Brian Joseph Hernandez Jr. Makes History Riding Mystik Dan to Kentucky Derby Win

Posted on May 5, 2024 by Tom Castaneda

Brian Joseph Hernandez Jr. has joined special company.

The 38-year-old Hispanic American Eclipse Award-winning jockey has become the eighth jockey in history, and the first since Calvin Borel in 2009, to win both the Kentucky Oaks and the Kentucky Derby in the same year after Mystik Dan (18-1) won the 150th Kentucky Derby on Saturday in a photo finish.

It was the first time in 28 years the Kentucky Derby was won by a nose and just the 10th time ever.

Track Phantom (41-1) and Just Steel (21-1) led up until the 3/4-mile mark, with Fierceness, the 3-1 favorite, in third. Mystik Dan, though, held the inside right behind them.

Ridden by Hernandez, Mystik Dan busted through the pack after the final turn. After the turn, Fierceness fell way behind.

Mystik Dan led by several lengths in the final stretch, but Sierra Leone (9-2), the second-highest favorite, crept up from the outside, pushing Japanese horse Forever Young toward the railing.

Those three horses were within noses of each other, but it was Mystik Dan’s that crossed the line first.

Hernandez said he was “smiling the whole time,” even when a late surge from Sierra Leone had him questioning whether he had ended his Run for the Roses drought.

“We might have taken out a little bit of the inside fence, but that’s OK,” he joked.

Sierra Leone finished second and Forever Young finished third, while Fierceness finished 15th, 24½ lengths behind.

This year’s race came with much less controversy than last year’s. A dozen horses died at Churchill Downs in the days, and even hours, leading up to last year’s race.

Notably absent from this year’s race was Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert, who’s two-year ban was extended through 2024, making this the third straight Kentucky Derby a Baffert-trained horse did not compete.

A six-time winner at the Derby, Baffert was banned after 2021 Kentucky Derby winner Medina Spirit was stripped of the title due to a failed post-race drug test. The horse died of a heart attack that December.

Mystik Dan will now begin the quest for a Triple Crown at the Preakness Stakes at Baltimore’s Pimlico Race Course on May 18.

Hernandez began riding professionally in 2003 and got his first win on November 29, 2003, at Louisiana’s Delta Downs. As of May 2024, he has over 2,500 victories.

Irad Ortiz Jr. Rides White Abarrio to Breeders’ Cup Classic Victory

Posted on November 4, 2023 by Tom Castaneda

Irad Ortiz Jr. is celebrating a classic win…

The 31-year-old Puerto Rican jockey rode White Abarrio to victory by a length on Saturday at the $6 million Breeders’ Cup Classic.

Ridden by Ortiz Jr., White Abarrio ran 1¼ miles in 2:02.87. Sent off as the 5-2 favorite, the gray colt paid $7.20 to win.

“I thought that he was a winner the whole way around the track,” trainer Rick Dutrow said.

Japan-bred Derma Sotogake was second and Proxy was third.

Dutrow saddled White Abarrio for just the third time.

The 4-year-old colt was previously trained by Saffie Joseph Jr., but the owners moved him to Dutrow’s barn after two of Joseph’s other horses died this spring.

Dutrow returned to training earlier this year after serving a 10-year suspension by New York racing officials for a history of violations. The 64-year-old trained Big Brown to victories in the 2008 Kentucky Derby and Preakness.

Irad Ortiz Jr. Rides Mo Donegal to Victory at the Belmont Stakes

Posted on June 12, 2022 by Tom Castaneda

Irad Ortiz Jr. is celebrating a winning ride…

The 29-year-old Puerto Rican jockey led Mo Donegal to victory on Saturday for the second Belmont Stakes victory of his career.

“Be patient,” Triple Crown veteran Todd Pletcher told Ortiz prior to the race. “I think you have the best last quarter of any horse in the race.”

Pletcher was correct… Mo Donegal pulled away down the home stretch and held off filly Nest to win the Belmont Stakes, giving Pletcher a 1-2 finish and his sixth Triple Crown victory, including four at this track on the outskirts of New York City.

“To be honest with you, we were a little confident going into the race today,” Donegal Racing CEO and co-owner Jerry Crawford said. “When he turned for home, I was like, forget about it. I know Todd thought he could get a strong last quarter mile, and he surely did.”

Rich Strike, a stunning Kentucky Derby winner at 80-to-1 odds, was sixth.

Mo Donegal rounded the 1½-mile distance in 2 minutes, 28.28 seconds, three lengths ahead of Nest — ridden by Ortiz’s brother, Jose.

