ARCADIA, Calif. – Juan Hernandez has a massive collection of trophies and awards to show for his widespread success as a leading rider in California in recent years. Hernandez has won 12 riding titles at Del Mar or Santa Anita since the summer of 2023, including the last four titles at the prestigious Del Mar summer meeting. The goal this week is different - build a cache of mementoes from Churchill Downs. From Thursday through Saturday’s Kentucky Derby program, Hernandez, 34, has 17 mounts, including eight stakes. He has intriguing mounts in the weekend’s two leading races - Meaning in Friday’s Kentucky Oaks, and Potente in Saturday’s Kentucky Derby. “I have high expectations,” Hernandez said at Santa Anita last weekend. “I ride some really nice horses. It’s my dream to win the Kentucky Derby and the Oaks.” Success in those races would give Hernandez a higher profile in the national scene. Through Tuesday, he ranks 11th in the nation in earnings with more than $4.1 million, the highest position of a California-based jockey. Irad Ortiz Jr., tops the list with mounts that have earned more than $10.4 million. :: DRF Kentucky Derby Package: Save on Past Performances, Clocker Reports, Betting Strategies, and more. On Friday and Saturday, Hernandez has ample opportunities to improve his position. Hernandez’s other stakes mount on Friday is Queen Maxima in the Grade 2, $500,000 Unbridled Sidney Stakes for turf sprinters. Hernandez was aboard Queen Maxima for a win in the 2025 Unbridled Sidney. On Saturday, Hernandez has nine mounts, six in stakes. Aside from Potente, Hernandez has mounts in three Grade 1 stakes, each worth $1 million - the promising 4-year-old Cornucopian in the Churchill Downs Stakes, Greenwich Village in the American Turf Stakes for 3-year-olds, and Usha in the Derby City Distaff for fillies and mares. Potente, winner of the Grade 2 San Felipe Stakes at 1 1/16 miles at Santa Anita in March, will be Hernandez’s first mount in the Kentucky Derby. Trained by Bob Baffert, Potente was second by 2 3/4 lengths to Kentucky Derby hopeful So Happy in the Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby at 1 1/8 miles on April 4. Potente disputed the pace in the Santa Anita Derby, but yielded his advantage in the final furlong. In the $5 million Kentucky Derby, Potente starts from post 14. Hernandez is not planning to have the colt in front early in his first start at 1 1/4 miles. “Bob Baffert has him ready,” Hernandez said. “We’ll try to be patient with him and have a good trip. “He ran really good in the San Felipe tracking horses and that’s the way he’s been working the last couple of times. I’ll play the break and try to have a good spot and put my horse in a good rhythm.” Meaning, trained by Michael McCarthy, won the Grade 2 Santa Anita Oaks at 1 1/16 miles by two lengths for her third win in her fourth start. Hernandez rode Meaning for the first time in the Santa Anita Oaks. She closed from fourth of seven to take the lead in early stretch, a style Hernandez hopes to employ in the $1.5 million Kentucky Oaks at 1 1/8 miles. “I took her back and she did everything I was asking for,” Hernandez said. “She’s really professional. I asked her to relax behind horses and she did it. I was waiting for the quarter pole. When I swung out, she won easy.” Hernandez won two stakes on Kentucky Derby weekend last year – the Unbridled Sidney, and the St. Matthews Stakes on Fort Bragg for Baffert. This weekend, he has four stakes mounts for Baffert, three for Mike Maker, and one each for Bob Hess Jr., Mullins and McCarthy. The expansive book of mounts gives Hernandez a chance to move closer to a milestone 3,000th win in the United States. Through Tuesday, Hernandez had 2,990 wins, the latest aboard Bacio at Churchill Downs on Tuesday. Hernandez has one mount at Churchill Downs on Wednesday. At the current Santa Anita spring meeting, Hernandez was tied for leading rider with Armando Ayuso and Antonio Fresu, each with eight wins through Sunday. Ayuso and Fresu are riding at Santa Anita through the weekend, and are likely to be clear of Hernandez in coming days. Hernandez is not booked to ride at Santa Anita on Sunday, the beginning of a three-day suspension for using his whip seven times, once more than the permitted level, aboard second-place finisher Jimmy Genius in the Grade 3 American Stakes at Santa Anita on April 18. The suspension runs through May 9. Hernandez’s brief absence from California comes at a time when his position as the circuit’s top-ranked rider has been tested. Hernandez has won three riding titles in California since the beginning of 2025 – at the 2024-2025 winter-spring meeting at Santa Anita, the 2025 Del Mar summer meeting and the 2025 Santa Anita fall meeting. Hernandez was second to Fresu at the 2025 Santa Anita spring meeting, sixth behind Umberto Rispoli at the 2025 Del Mar fall meeting, and second to Emisael Jaramillo at the 2025-2026 Santa Anita winter-spring meeting that ended on April 5. After this weekend, Hernandez says a springtime goal is regaining his top position at Santa Anita. He rode at Keeneland’s spring meeting earlier this month, when Santa Anita had a week off, winning with 2 of 13 mounts. Hernandez rode briefly at Keeneland in the spring of 2025, winning with 2 of 9 mounts. Despite that success, Hernandez is not planning to relocate anytime soon. “I’m focused on here,” he said of California. “Maybe in the future, I’ll go there, but now I’m focused on here.” :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.