Hernandez caps six-win day with front-running score in Yellow Ribbon
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DEL MAR, Calif. – Heredia led throughout Saturday’s Grade 2 Yellow Ribbon Handicap for fillies and mares at Del Mar to win the most prestigious of her career, the last of a record-breaking sixth victory of the day for jockey Juan Hernandez.
Hernandez put Heredia on the lead at the start and won by 2 1/4 lengths after setting a slow pace of 24.93 seconds for the opening quarter-mile and 49.73 for a half-mile.
“She took me to the front,” Hernandez said. “The was no speed at all.”
Hernandez said Heredia gave him positive signs with her energy in the post parade.
“I thought she’d break sharp,” he said. “I was able to get on the lead and she loved it. I was waiting for the quarter-pole. She fired to the wire. She flew.”
Heredia led by a length for much of the race and by two lengths with a furlong remaining. Her winning margin was the widest advantage over her seven rivals.
Sent off favored, Heredia ($5.40) ran 1 1/16 miles on turf in 1:42.92 and earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 87.
Public Assembly, the 6-1 fourth choice, closed from fifth to finish second, a nose in front of 17-1 Watchtower.
Hang the Moon finished fourth, followed by Mahina, Mission of Joy, Liguria and Musical Rhapsody. Liguria, the 2-1 second choice, was second to the turn before fading from contention.
For Hernandez, the leading rider at Del Mar’s summer meeting, Saturday’s six-win day was a personal best for victories in a single day. He has had five-win days on six occasions – three times at Santa Anita, twice at Golden Gate Fields and at Del Mar last December.
Heredia has won 7 of 16 starts in a career that began with trainer Richard Hannon in Britain in 2021. Now owned by Wathnan Racing and trained by Graham Motion, Heredia has earned $429,285.
The $201,500 Yellow Ribbon Handicap was Heredia’s third start for Motion and third start following a layoff of 19 months until May 2025. Heredia was third in the Grade 3 Beaugay Stakes at Aqueduct on May 4 and third in a division of the De La Rose Stakes at Saratoga on July 10.
Heredia, third in the Grade 1 Sun Chariot Stakes at Newmarket Racecourse in Britain in October 2023 in her final start in that country, was sidelined in 2024 with a suspensory injury that required elaborate treatment, according to Case Clay, racing manager for Wathnan Racing.
A 6-year-old mare by Dark Angel, Heredia showed ample promise early in her career. She won her first four starts, a streak that included the Sandringham Stakes for 3-year-old fillies at Royal Ascot in 2022.
Motion had big day across the nation on Saturday. Earlier in the afternoon, he won the Grade 2 Saratoga Oaks for 3-year-old fillies with Laurelin.
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