Pletcher, who lives on Long Island, adds another Belmont title following wins with Rags to Riches in 2007, Palace Malice in 2013 and Tapwrit in 2017.

Mo Donegal beat an eight-horse field without a clear favorite. We the People, an outstanding runner in the mud, opened at 2 to 1 amid a rainy forecast but reached 7 to 2 by race time as showers held off.

Mo Donegal entered the gate the betting favorite at 5 to 2. We the People led for much of the race, but Mo Donegal and Ortiz took charge coming out of the final turn.

The 3-year-old colt paid $7.20, $3.80 and $3. Nest — who nearly became Pletcher’s second filly to win Belmont after Rags to Riches — paid $5.30 and $4.10. Skippylongstocking was third and returned $5.60 to show. We the People finished fourth.

Rich Strike owner Rick Dawson and trainer Eric Reed held the Kentucky Derby winner out of the Preakness with an eye on Belmont, the first healthy horse to skip Pimlico after winning the Triple Crown’s first race since 1985.

Reed said the team encouraged jockey Sonny Leon to try pushing Rich Strike from the outside, but the horse kept trying to get back inside — where he made a late charge past 19 horses to win at Churchill Downs. Rich Strike spent much of Saturday’s race in last place and couldn’t recover.

“I think we just made a tactical error,” Reed said.

Just like Rich Strike, Mo Donegal was at the back of the pack at the Derby, but the colt didn’t have enough kick at Churchill Downs. He found it Saturday, winning the 154th running of the $1.5 million race.

Mo Donegal made a winner out of co-owner Mike Repole, a local entrepreneur known around the track as “Mike from Queens.” Repole also co-owns Nest.

“This is New York’s biggest race and to win it here, with my family and friends and 70 people here, this will be a big winner’s circle,” he said.

It’s the fourth straight year the Triple Crown contests were won by three different horses, a first for the sport since 1926 to 1929.

The race marked a return to form for Belmont itself after the 2020 Stakes was closed to the public due to the pandemic and the 2021 event was limited to 11,238 spectators by virus restrictions.

Capacity was capped again, this time at 50,000, because of congestion concerns stemming from the newly built arena next door for the NHL‘s New York Islanders. Still, fans crammed into cars on the Long Island Rail Road and breathed life into the 117-year-old track with floral headwear, pastel suits and the unmistakable musk of booze and cigars.

The reported attendance of 46,103 fell far short of the grounds record 120,139 set in 2004. Not much of a surprise, given the shaky weather forecast and the lack of a Triple Crown contender.

The field was sparse, too. No horse ran all three Triple Crown legs this year, heightening concern that three races in five weeks may be too tight a schedule to keep the horses healthy.

Jose Ortiz Rides Early Voting to Victory to Claim His First-Ever Preakness Stakes Title

Posted on May 22, 2022 by Tom Castaneda

Jose Ortiz is celebrating a major win…

The 28-year-old Puerto Rican jockey rode Early Voting to victory at the Preakness Stakes on Saturday, giving him his first win in five tries at the race.

Early Voting held off hard-charging favorite Epicenter for the win.

Early Voting stalked the leaders for much of the race before moving into first around the final turn and finished 1 1/4 lengths ahead of Epicenter, who was second just like in the Kentucky Derby.

The initial plan in the Preakness was for Early Voting not to wait and for jockey Jose Ortiz to take him to the lead. That looked especially important on a day when the dirt track at Pimlico Race Course was favoring speed and making it hard for horses to come from behind down the stretch.

But when Armagnac jumped out to the lead, Ortiz settled Early Voting, who had plenty left in the tank before the finish line with Epicenter threatening inside at the rail.

“I was never worried,” trainer Chad Brown said. “Once we had a good target, I actually preferred that. We were fine to go to the lead, but I thought down the back side it was going to take a good horse to beat us. And a good horse did run up on us near the wire and it was about the only one that could run with us.”

After just two Triple Crown winners in the past four-plus decades, Rich Strike owner Rick Dawson took plenty of criticism for skipping the Preakness because he felt the horse needed more rest to prepare for the Belmont Stakes on June 11.

Some of that might be muted in the aftermath of Early Voting’s impressive performance.

“That’s very hard to get an owner to pass on the Derby, and they did the right choice,” said Ortiz. “The horse, I don’t think he was seasoned enough to run in a 20-horse field and they proved that they were right today. I’ve been on him since he was a baby. We always knew he was very talented, but we knew he was going to be a late developer.”

