Rafael Hernandez sidelined with fracture after spill

Last year’s leading rider and Sovereign Award winner Rafael Hernandez will be sidelined for three to five weeks after going down in a spill on Super Jade in Saturday’s nightcap, according to agent Tony Esposito.

“We thought he should have a check up, and they found a small fracture of the second vertebrae, I believe,” Esposito said. “It’s very minimal.”

Hernandez worked horses on Sunday morning before winning the second race on Kudura, his first of 10 mounts on the 13-race Sunday card.

Leo Salles was handed a 10-day ban for the incident after the stewards concluded that his mount drifted into the path of Super Jade while they clipped heels entering the stretch. Salles was suspended from June 21-30 and was also suspended from July 1-3 for another incident during opening weekend.