When the Del Mar autumn meeting ended on Sunday, jockey Juan Hernandez found himself in an unfamiliar position. Instead of winning the riding title, as he had done at the preceding five summer and autumn meetings at Del Mar, Hernandez finished sixth with nine wins, eight behind leader Umberto Rispoli. The reboot begins Friday at Los Alamitos, the first day of the track’s two-week meeting that runs through Dec. 14. Hernandez plans to ride regularly at Los Alamitos, though not have as many mounts as he typically does at Del Mar and Santa Anita. “I think I’ll be there every day,” Hernandez said on Wednesday. “We have a couple of horses [to ride] each day. “I’ll stay busy and keep riding. I don’t like to stop for too long.” :: Access the most trusted data and information in horse racing! DRF Past Performances and Picks are available now. Many of Hernandez’s mounts over the next two weeks will race at the Santa Anita winter-spring meeting that begins on Dec. 26. Hernandez took the blame for his lack of wins at Del Mar. He had 12 second- and 11 third-place finishes from 63 mounts. Had he turned a few of those placings into wins the standings could have looked different. “It was a good season,” he said. “I didn’t win the title, but I want to come back strong at the next meeting. I had a bunch of seconds. To be honest, there was some not good rides by me. I’ll learn from my mistakes.” Last Saturday, Hernandez finished third by a half-length aboard 4-5 Test Score in the Grade 1 Hollywood Derby after a troubled trip through the stretch. Hernandez was visibly frustrated after that loss. On Friday, Hernandez has two mounts. He rides Trusty Rusty for trainer Bob Hess Jr. in the fourth race, a starter allowance at a mile, and Voldemort for trainer Bob Baffert in the seventh race, a 6 1/2-furlong allowance race. Voldemort, who races for an extensive partnership that includes SF Racing and Madaket Stable, has not started since a win in an allowance race at 1 1/16 miles at Santa Anita in March. Voldemort, bought for $700,000 as a yearling, is part of a field of eight that includes Style Cat, who won the Echo Eddie Stakes for California-bred 3-year-olds at 6 1/2 furlongs at Santa Anita in April but is winless in his last five starts, and R Heisman, who won the Graduation Stakes for statebred 2-year-olds at Del Mar in August 2024. Style Cat and R Heisman, both trained by Peter Miller, were sixth and last in a field of seven in The Chosen Vron Stakes for statebreds at seven furlongs at Del Mar on Nov. 8. The brief Los Alamitos meeting is highlighted by two Grade 2 stakes for 2-year-olds worth $200,000 at 1 1/16 miles – Saturday’s Starlet for fillies, and the Los Alamitos Futurity on Dec. 13. Last December, Journalism won the Los Alamitos Futurity in his stakes debut in advance of a highly successful 3-year-old season that included wins in three Grade 1 stakes, including the Preakness, and second-place finishes in the Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes. For this month’s meeting at Los Alamitos, purses are notably higher than the corresponding meeting in 2024. A maiden race will be worth $45,000 compared to $41,000 last year. A first-condition allowance has a purse of $47,000, a gain of $6,000. A $6,250 claimer has a purse of $15,000 compared to $11,500 last year. Purses for this month’s meeting are the same as what was offered at the track’s most recent daytime Thoroughbred meeting in September. Del Mar, Los Alamitos, and Santa Anita, the only tracks operating in the state, have had higher overnight purses since late February following the cessation of racing in Northern California last December. Revenue from account wagering and simulcast locations in Northern California has been consolidated to Southern California tracks and purse accounts. Previously, monies from those sources were devoted to Northern California racing. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.