Hernandez makes amends aboard Test Score in Del Mar Handicap

DEL MAR, Calif. – Nine months ago, Test Score finished a troubled third in the Grade 1 Hollywood Derby at Del Mar, losing by a half-length after racing in traffic under jockey Juan Hernandez.

Hernandez was aboard Test Score for the first time since the Hollywood Derby in Saturday’s Grade 2 Del Mar Handicap. Hernandez used the occasion to guide Test Score to an important victory in the track’s leading summertime race for distance runners on turf.

“I owed this horse a win,” Hernandez said.

Test Score earned a fees-paid berth to the Breeders’ Cup Turf at Keeneland on Oct. 31 with Saturday’s win.

The result ended a historic chapter of a race first run in 1937.

Gold Phoenix, who won a record four consecutive runnings of the Del Mar Handicap from 2022 to 2025, could only finish fourth by three-quarters of a length on Saturday after racing in traffic in early stretch. Once clear, Gold Phoenix, the 11-10 favorite, closed well but could not reach the front.

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“He got in a little tight,” trainer Phil D’Amato said. “That’s grass racing.

“He got cup up a little bit. It’s very minor. He’ll be all right.”

Test Score ran 1 3/8 miles on turf in 2:14.76 in the $303,000 Del Mar Handicap.

The second choice in the betting, Test Score gave Maryland-based trainer Graham Motion a remarkable eighth consecutive stakes win at the Del Mar summer meeting, a streak that began in 2022.

Test Score ($7.20) closed from sixth in a field of 11 to win by a neck over Atitlan. Atomic Age, a 24-1 chance trained by D’Amato, closed from eighth to finish third, a half-length behind Atitlan.

Hernandez had Test Score in fifth-place for the first mile, and was on the inside on the turn. Hernandez moved the 4-year-old colt into a three-wide position with a quarter-mile remaining. Test Score rallied between Atitlan and Mondego to reach the front in the final sixteenth.

“I was waiting for the stretch,” Hernandez said. “I swung out and I asked him. He came through and won the race.”

Atitlan, the 4-1 third choice, closed from last under jockey Umberto Rispoli. Atitlan, who was trained by John Shirreffs until his death earlier this year, had his second start of the year in the Del Mar Handicap. Now trained by Richard Mandella, Atitlan was fourth in the restricted Wickerr Stakes at a mile on turf on July 19.

Mandella said Atitlan “may have waited” in the stretch.

“We only had the mile prep,” Mandella said. “He could have needed another” race.

Mondego led with a furlong remaining, but faded to finish fifth, followed by Nitti, Maaz, Flashiest, Santa Barbarian, Packs a Wahlop, and Old Pal.

Test Score, who is by Lookin At Lucky, has won 6 of 17 starts and earned $2,405,025.

Test Score, who races for owners and breeders John and Jerry Amerman, is a four-time stakes winner. In January, he won the richest race of his career in the Grade 1 Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational at Gulfstream Park, which was run at 1 1/8 miles with a purse of $937,800.

The Del Mar Handicap was the third time Hernandez was aboard Test Score. He rode Test Score to an appealing win in the Grade 2 Twlight Derby at Santa Anita last October.

“I know the horse,” Hernandez said. “He’s really professional.”

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