple of horses for the first time since then Wednesday morning at Churchill, according to his agent, Frank Bernis. Hernandez said he had a good morning and hopes to return to racing on Oct. 25 at Keeneland or Oct. 26 at Churchill.
“We’ll play it by ear the next few days and see if we can get back going,” he said. “The next couple weeks [will be] just kind of getting on horses in the morning, just trying to get strength back, and try to get everything back going again.”
Hernandez said he had a recent scan on his liver.
“I still have to go back to the doctor later this week,” he said. “He’s going to go over the [scan], and as long as the liver is showing that it’s healing well, he’ll release me to go back to riding. I’m feeling fine. Once they put the plate in the ribs and I got all the staples and sutures out, I hadn’t really been in pain. I haven’t been on any pain medication or anything. So, it’s been pretty good.”
Hernandez is looking forward to reuniting with regular mount Mystik Dan.
“It will be fun,” he said. “It was great to see how big he ran in the Lukas Classic.”
McPeek said the Churchill-based horse will be on a Saturday work schedule in advance of the Dirt Mile, adding that Mystik Dan is scheduled to fly to Southern California on Oct. 27.
Mystik Dan is owned by a partnership based in Arkansas, and the state might have another representative in the Dirt Mile.
Trainer Dallas Stewart said Wednesday that Will Take It is under consideration for the race and that a final decision would be made after the horse works back this weekend. Will Take It is co-owned by the Arkansas-based Willis Horton Racing.
Will Take It won the $300,000 Hanshin at a mile on June 29 at Churchill and last out was a troubled sixth in the track’s Grade 3 Ack Ack on Sept. 27.
“I love the way he ran in the Hanshin,” Stewart said. “It was pretty impressive, ran the mile in 1:34 at Churchill. We had kind of planned on the Dirt Mile, but we didn’t have a good race last time. The horse stumbled real bad leaving the gate, but we still like him, still think he’s a heck of a horse, and we’re going to get to the bottom of it this weekend.”
◗ Trainer Vicki Oliver said Oklahoma Derby winner Bracket Buster is being considered for a start in the Dirt Mile but that she’s leaning toward keeping him home at Keeneland for the Fayette.
“We’re keeping our options open,” she said.
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