For jockey Juan Hernandez, this week’s hardest race may not be the one he’s scheduled to ride in England on Friday or any of the four stakes he’s booked to ride at Del Mar on Saturday. It may be the dash from one place to the other.
Hernandez, Del Mar’s leader in wins as the racing week began Thursday, is in England to ride favorite Bacio for trainer Wesley Ward in Friday’s Nunthorpe Stakes at York at about 7:35 a.m. PDT. It’s a return engagement after Hernandez piloted Bacio to victory in the Palace of Holyroodhouse Handicap at Ascot on June 19.
Then, to get back to Del Mar in time for his first ride there at 3:30 p.m. Saturday, Hernandez plans to take an approximately 90-minute helicopter hop to Heathrow Airport and an evening nonstop flight to get to LAX late Friday night. The drive to Del Mar should, in this case, be the easy part.
It’s something like the airborne odysseys in the 1990s by California jockeys Chris McCarron, Gary Stevens and Corey Nakatani that allowed them to ride in the Japan Cup and big races at Hollywood Park on the same day.
“Hopefully we can do both, win the race (at York) and make the flight,” Hernandez told a Del Mar publicist.
Hernandez’s eight mounts at Del Mar on Saturday include Original Sin, a 15-1 shot, in the $1 million Pacific Classic.
• Phil D’Amato looks strong in three turf stakes on the Pacific Classic undercard Saturday. Belmont Oaks winner Kensington Lane (Joel Rosario riding) is one of the trainer’s three fillies in the Grade I Del Mar Oaks, King of Gosford (Umberto Rispoli) and Almendares (Antonio Fresu) run in the Grade II Del Mar Mile, and two-time winner Motorious (Fresu) and Sorrento Sky (Rispoli) are in the Grade III Green Flash Handicap.
• This weekend’s biggest race outside Del Mar is Saturday’s 1¼-mile Alabama Stakes at Saratoga. Counting Stars (Irad Ortiz Jr.), the nation’s top 3-year-old filly, goes for her third straight Grade I victory. She faces five non-stakes winners.
• Future wagering is being offered on the Breeders’ Cup Classic for the first time, with rounds of betting Aug. 28-30 and Sept. 25-27 on the race to be run Oct. 31 at Keeneland. Under rules similar to Kentucky Derby future wagering, bettors can lock in win odds on 23 individual horses and an all-others option.
• At Los Alamitos, Hi Octane and jockey Rodrigo Sigala Vallejo were fastest (19.912 seconds for 400 yards) in Saturday’s trials for the Golden State Derby. You Are the Best and and Ricardo Ramirez were second (19.921). Each quarter horse will seek his first major victory in a stakes final Sept. 5.
• No specific violations have been alleged yet but a Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority investigation continues into circumstances, including unusual betting activity, surrounding upset victories Aug. 9 at Saratoga and Monmouth Park by four horses returning from layoffs and prepared by low-profile trainers at the Fair Hill (Md.) training center. Possibly related: One of the trainers, Angel Quiroz, could face a two-year suspension and $25,000 fine after the Aug. 13 announcement that another of his horses tested positive for the prohibited bronchodilator albuterol in an out-of-competition sample taken in July.
• In a fresh racing scandal, owner, breeder and major tournament-winning handicapper Marshall Gramm is accused of improperly obtaining and sharing health information about other people’s horses from the HISA computer system. Having such data could give Gramm an edge in claiming horses and making bets. Gramm, economics department chair at Rhodes College in Memphis, issued a statement saying the real issue is the vulnerability of the HISA system.
• The Hambletonian, harness racing’s most famous event, is moving to Hoosier Park near Indianapolis starting in 2027 after 46 years at the Meadowlands in New Jersey. The agreement announced Aug. 13 makes Hoosier the seventh venue for the Hambletonian since it began in 1926 at the New York State Fair in Syracuse.
DEL MAR LEADERS
(Through Sunday)
Jockeys / Wins
Juan Hernandez / 25
Joel Rosario / 24
Antonio Fresu / 17
Kazushi Kimura / 15
Umberto Rispoli / 13
Emisael Jaramillo / 12
Hector Berrios / 11
Armando Ayuso / 10
Tyler Baze / 6
Trainers / Wins
Doug O’Neill / 17
Phil D’Amato / 10
John Sadler / 8
Peter Miller / 8
George Papaprodromou / 8
Michael McCarthy / 8
Bob Baffert / 7
Antonio Garcia / 6
Mark Glatt / 6
UPCOMING STAKES
SANTA ANITA
Saturday
• $1 million, Grade I Pacific Classic, 3-year-olds and up, 1¼ miles
• $300,000, Grade I Del Mar Oaks, 3-year-old fillies, 1⅛ miles on turf
• $300,000, Grade II Del Mar Mile, 3 and up, 1 mile on turf
• $200,000, Grade II Green Flash Handicap, 3 and up, 5 furlongs on turf
Sunday
• $300,000, Grade II Del Mar Derby, 3-year-old, 1⅛ miles on turf
LOS ALAMITOS
Saturday
• $30,000 Sgt Pepper Feature Handicap, quarter horses, 3-year-olds, 350 yards
Sunday
• $75,000, Grade I Go Man Go Handicap, quarter horses, 3 and up, 400 yards