Early Voting’s owner Seth Klarman and Brown cast doubt on the possibility of Early Voting taking on Rich Strike in the Belmont to make it a showdown between the Derby and Preakness winners. They said Early Voting might not be suited for the mile-and-a-half Belmont.

But Early Voting had no problem with 1 3/16 miles in the Preakness, which did not have a blazing fast pace like the Derby.

“It’s just beautiful when a plan comes together,” Brown said.

Early Voting, who went off at 5-1, gave Brown his second Preakness victory. Cloud Computing, the 2017 winner, is also owned by Klarman’s Klaravich Stables.

“Cloud Computing was a once in a lifetime and now I have a twice in a lifetime,” said Klarman, who grew up three blocks from Pimlico and was celebrating his 65th birthday. “Really hard to believe it could’ve happened.”

Early Voting won the race in 1:54.54 and paid $13.40, $4.60 and $3.60. Epicenter paid $2.80 and $2.40 for place and show, and Creative Minister was third and paid $4.20 to show.

Although Epicenter was passed by Rich Strike in the Derby and couldn’t make a similar move in the Preakness, it was a familiar feeling for trainer Steve Asmussen and jockey Joel Rosario. A disappointed Asmussen said his horse “just had too much to overcome” after a rough start.

“I couldn’t get my position,” Rosario said. “I had nowhere to go. You just have to stay there and hopefully at some point it opens up. It was really tight the whole way.”

Early Voting finished first in a field of nine horses, which included D. Wayne Lukas-trained filly Secret Oath and three who came back after running in the Kentucky Derby two weeks ago. Secret Oath finished fourth 15 days after winning the Kentucky Oaks.

“She made a big, sweeping run,” Lukas said. “It just wasn’t her day.”

Early Voting, a son of Gun Runner, won for the third time in four career races to take the $900,000 winner’s share of the $1.65 million purse. Asmussen said, “Early Voting is the winner of the Preakness and deserves all the credit for doing so — and nothing but.”

The 147th edition of the Preakness took place in near-record heat with the temperature soaring to 90 when the horses left the starting gate.

Sonny Leon Notches Shocking Victory at Kentucky Derby with 80-1 Rich Strike

Posted on May 8, 2022 by Tom Castaneda

It’s a debut to remember for Sonny Leon…

The Venezuelan jockey made his first start in the Kentucky Derby a memorable one, guiding Rich Strike to an 80-1 upset win in the 2022 run for the roses.

Before long shot Rich Strike broke last from the gate in the 148th edition, Leon had such a light footprint in North American horse racing, he’d never won a graded stakes race.

In the 2:02.61 it took to finish the 2022 Run for the Roses, Leon turned in a ride — equal parts patient and fabulously bold — that no one present at Churchill Downs on an overcast Saturday will ever forget.

Taking advantage of a suicidal early pace, Leon booted the late-charging Rich Strike from 15th at the 1-mile pole to a stunning three-quarters-of-a-length victory over favored Epicenter.

Leon’s masterful ride helped Rich Strike become the second-longest shot ever to win a Kentucky Derby. Only 1913 Derby winner, Donerail, who went off at 91-1, has ever won the roses at a longer price than Rich Strike did.

“People kept asking me if I was nervous to ride in my first Kentucky Derby,” Leon said afterward in a joyous news conference. “I said, ‘No, I wasn’t nervous. I was excited.’ I was on an 80-1 shot and nobody knew my horse — but I did. I didn’t know if we could win, but I had a good feeling with him.”

Said Rich Strike trainer Eric Reed: “We passed ’em all. What a ride by Sonny.”

Starting from the outside post after making the race as an also-eligible, Rich Strike broke last in the field of 20. Leon quickly guided his mount toward the rail, saving ground. As Summer Is Tomorrow set suicidal early fractions of 21.78 seconds for the first quarter-mile and 45.36 seconds for the first half-mile, Leon and Rich Strike bided their time patiently near the rear of the Derby cavalry charge.

Rich Strike was 17th at the quarter pole, had fallen to 18th at the half-mile mark and was still ahead of only two horses three-quarters of a mile into the race. However, the withering fractions had set the race up for a closer — and when Leon asked Rich Strike to go, the horse exploded.

“I was like, ‘Whoa, I’ve got some horse,” Leon said after their come-from-behind win. “When I was in the last 70 yards, I said, ‘I think I got this race.”

“How much courage did our jockey have?” asked Rick Dawson, whose RED TR-Racing owns Rich Strike. “He had as much courage as our horse, and that was a lot.” Leon had ridden Rich Strike in the four races that immediately preceded the Derby. “He helped me train this horse,” said Reed, Rich Strike’s trainer. “This rider has ridden him all along. (Rich Strike) learned the process and (Leon) taught him how to ride through horses and pass horses.” That is why, both Reed and Dawson said, when they decided they had Kentucky Derby aspirations for Rich Strike, they decided they would stay with Leon instead of looking for a bigger name.

