Hernandez rides both winners in Ontario Jockey Club, Colin
ETOBICOKE, Ontario—The red-hot rider Rafael Hernandez swept both Woodbine stakes on Sunday, winning the Ontario Jockey Club on Stacked Deck, and the Colin on Signature Spring.
Stacked Deck, Canada’s champion male sprinter in 2015, took the $102,600 Ontario Jockey Club following a summer layoff.
After breaking from the outside post 7, Stacked Deck ($5.60) linked up on the lead with 2-1 second choice Puntrooskie through honest fractions in the six-furlong dash. Stacked Deck began to edge away from that rival inside the eighth pole, and got home on top by 1 1/2 lengths in a quick final time of 1:08.79.
Sweet Grass Creek finished four lengths back in third, just ahead of the 2014 champion sprinter Calgary Cat.
Stacked Deck, a son of First Samurai, earned $60,000 owner Bruce Lunsford and trainer Barb Minshall.
“Everything worked out good,” said Hernandez. “We got a good post. He broke perfect, and he just [ran] like he’d been working in the mornings. I just let him run in the stretch.”
Signature Spring ($6.80) rallied wide from fifth to capture the $144,000 Colin by 1 1/4 lengths over Junket. King and His Court wound up third, while the favored Honor River finished a troubled sixth in the seven-horse field of 2-year-olds.
Signature Spring, a son of freshman sire Signature Red, covered the six furlongs in 1:10.48. He earned $90,000 for Norseman Racing Stable and trainer Sid Attard.