Jockey Juan Hernandez goes fancy with Bacio at Royal Ascot
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There was a morning in the late 2010s when jockey Juan Hernandez was watching racing from Royal Ascot in Britain while preparing for a day of riding at the Alameda County Fair in Pleasanton, Calif.
“It looked so fancy,” Hernandez recalled on Sunday morning. “I thought, Hopefully, one day I can be there.”
The opportunity occurred this year through the Kentucky-based trainer Wesley Ward, and Hernandez took full advantage. Hernandez won his first race in Europe when Bacio led throughout Friday’s Palace of Holyroodhouse Handicap for 3-year-olds at five furlongs on turf, beating 26 rivals.
“Now that I’ve done it, it was so unbelievable,” Hernandez said. “I was so grateful to be there.”
Hernandez was aboard Bacio for his three previous races, including a two-length win in an allowance race at five furlongs on turf at Churchill Downs on April 28.
In the big field on Friday, Bacio started from the post position closest to the grandstand. Bacio won by 3 3/4 lengths over Sandal’s Song, who is trained by George Weaver of the United States.
“He gave me a good jump and he took off from that,” Hernandez said. “They couldn’t catch me. It was a beautiful feeling to cross the wire first.”
After the race, it was briefly unclear whether the result would stand when Hernandez weighed-in lighter than his assigned weight of 131 pounds. The issue led to a steward’s inquiry, until it was realized that Hernandez did have the saddle’s overgirth when he initially weighed-in. When Hernandez weighed-in a second time, the correct weight was recorded.
The situation led to a delay in the race being made official.
Hernandez, who won his 3,000th race in the United States last month, has won 12 riding titles at Del Mar or Santa Anita since summer 2023, including the last four titles at the prestigious Del Mar summer meeting. Hernandez finished first in the standings at Santa Anita last fall, his most recent riding title.
Hernandez was suspended for one day, on Monday of this week, for the situation regarding weighing-in after Bacio’s victory.
Hernandez, 34, spoke on Sunday from Paris, where he and his wife are on vacation. He is scheduled to return to California on Saturday in time to ride at Los Alamitos on June 28.
Bacio won for the fourth time in his fifth start in the Palace of Holyroodhouse Handicap. His only loss was a second by a half-length in the Speakeasy Stakes for 2-year-old turf sprinters at Santa Anita last October.
Owned by a partnership led by the My Racehorse syndicate, Bacio may race again in Britain this summer. Ward said in a text message on Sunday that Bacio will be considered for the Group 1 Nunthorpe Stakes at five furlongs at York Racecourse on Aug. 21. The winner of the $793,000 Nunthorpe receives a fees-paid berth to the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint at Keeneland on Oct. 31.
Bacio was pre-entered for the BC Juvenile Turf Sprint at Del Mar last fall, but failed to draw into the race from the also-eligible list. He won an allowance race for 2-year-olds on turf on Breeders’ Cup weekend.
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