Jockey Hernandez suspended one day for excessive use of whip

ARCADIA, Calif. - Jockey Juan Hernandez, the leading rider at the Santa Anita winter-spring and Del Mar summer meetings earlier this year, has been suspended for a single day on Oct. 16 for excessive use of the whip in the ninth race at Santa Anita on Saturday.

In a ruling issued on Sunday by Santa Anita stewards, Hernandez was cited for using his whip seven times on Turn on the Jets, who finished second by three-quarters of a length as the 9-5 favorite in an allowance race at about 6 1/2 furlongs on the hillside turf course.

Riders are allowed to use their whips six times in a race.

Hernandez was fined $250 for the infraction, the third time he has been cited for such a penalty since late August. If Hernandez has a similar riding infraction before Feb. 25, he will be suspended seven days. Each penalty results in three violation points on a rider’s record. When a rider reaches 12 points, they are suspended seven days.

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The infractions, which began in July with the implementation of the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority, are removed from a jockey’s record six months after the date of the ruling.

Hernandez was cited in rulings published at Del Mar on Aug. 25 and at Santa Anita on Oct. 2.

On Sunday, Hernandez served a single-day suspension for using his whip seven times aboard Country Grammer in the Grade 1 Awesome Again Stakes on Oct. 1. He was also fined $278, or 10 percent of his share of the purse.

Since the HISA rules were enacted in July, Northern California-based jockey Evin Roman is the only rider to serve a seven-day suspension, which ended on Sunday.

Claim voided

The $20,000 claim of Gypsy Lynn at Del Mar on Aug. 21 was voided by Santa Anita stewards on Sunday after the 3-year-old tested positive for the prohibited muscle-relaxer methocarbamol in a post-race test, according to a published ruling.

Gypsy Lynn was claimed by trainer George Papaprodromou for Todd Cady from Clarke Cooper and trainer Ian Kruljac.

Because of the positive, the filly was ordered returned to Cooper and that Cooper return the $20,000 claiming fee by Oct. 16. In addition, the stewards ordered Cooper to pay $1,679 in training fees incurred by Cady since Gypsy Lynn was claimed.

The stewards cited rules enacted with the launch of the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority in July in their decision.

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