Before Saturday’s tour de force, Leon’s greatest achievement as a rider may have been his back-to-back wins in the Best of Ohio Endurance race on Forewarned.

Leon has been a regular rider far from horse racing’s brightest lights at Mahoning Valley Race Course in Youngstown, Ohio. He does win races, having won 226 in 2021 out of a whopping 1,125 starts.

He performed so well last year that he ended 2021 ranked 11th in the nation for total victories.

John R. Velazquez Rides Medina Spirit to Kentucky Derby Win

Posted on May 2, 2021 by Tom Castaneda

John R. Velazquez has the winning spirit…

The 49-year-old Puerto Rican jockey rode Medina Spirit at Saturday’s 147th Kentucky Derby, which saw fans return to Churchill Downs, after a year away due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The three-year-old race horse, trained by two-time Triple Crown winner Bob Baffert, was ridden to victory by Velazquez, besting two-year-old Essential Quality, who was the favorite to win.

Medina Spirit’s odds of winning coming into the race were 12-1.

Mandaloun—ridden by jockey Florent Geroux—came in second place. And third place went to Hot Rod Charlie, the dark bay colt ridden by Flavien Prat.

Medina Spirit’s triumph brought Baffert into the lead, in terms of Derby wins by a trainer, with seven.

Velazquez was coming off another major win on Friday at the Kentucky Oaks competition, atop undefeated American Thoroughbred, Malathaat.

While the Kentucky Derby typically attracts a crowd of more than 150,000 people, today’s event was held at limited capacity, with just 51,838 spectators present. At the sporting events, socially-distanced spectators were required to wear masks when they weren’t eating or drinking, though some of those in attendance reportedly refused to comply.

After a year that saw the Derby held in the absence of fans, it returned to its regular spot on the calendar this year, along with the Preakness Stakes and the Belmont Stakes, the two other races one needs to win, in order to claim the coveted Triple Crown.

Preakness Stakes is set for May 15, with Belmont Stakes following on June 5.

Velasquez was inducted into the Horse Racing Hall of Fame in 2012.

Abel Cedillo Rides Thousand Words to Upset Victory at the Shared Belief Stakes

Posted on August 3, 2020 by Tom Castaneda

Abel Cedillo has pulled off a major upset…

The Guatemalan horse rider, last year’s TVG Breakthrough Jockey of the Year, rode Thousand Words to an upset win over favorite Honor A. P. (1-5) by three-quarters of a length in the $100,000 Shared Belief Stakes at Del Mar over the weekend, giving trainer Bob Baffert another candidate for next month’s Kentucky Derby.

Thousand Words ran 1 1/16 miles in 1 minute, 43.85 seconds and paid $20.40 and $3.40 at 9-1 odds.

The colt earned 50 qualifying points for the Derby, which was postponed until Labor Day weekend because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Baffert said Thousand Words has perked up since coming from Los Angeles to the seaside track north of San Diego.

“The real Thousand Words showed up today,” the Hall of Fame trainer said. “His whole mind changed. His color has changed. He had soured out on me, but we got him going the right way. He earned his way to the Derby.”

Thousand Words has four wins in seven career starts.

Cedillo has 1,284 career wins in 8,435 starts with earning of $27,898,415.

Samy Camacho Rides King Guillermo to Victory at the Tampa Bay Derby

Posted on March 8, 2020 by Tom Castaneda

Samy Camacho has a royal weekend…

The Venezuelan jockey raced King Guillermo to victory at the Tampa Bay Derby by 4 3/4 lengths on Saturday for owner Victor Martinez, a five-time All-Star in Major League Baseball. The prize: $351,000.

Camacho’s 3-year-old colt earned 50 qualifying points for the Kentucky Derby. However, King Guillermo isn’t nominated to the Triple Crownseries, so Martinez would need to pay $6,000 by March 30 to get him in the Derby.

Martinez races as Victoria’s Ranch, a 2,400-acre cattle operation he founded in Florida after retiring from a 16-year baseball career in 2018. He paid $150,000 for King Guillermo, who won his first stakes race on Saturday.

Sent off at 49-1 odds, King Guillermo paid $100.40, $38.20 and $17.80. He has two wins in four career starts and earnings of $240,350.

Ridden by Camacho, King Guillermo ran 1 1/16 miles in 1:42.63.

