Golden Gate leading rider Hernandez relocating to Southern California

Juan Hernandez, the dominant rider at Golden Gate Fields in the last year, is relocating to Southern California next month.

Hernandez, 28, will ride the final days of the Los Alamitos summer meeting, which runs from June 26 to July 5, and will focus on the Del Mar summer meeting, which goes from July 10 to Sept. 7, according to his new agent, Craig O’Bryan.

“Ideally, he wants to stay,” O’Bryan said.

Hernandez was the leading rider at the Golden Gate autumn meeting last year. At the winter-spring meeting that ended on Sunday, Hernandez led all riders with 135 wins, far clear of Catalino Martinez, who was second in the standings with 58 victories.

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Hernandez was second on Anneau d’Or in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Santa Anita last November and was winless in four mounts at the track on Jan. 18, the only day he has ridden there this year. Hernandez has not ridden at Del Mar since the fall of 2015 when he won the Golden State Juvenile on Smokey Image.

In his only mount at Los Alamitos, Hernandez finished second in the Los Alamitos Futurity in December on Anneau d’Or.

Hernandez is the second top rider from Northern California to try Southern California in as many seasons. Last summer, Abel Cedillo, the top rider at the 2018-19 Golden Gate winter-spring meeting, relocated from Northern California and had an immediate impact, finishing third in the standings at the Del Mar summer meeting.

Through Sunday, Cedillo ranks second in the standings at the Santa Anita winter-spring meeting.