Unscathed by recent accidents, Hernandez has four-win day

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – “I gotta quit doing that,” Brian Hernandez Jr. said with a grin.

Hernandez wasn’t talking about winning races, of course. Four winners on the Sunday opener have him in the early lead atop the Churchill Downs fall-meet jockey standings.

No, Hernandez was talking about being thrown to the ground from atop a racehorse, which happened to him three times in a 10-day span. On Oct. 21, he was thrown during morning training at Churchill by a horse that wheeled. The following day, he was in a spill at Keeneland when another horse fell in front of his own mount in the first race.

And in the final race of the Keeneland meet on Saturday, Hernandez was thrown to the slop when his mount, Bunduki, suddenly bolted at the quarter pole.

“I came off her toward the back and to the left,” he said, “and kind of went into a baseball slide on my rear end.”

Hernandez, who turns 36 on Wednesday, experienced pain in his back in the second of the three incidents, forcing him to take off his mounts for the rest of that day, but the hardy Louisiana native was back breezing horses the next morning. Indeed, he’s happier about remaining healthy through it all than the many wins and accolades he continues to garner.

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“I’m very lucky,” he said.

Two of Hernandez’s winners Sunday at Churchill, Spartan Army ($38) and B Sudd ($10), came aboard maidens for trainer Dallas Stewart, who enjoyed an extraordinary afternoon when also winning with another maiden, Ben Diesel ($30.80).

It was the first three-win day for Stewart since Silverfoot, Family Business, and Psych all won at Keeneland on April 23, 2005. The 62-year-old trainer is best known for winning the 2006 Kentucky Oaks with Lemons Forever and his two Breeders’ Cup Distaff wins with Unbridled Elaine (2001) and Forever Unbridled (2017).

Hernandez also rode two winners Sunday for Ken McPeek, Sandstone ($7.40) in the Rags to Riches and Penny Saver ($2.40) in an allowance.