Juan J. Hernandez © Benoit Photo
HERNANDEZ SETS HIS SIGHTS ON ANOTHER RIDING TITLE AT DEL MAR
This is a busy time of year for jockey Juan Hernandez. He’s still working one job but in two different locations, over 100 miles apart.
“On Friday I have to work horses at Santa Anita in the morning,” Hernandez explains. “Then right after I finish I drive down to Del Mar and ride horses on Friday. Then I work horses Saturday and Sunday if the trainers need me and then Sunday after the races I drive back home because Monday is a busy day for Santa Anita so I have to drive back to work horses on Monday.”
All the while, Hernandez is helping his wife raise their two children.
“I come down by myself,” Hernandez says. “It’s easier. I rent a hotel on Friday and Saturday. They have school and they play baseball. They have games and tournaments on the weekends.”
As taxing as that can be on a person, Hernandez continues to dominate the riders standings in Southern California. He’s won five straight titles at Del Mar, and should he win the Bing Crosby Season again this year it will be three consecutive years of sweeping both the summer and fall meet titles at the seaside oval. First and foremost he attributes his success to the horses.
“They’re the ones that are helping me win all those races,” he notes. “They’re making the effort. Then to the owners and the trainers. They support me a lot. And a lot of credit goes to my agent, Craig O’Bryan. He looks for the best horses in the race. He talks to the trainers and owners. He’s at the racetrack early in the morning even before me and he hustles for the good horses to ride.”
Hernandez also credits the grooms.
“They do a lot work and spend most of the time with the horses,” he contends. ”I’m just really happy for the success and I’m going to keep working hard and riding hard in every race and hopefully we can keep winning races.”
Hernandez is fresh off a Breeders’ Cup that saw him finish second in three races: the Juvenile Fillies with Explora; the Sprint with Imagination, and the biggest heartbreak of all, the Dirt Mile, where his mount Citizen Bull got nosed out by stablemate Nysos.
“I rode some good races,” he says. “I wish I could have got a win but I tried my best and I’ll just learn from it. It was a really good experience and I can’t wait for the next one. I was really close and I keep telling myself ‘keep working, keep hustling’ and hopefully we’ll get a win next year.”
THE CHOSEN VRON HONORED BY STAKES RACE SATURDAY AT DEL MAR
Like the beaches after the tourists leave, it’s time to let the locals move back in at Del Mar now that the Breeders’ Cup has come and gone. Both stakes races this week are for Cal-breds beginning with the The Chosen Vron Stakes on Saturday.
Eight horses are entered in the seven-furlong test on the main track. Man O Rose, the 5-year-old gelded son of Stanford, is the morning line favorite off of his win in the California Flag. He just held off the on-coming charge of Lovesick Blues, winner of the G1 Bing Crosby, who was using the California Flag as a prep for his run in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint.
Man O Rose won by a nose that day but in his previous race, the E.B. Johnston at Los Alamitos, he won by 5 ½ lengths. That was his first race of 2025 so he’s two-for-two this year. The Jeff Mullins trainee ran in this race last year when it was called the Cary Grant Stakes and finished second, 8 ½ lengths back of the winner, Big City Lights.
There is no Big City Lights in here this year but there are some worthy challengers. Shea Brennan comes in from the Philip D’Amato barn. He won the Cal Cup Derby at Santa Anita earlier this year only to get disqualified. He came back in the summer and finished second to stablemate Speedy Wilson in the Real Good Deal Stakes at Del Mar.
The 3-year-old son of Tough Sunday ran fourth in the California Flag last out. It was his first time on the turf let alone first run down the hillside turf course at Santa Anita. And it was his first time against older horses.
“He’s just getting better with age,” D’Amato states. “One of his most impressive races was here at Del Mar running at seven-eighths so he’ll get that trip again. He has to maneuver his way around with the post. He’s on the rail but that horse always seems to draw the inside so he’s no stranger to it.”
Clovisconnection ships in from Emerald Downs where he spent the summer running in stakes races including a second in the Longacres Mile. This isn’t the first time the veteran Northern California runner has come south. He ran second in the Cal Cup Sprint at Santa Anita in January.
Trainer Peter Miller brings two horses to the dance, both 3-year-olds trying older horses for the first time. R. Heisman was a winner at Del Mar as a 2-year-old when he won the Graduation Stakes. He hasn’t won since though he did finish second in the Golden State Juvenile at Del Mar on Breeders’ Cup Day 2024.
Between then and now he spent a couple of months at Oaklawn Park in Arkansas before returning to the West Coast and running third in the Echo Eddie at Santa Anita in April. Saturday’s The Chosen Vron will be his first race since.
“He needed a break,” Miller says. “He’s come back well. Probably needs a race but this is a good starting point for him. He likes the track but he’s facing a tough bunch and older horses. You got to start them somewhere.”
