Hernandez, Baze looking forward to summer at Del Mar
A few hours after he secured the riding title at the Santa Anita winter-spring meeting on Sunday, jockey Juan Hernandez was on a flight to Mexico City.
It was time for a five-day vacation to visit family.
Hernandez finished the 76-day Santa Anita meeting with 104 wins, well clear of second-place Flavien Prat with 73, and Tyler Baze, who was third with 54.
The title race had a seismic change in March when Prat announced he was relocating to the East Coast. The perennial leader at Del Mar and Santa Anita in recent years, Prat left after the April 3 program, leading with 72 wins. At the time, Hernandez was second with 53.
When Prat returned for a day of stakes on May 30, a program in which he won once, Hernandez had amassed 89 wins.
Hernandez is having a brief vacation by design.
The Los Angeles County Fair meeting at Los Alamitos begins a three-week season Saturday. Hernandez is booked to ride favored Desmond Doss in the day’s main race, the $100,000 Bertrando Stakes for statebred milers.
The Los Alamitos meeting runs through July 10, leading to the start of the prestigious Del Mar summer meeting on July 22.
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Hernandez, 30, said Sunday that he plans to be active at Los Alamitos, though maybe not to the same level he was at Santa Anita. His agent, Craig O’Bryan, said Hernandez may not ride every day at the meeting, but said the Los Alamitos season can be important for riding maidens and stakes.
Last June, Hernandez rode the first-time starter Elm Drive to a win in a maiden special weight race for 2-year-old fillies at Los Alamitos. Elm Drive later won the Grade 2 Sorrento Stakes at Del Mar. Hernandez finished the 2021 Los Alamitos summer meeting as the leading rider with nine wins.
Baze is taking a proactive approach to the nine-day Los Alamitos season, all the while preparing for Del Mar. Baze was another beneficiary of Prat’s departure, winning 28 races in the first 46 days of racing at Santa Anita and 26 races in the final 30 days of racing.
“I’ll be at Los Al most of the meet,” Baze said Wednesday. “I’m shooting for the moon at Del Mar. I’ve got a good group of people I’m riding for.
“I think I’ll have a good meet. I’m riding better and better horses. The main thing is to stay safe.”
Last August, Baze was involved in a seven-horse spill at Del Mar. While he avoided serious injury, he did not resume riding until October, at the start of the Santa Anita autumn meeting. Baze had six wins at Del Mar last summer.
Baze, 39, finished the Santa Anita meeting with a win on the longshot Breakpoint in the Grade 3 San Juan Capistrano Stakes on Sunday. On Saturday, Baze was second on Tom’s Regret in the $100,500 Fasig-Tipton Debutante for 2-year-olds at five furlongs. Tom’s Regret, the 3-5 favorite, stumbled at the start but recovered to finish 3 1/4 lengths behind the first-time starter Stone Silent.
“She fell on her head leaving there,” Baze said. “I nearly fell off. I was going off on the left and I hit the horse next to me and that pushed me back on.
“She was a really good second.”
Tom’s Regret could start in the Grade 2 Sorrento Stakes on Aug. 13. Breakpoint could run in the Grade 2 Del Mar Handicap at 1 3/8 miles on turf on Sept. 3.
“It will be a good meet down there,” Baze said.