Broberg, Hernandez team for impressive first half of meet

OPELOUSAS, La. – You know you are having a great season when it is news when you don’t win. Just three times in the first 40 nights of the current Evangeline Downs stand have leading trainer Karl Broberg and leading jockey Colby Hernandez been shut out. Their individual numbers are staggering. When they team up, they are almost otherworldly.

“We can hardly believe it ourselves,” said Broberg, who has sent out 62 winners from 112 starters this season for a remarkable strike rate of 58 percent and a $2.85 ROI. “We made some changes to begin the season, and it has really paid off.”

The biggest change to Team Broberg at Evangeline has been the addition of Abel Ramirez as assistant trainer.

“I’ve got some great help, and that is what it takes to win races,” said Broberg.

Broberg said the structure of Evangeline’s racing product also is largely responsible for his success.

“They write a lot of conditioned-claiming races and nonwinners-since-date races,” he said. “That makes it so you can claim a horse for a particular spot.”

And claim is what Broberg does best. Nearing the halfway point of the 84-day season, he has claimed 32 horses.

“I’m blessed with some great owners who like to win races,” he said. “They don’t mind claiming horses, and they don’t mind losing a horse through the same process.”

Broberg said there is no formula for knowing when to drop a claim slip.

“If you like eight horses this week and don’t have room for them, you better make some because next week there may not be any,” he said.

Hernandez’s stats also are outstanding. He leads Diego Saenz, who has won multiple riding titles at Evangeline, 93 wins to 53, and the Hernandez-Broberg combination has produced 49 trips to the winner’s circle from 85 starters and a $2.67 ROI.

“We hooked up with Colby late last season at Evangeline,” said Broberg. “It was when Diego got hurt and we had to go to somebody, and it carried all the way through the Delta Downs meet over the winter. I feel bad for Diego, but how can you make a change the way things are going?”

But it has not been all the Broberg-Hernandez show of late, as Broberg has given a select few mounts to Roberto Morales, who quietly has climbed to fourth in the standings with 30 victories. In his first 11 rides for Broberg, Morales posted nine wins, a second, and a third.

“Can that kid horseback or what?” said Broberg of Morales. “We hope to continue developing a relationship with him.”