Miller’s other entry is Style Cat, a gelded son of Curlin to Mischief. He won the Echo Eddie back in April but is oh for his last four races, one of them was the Real Good Deal Stakes where he finished fourth. His last two races were turf experiments.
“I think he’s a better dirt horse,” Miller contends. “A 3-year-old going against older is always difficult but he likes this track too so we’ll give him a shot.”
Drop Um was third, beaten by just a nose by Shea Brennan in the Real Good Deal Stakes in August before returning last month and winning one of the ‘ratings races’ at Santa Anita.
Stamp My Passport ran second to Man O Rose in the E.B. Johnston in September. He’s out of the Leonard Powell stable.
The $100,000 The Chosen Vron Stakes was known as the Cary Grant Stakes for the first 11 years it was run at Del Mar. The name was changed to commemorate the outstanding Cal-bred gelding by Vronsky who retired earlier this year. The Chosen Vron was a two-time California Horse of the Year, a four-time winner at Del Mar and winner of the Cary Grant twice.
The Chosen Vron is Race 8 on Saturday’s nine race card. Probable post time is 4 p.m.
Here’s the field from the rail out with the jockeys and morning line odds: Shea Brennan (Armando Ayuso, 3-1); Clovisconnection (Juan Hernandez, 7-2); R Heisman (Antonio Fresu, 12-1); Drop Um (Kyle Frey, 12-1); Man O Rose (Edwin Maldonado, 8/5); Stamp My Passport (Diego Herrera, 10-1) and Style Cat (Umberto Rispoli, 6-1).
AN INTERNATIONAL FLAVOR TO THIS WEEK’S DEL MAR STANDINGS
With the first week of the Bing Crosby Season in the books we find the jockey and trainer standings heavily influenced by the Breeders’ Cup, particularly in the earnings column.
Umberto Rispoli was the leading rider last week with five wins, buoyed by his hat trick on Sunday. He’s followed by six jockeys with three victories: Flavien Prat; Irad Ortiz, Jr.; Juan Hernandez; Hector I. Berrios; Mirco Demuro and Antonio Fresu.
Joel Rosario, Tyler Baze and Armando Ayuso round out the top ten with two wins apiece.
John Sadler leads the way in the trainer standings with four wins, one of which was Super Corredora in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies on Friday. George Papaprodromou is next with three victories followed by five conditioners with two: Bob Baffert; Jose D’Angelo (his back-to-back Breeders’ Cup wins); Philip D’Amato; Leonard Powell and Doug O’Neil.
The leaders in earnings were the connections of Forever Young the Breeders’ Cup Classic winner on Saturday. Ryusei Sakai won $3,740,000 to lead all jockeys followed by Flavien Prat, who had two Breeders Cup winners on Saturday, Splendora in the Filly & Mare Sprint and Nysos in the Dirt Mile. Prat rang up $2,875,700 in purse winnings.
John Velazquez’ only win all weekend came in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile aboard Ted Noffey. But his five seconds helped boost his earnings to $2,805,360.
As for the trainers, Forever Young’s conditioner Yoshito Yahagi leads the earnings race with $3,740,000 followed by William Mullins with $2,600,000. Mullins won the Breeders’ Cup Turf with Ethical Diamond. Charlie Appleby made $2,540,000 thanks in large part to his win in the Breeders’ Cup Mile with Notable Speech and his second and third place finishes in the Turf.
Bob Baffert had the best showing of the American trainers with two Breeders’ Cup victories (Nysos and Splendora) and tallied $2,444,000.
HANDICAPPING SEMINARS ON TAP SATURDAY, SUNDAY AT DEL MAR
Del Mar will once again present free handicapping seminars for its fans for the upcoming Saturday and Sunday race cards.
The seminars are held in the Plaza de Mexico. They begin at 11:30 a.m. and run for approximately 30 minutes ahead of the first post at 12:30 p.m.
Saturday’s seminar, which is hosted by Frank Scatoni, will feature horseplayer and handicapper Ryan Anderson*. The Sunday session, led by Dan Smith, will have Oaklawn and Monmouth Park race caller Matt Dinerman in the driver’s seat.
COOLING OUT: Tamara is back at Santa Anita undergoing tests following her scratch by track veterinarians from the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Sprint. Trainer Richard Mandella says she appears fine to them. “We’re doing a PET scan and x-rays. We should know in a couple of days.” As for the possibility of the daughter of Beholder running at Del Mar this fall if she’s okay Mandella said, “I don’t know. We’re going to kick some ideas around.”…2024 Del Mar Horse of the Meet Iscreamuscream is back on the worktab. She has yet to race in 2025 but Monday she worked four furlongs in :51.00 on the dirt at Del Mar. “We’re steadily getting her ready to go but she probably won’t be ready until Santa Anita,” trainer Philip D’Amato noted.
*corrected from an earlier send.