This is not the typical story of the jockey who riskedleaving his native country in hopes of finding success in America. Yes, JuanHernández did exactly that 15 years ago when he traveled from his nativeVeracruz, Mexico, to become a teenage apprentice at Golden Gate Fields.
The bigger, bolder move, the one that eventually made him ago-to rider for Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert, actually happened when hefound a reason to leave a steady livelihood behind in the north and move histack four years ago to Southern California.
“That was the pandemic,” Hernández said.
Hernández has new ride for Pacific Classic.
Talk about making the best of a bad situation. Since hemoved to the other end of the state, Hernández, 32, has won six riding titlesat Santa Anita, four at Los Alamitos and four more at Del Mar. It is about tobe five. His 37 wins this summer are 12 more than the next nearest jockey.
He will not get to ride Adare Manor against male competitionas he had been booked to do Saturday in the Grade 1, $1 million PacificClassic. Baffert said the mare “tied up” after a Thursday gallop. Hernández was reassigned to stablemate Reincarnate. He also has undercard rides for the Hall of Fame trainer on morning-linefavorites Du Jour in the Del Mar Mile (G2) and Hope Road in the Torrey Pines(G3).
All but four of his 97 graded-stakes wins have come in the lastfour years. Brimming with both friendliness and confidence in a phoneconversation not far from Del Mar, Hernández said his southward shift in 2020was less about if and more about when.
“I was ready before that,” Hernández said of his well-timedmove. “I was waiting for some good opportunity. I was waiting for a call from agood agent.”
That would be Craig O’Bryan. But that also would be gettingahead of the story. He came along after another opportunity presented itselfeight years ago up north.
The heir to the Russell Baze throne
Count ’em. Between the 54 at Golden Gate and 40 at BayMeadows, Russell Baze won 94 titles during a riding dynasty built with fellowHall of Famer Jerry Hollendorfer doing most of the training. It is an accomplishmentthat reckons to go unmatched.
When Baze suddenly retired in 2016, someone else finally wasgoing to be at the top of the standings.
“Sometimes I was trying to copy him,” Hernández said this week on Horse Racing Nation’sRon Flatter Racing Pod. “Ofcourse I want to win every race like him. It was harder at the beginning, but Ijust liked the competition. And I loved riding with Russell and the other guysthat were over there when I was at Golden Gate.”
Hernández already was carving out an average of 160 wins ayear. When Baze called it a career, that number spiked to 229. That 2016 totalremains a career high. Titles followed, seven of them that he won or shared atGolden Gate.
Successful, yes. And precocious. Hernández had justgraduated from high school at age 14. Yes, 14. That was when he startedcompeting as a jockey back home. When he got to California, never mind drinkingand voting. He was barely old enough to drive.
“I was just a kid when I got here,” he said. “I think I was17 or 18 or something like that. I didn’t know anything. I was a bug boy inMexico, and I was winning a lot of races. Here it’s different. It’s waydifferent. It’s another world.”
One of the secrets to his early success was to hone hisskills by watching the likes of Baze.
“I was learning from him and other jockeys all over thestate,” Hernández said. “I was watching a lot of races when I got here, becauseI had a lot of time. I was by myself when I got here.”
Lonely, yes, but things otherwise were going along quitesmoothly in the San Francisco Bay Area. That was until March 2020, when most ofthe world stopped.
COVID moves in; Hernándezmoves south
A lot of tracks stayed open when the coronavirus outbreakquarantined most of the world. Horses needed their exercise, and with socialdistancing something of a reality around backside stables, racing seemed likethe only sport that did not hit pause.
California was a glaring exception. Even though morning workwas allowed, the sport was shut down by local health authorities there for 11/2 months in the spring of 2020.
Hernández said he had been thinking of a move to the morecompetitive racing colony at Santa Anita and Del Mar, but he was not ready torisk what he had built at Golden Gate.
The COVID pause gave him the push.
“I wasn’t riding,” he said. “I think I stopped for like amonth or something like that because of the pandemic. I wasn’t making money. ...I was waiting for some opportunity. I was waiting for a call from a good agentor a trainer to support me, to help me.”
Blaine Wright, who was firmly established in NorthernCalifornia, turned out to be that trainer.
“Hey, Juan, I’m going to bring some horses to Del Mar,”Wright told Hernández. “They’re going to open Del Mar for racing. Do you wantto go down there and ride my horses?”
That was in the summer of 2020, when Hernández was hearingmore noise about the possibility of Golden Gate canceling more race dates.Suddenly, the routine he had established for himself looked shaky at best. Thebird in the hand had flown south, and Wright was holding it.
“I told him right away, yes, if you want to support me overthere,” Hernández said. “I just need to find a good agent to help me with mybusiness.”
That was when good timing struck again.
Jockey agent to the starsunretires
O’Bryan had been there and done that. For nearly ahalf-century he had the books for Hall of Fame jockeys like Gary Stevens, AlexSolís, Eddie Delahoussaye and Corey Nakatani.
