Hernandez beating expectations, winning at two-a-day clip

Juan Hernandez has developed a simple formula to secure the position of leading rider in the first weeks of the Santa Anita winter-spring meeting – win two races a day.

Through Sunday, Santa Anita has had six days of racing beginning on Dec. 26, and Hernandez has doubled on each program – no more and no fewer.

The success is a 100 percent improvement from pre-meet goals set by Hernandez and his agent, Craig O’Brian.

“My agent told me, ‘Juan, win one a day and we should be okay,’ ” Hernandez recalled on Thursday.

“I was talking to him after the races on Sunday, and he said, ‘Hey Juan, I asked for one win a day and not two a day.’

“I’m riding good horses. I’m doing pretty good.”

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A native of Mexico, Hernandez, 28, began riding on a full-time basis in Southern California last summer and had immediate success. He was the leading rider at the 2020 Golden Gate Fields winter-spring meeting, which ended last June.

Hernandez won the riding title at the two-week Los Alamitos summer meeting last year, and was fourth at the competitive Del Mar summer meeting. During that season, Hernandez made the decision to stay in Southern California. Later in the year, he was second in the standings at the Santa Anita autumn meeting and second in the Los Alamitos December meeting last month.

In the first two weeks at Santa Anita, Hernandez has yet to win a stakes, but was second on Express Train in the Grade 1 Malibu Stakes for 3-year-olds on Dec. 26. Hernandez’s 12 wins at Santa Anita have come for 11 trainers. He has won twice for Kristin Mulhall.

On Saturday’s 10-race program, Hernandez has eight mounts for seven trainers, including Proud Emma in the Grade 3 La Canada Stakes and Bohemian Bourbon in the Grade 3 Las Cienegas Stakes.

Hernandez won the Grade 3 Bayakoa Stakes at Los Alamitos on Dec. 6 aboard Proud Emma, his seventh graded stakes win since arriving in Southern California. He gained the mount after jockey Mike Smith was sidelined briefly because of a coronavirus positive.

Sunday, Hernandez won a maiden special weight race for 3-year-olds with the promising Roman Centurian, an Empire Maker colt trained by Simon Callaghan. Hernandez rode Roman Centurian to a fourth-place finish behind Life Is Good in a maiden race at 6 1/2 furlongs at Del Mar on Nov. 22.

“The first time I rode him, Simon and his assistant Carlos [Santamaria] told me that he probably needed to go two turns,” Hernandez said. “He made one move that day. The good horse beat us really easy.”

Life Is Good returned to win the Grade 3 Sham Stakes at a mile at Santa Anita on Jan. 2.

Roman Centurian closed from ninth to win Sunday’s race at 1 1/16 miles by 3 3/4 lengths.

“There was a lot of pace,” Hernandez said. “He broke good and I let him get comfortable. He was there waiting for me to make my move. He was running like a professional horse. When I started asking him at the three-eighths, he picked it up really well.”

Hernandez may have a tenuous hold on the lead in the riding standings, facing pressure from top riders such as Abel Cedillo, Flavien Prat, Joel Rosario, and Umberto Rispoli, to name four. Still, Hernandez is off to an excellent start.

“I’m a little surprised, but I came here for good to ride these good horses,” he said. “I’m going to keep trying. There are tough guys here and they ride pretty good.”