Sole Volantewas second, and Texas Swingtook third.

Espinoza Leads American Pharoah to Victory in First Post-Triple Crown Race

Posted on August 3, 2015 by Tom Castaneda

Victor Espinoza continues his winning ways…

The 43-year-old Mexican jockey, who was named Best Jockey at this year’s ESPY Awards, gave American Pharoah a slight nudge to take control and lead the majestic colt to victory at the Haskell Invitational, delivering an encore performance in his first race since winning the Triple Crown.

“This horse, he just keeps bringing it,” trainer Bob Baffert said. “He’s just a great horse.”

With a record crowd of 60,983 cheering him on Sunday at Monmouth Park, American Pharoah came out of the final turn with a clear lead and cruised to a 2¼-length victory while Espinoza barely moved a muscle.

“He ran like a champ,” Espinoza said.

After winning the Kentucky Derby, Preakness and Belmont Stakes to become the 12th Triple Crown winner and first in 37 years, American Pharoah’s return was greatly anticipated.

Fifty-seven days after the Belmont, the 3-year-old son of Pioneer of the Nile looked better than ever in his eighth consecutive victory.

“That was nerve-racking,” Baffert said after his eighth win in the Haskell, five more than any other trainer. “I was getting pretty nervous.”

“No clue,” owner Ahmed Zayat said when asked about his colt’s next race. “We’re going to enjoy this moment.”

If all goes according to plan, American Pharoah will run his final race in the $5 million Breeders’ Cup Classic at Keeneland in Lexington, Kentucky, on October 31. Then he’s headed down the road to the breeding shed at Coolmore’s Ashford Stud.

A few minutes after Bruce Springsteen‘s “Born to Run” blared over the speakers as the horses walked onto the track, American Pharoah broke well from post No. 4. But it was Competitive Edge who took the lead. Espinoza kept his horse in second until the far turn. And then, American Pharoah took off and was all alone in the stretch.

The final margin was deceptive because Espinoza never asked American Pharoah to run any harder than necessary.

“It was pretty easy,” said Espinoza, who is unbeaten in eight races as American Pharoah’s jockey. “For me the key was just coming out of there running. I knew that other horse would want to take the lead, so I sat back just a little bit. I never like to go head and head with another horse, so I sat back maybe half a length behind. He did everything by himself. It was pretty easy, pretty impressive.”

American Pharoah followed many of his Triple Crown colleagues by winning his first start after three grueling races in five weeks. Of the 11 others, seven won in their return and one, Count Fleet, was retired after the 1943 Belmont with an injury.

American Pharoah opened his career with a loss before reeling off eight in a row — seven of them Grade 1 races. With the $1.1 million payday in the Haskell, his career earnings soared to $5.6 million.

Espinoza Rides American Pharoah to Triple Crown Greatness

Posted on June 8, 2015 by Tom Castaneda

Victor Espinoza has jockeyed his way into the history books…

American Pharoah, with the 43-year-old Mexican jockey at the reins, won the Belmont Stakes, becoming the first Triple Crown winner in 37 years.

Affirmed had been the last horse to win the Triple Crown, taking the most coveted prize in horse racing in 1978.

American Pharoah lived up to expectations on Saturday, pulling away from its challengers in the last stretch of the 147th Belmont Stakes and becoming just the 12th horse to win the Triple Crown.

“It’s very emotional,” American Pharoah’s trainer, Bob Baffert, said. “What a feeling. It’s probably going to take a few days to sink in.”

The horse, which is owned by Zayat Stables, won the Kentucky Derby on May 2 and the Preakness Stakes two weeks later, taking the first two legs of the Triple Crown.

Baffert and Espinoza had come up short in five previous bids between them to win the Triple Crown.

“He walked into the gate amazing,” Espinoza said. “He was ready today. As soon as I sat in the saddle, there was so much power and so much energy this horse had. He trained perfect, just unbelievable coming into the race.”

American Pharoah ended the longest streak without a Triple Crown winner in the history of American horse racing, with 13 horses losing in the Belmont Stakes after winning the first two races in the series.

The previous longest stretch without a Triple Crown winner was 25 years, spanning the time from Citation’s victory in 1948 to Secretariat’s win in 1973.

“It’s just an amazing thing. It’s just unbelievable how things work out. It’s just an amazing horse like American Pharoah. I was coming to this race with so much confidence the last two times. It’s just unbelievable,” Espinoza said.

Espinoza won the first two legs of the Triple Crown with War Emblem in 2002 and California Chrome last year, but he came up short each time at Belmont.

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Celebrating the Latino Influence

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