His dad George, who was nicknamed Black Heart, had his ownlist of legends. Yes, he was a jockey agent, too, and he lived to be 100. Theycould have called their business O’Bryan and Son.
Retirement beckoned about five years ago, but it did notlast. Not when Hernández came calling, and O’Bryan felt the itch to get back inthe game.
“I had watched him ride up north,” O’Bryan said. “He was thereal deal. It was kind of a timing thing. It was one of the best moves I’veever made.”
Now 74, O’Bryan has been the familiar, trusted face aroundthe track who put Hernández together with trainers like Richard Mandella, PhilD’Amato, John Shirreffs, John Sadler, Leonard Powell and Craig Lewis.
And yes, Baffert.
That forgettable moment whenthey met
Unlike the rest of this story in which Baze and COVID and Wrightand O’Bryan have been signposts, there was no flashpoint to when Hernández met Baffert.Neither of them remembered exactly when they first said hello to one another.
“I’m not sure,” Hernández said. “I moved down here in 2020,and I think I started riding for him I’ll say like six months or a year laterafter I got here. ... I remember riding a couple horses for Mandella, and Ibeat him a couple times. I guess he looked at me or something like that.”
“He just came down here and started riding,” Baffert said ina call from his barn office at Del Mar. “I started using him a little bit. Icould see he was up and coming. He started to win all these races. He was good,you know?”
Their first Grade 1 success together came in December 2021at Los Alamitos, where Eda dug in and won by a half-length as the favorite inthe Starlet Stakes. Nine more top-level wins have come with Cave Rock, Fun toDream, Defunded, Adare Manor and Muth, who Hernández will ride Sunday in theShared Belief Stakes.
“When he started riding for me, he didn’t get intimidated,”Baffert said. “Sometimes if (young jockeys) ride a big horse, that can happen.He just rides his race. He’s cool. He’s really chill. He’s very chill, and thehorses respond to him, because he’s quiet. And he’s really good out of thegate.”
“(Baffert) always brings his horses ready to run,” Hernándezsaid. “As a jockey he gives you a lot of confidence. He doesn’t say much. Helet’s you do your work, and I love it. I’m really happy with that.”
Baffert took his praise for Hernández another step into the X’sand O’s of racing in Southern California.
“When they implemented all the rules like the whip rules,some jockeys struggled with it,” he said. “You really have to know how tofinish on a horse like some of the great jockeys out there. He’s that kind ofguy.”
As happy as that comparison may make Hernández, he does notstop there. He not only works with Hall of Famers, he works out with one ofthem.
Hitting the gym with BigMoney
When Hernández picked up the phone this week, he was not farremoved from one of his routine workouts to stay in shape. His frequent partneris an ageless colleague.
“My first month with Bob, I remembered Mike Smith was ridingfor him a lot,” he said. “Mike Smith and I work out together. We have the samepersonal trainer.”
Keeping up in the gym with the jockey known as Big Money cannotbe easy. Smith just turned 59, and he still has the ripped body of a man lessthan half his age.
“He’s still in really good shape,” Hernández said. “He’sstill riding really good. ... I try to work out three or four days a week.Wednesdays and Thursdays, sometimes my other trainer is a little busy and hassome appointments, so we hook up together, and we work out at the same time.Like a horse, we are together, and we do the same thing for an hour. We liftweights and cardio and all that kind of stuff. It’s hard and tough, but at thesame time it’s good. In the race you feel the competition, and you see this guylifting heavy. It’s just motivational, man.”
Highlighted by his Triple Crown pairing with Justify in2018, Smith has ridden some of his biggest triumphs working for Baffert. Thatmakes him someone who could offer a young rider some expert advice America’smost recognized trainer.
“Hey, how’s riding for Bob?” Hernández said he asked Smith.
“Oh, it’s cool. It’s cool,” Smith said. “It’s always a goodthing when you ride for him, because he lets you do your job, and he’s a coolguy.”
So, too, is Hernández both on and off the track. At leastthat is what Hernández said.
Sitting chilly as husband & fatherof 2
Unlike his path from Mexico to America, the road fromNorthern California to Southern California was not taken all by himself.Hernández is married. He and his wife Melissa, the daughter of trainer AlfredoMárquez, have two sons. Juan Joséis 9, and Emilio is 6.
“I’m a little hard sometimes and strict,” he said. “They’rea little wild, so I have to be a little hard on them sometimes. But I think I’mcool.”
The cool husband. The cool dad. The cool-riding jockey. Hernándezcertainly carries some charisma.
“I’ve decided to be a good person with everybody. There’s noreason to be a bad person.”
AndHernández isnot a bad jockey, either.
“He’s smart, he’s strong, and he’s getting better andbetter,” Baffert said. “He provides me a lot of confidence. His agent does agreat job for him, and he’s really a nice person.”
