Hernandez off to phenomenal start at winter meet
ARCADIA, Calif. – Mind your manners.
That was the message veteran jockey’s agent Craig O’Bryan imparted to Juan Hernandez, the rider he represents, in the days before the start of the current Santa Anita winter-spring meeting on Dec. 26.
“Don’t get days,” O’Bryan told his rider. “We’re loaded.”
“It looks like it worked out,” Hernandez said.
Even the boldest prediction could not have guessed the level of Hernandez’s success in the first month of the season. Through Sunday, Hernandez had 27 wins, far clear of Edwin Maldonado, who is second with nine wins.
The chasing group are an excellent cast. The rest of the top six consists of Frankie Dettori and Tiago Pereira with eight wins, and Hall of Famers Mike Smith and John Velazquez with seven. Armando Aguilar, Flavien Prat, Umberto Rispoli, and Ramon Vazquez have six wins each and complete the top 10.
“Riding here with the best riders and with good horses, you improve yourself,” Hernandez said.
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Hernandez won four races on Saturday’s nine-race program, including the Grade 2 San Pasqual Stakes with Newgrange. On Sunday, Hernandez won two races, including the San Vicente Stakes on Havnameltdown.
Hernandez’s position at the top of the standings is not a surprise.
Hernandez won the riding title at the 2021-22 Santa Anita winter-spring meeting and the Del Mar summer meeting last year.
His success in 2022 was helped to some extent by the departure of Prat from the circuit on a full-time basis. Prat, the dominant rider in Southern California in the last five years, relocated to the East Coast last spring.
Prat returned to Southern California for the Del Mar autumn meeting and was leading rider during that brief season. He is scheduled to remain at Santa Anita until late March or early April. Velazquez and Dettori also will depart in the spring for the East Coast and Britain.
Hernandez, meanwhile, is staying in place. He has four mounts on Friday and will have a busy Saturday, with rides in seven of the 10 races.
Hernandez has mounts in all four stakes – Worcester in the Grade 3 Robert Lewis Stakes for 3-year-olds at 1 1/16 miles, Hamwood Flier in the Grade 3 Megahertz Stakes for fillies and mares at a mile on turf, Fun to Dream in the Grade 2 Santa Monica Stakes for fillies and mares at seven furlongs, and Air Force Red in the Grade 3 Thunder Road Stakes at a mile on turf.
Havnameltdown, Worcester, and Fun to Dream are trained by Bob Baffert for whom Hernandez has ridden seven winners at the meeting. Hernandez has teamed with Phil D’Amato, the trainer of Hamwood Flier and Newgrange, for three wins, and with trainers Doug O’Neill, Jeff Mullins, Peter Miller, Jeff Mullins Jr., and Leonard Powell for two wins. Powell trains Air Force Red.
Hernandez won 211 races in 2022, with mounts that earned a career-best $15,018,565. A native of Mexico, Hernandez, 30, has ridden in Southern California since the summer of 2020 after relocating from Golden Gate Fields, where he was the leading rider.
The recent success at Santa Anita has left Hernandez with a high level of confidence.
“I feel pretty good,” Hernandez said between workouts Sunday morning.
“I’m riding my horses with a lot of confidence. I trust my trainers. They have the horses ready to win.”
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