Jockey Brian Hernandez, Jr.: ‘Once You Win Races Like the Oaks and Derby, You Want to Do it Every Year’

[Wandering Eyes]

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — A year after recording a historic double with Thorpedo Anna (Fast Anna) in the GI Kentucky Oaks and Mystik Dan (Goldencents) in the GI Kentucky Derby, jockey Brian Hernandez, Jr. is coming back for more.

The native of Lafayette, Louisiana will pilot the stretch-running GI Toyota Blue Grass Stakes winner Burnham Square (Liam's Map), a live contender for trainer Ian Wilkes in Saturday's Kentucky Derby, and the Kenny McPeek-trained GI Central Bank Ashland Stakes runner-up Take Charge Milady (Take Charge Indy) in Friday's Kentucky Oaks. The aforementioned reigning Horse of the Year and 'TDN Rising Star' Thorpedo Anna will also be in action with Hernandez, Jr. in the irons, headlining the GI Fasig-Tipton La Troienne on the Oaks undercard.

Just one of eight jockeys to sweep the Oaks and Derby and the first since Calvin Borel did so with Rachel Alexandra and Mine That Bird in 2009, the nation's 2004 outstanding apprentice jockey and 2024 Mike Venezia Memorial Award winner chatted with TDN's Senior Racing Editor Steve Sherack as the first Saturday in May approaches.

Q: A year has passed now since your monumental weekend winning both the Kentucky Oaks and Kentucky Derby. Has it begun to sink in yet?

BH: We stay so busy traveling and riding all over the place that we never really took the time for it to sink in. But with Derby week coming back around–you're doing all these interviews and everything–it's starting to sink in now.

After the Derby, we got back real late that night. Neither my wife or I could sleep because we were just so excited about what happened in the 24-hour span. You always dream of winning a race like the Derby–we've been fortunate enough to win big races in the past–but winning the Oaks and the Derby was a completely different elevation. Between having the toast with the Governor right after the race in the Derby Museum and all that stuff, it's definitely gonna be memorable, that's for sure.

Q: What were your expectations heading into this weekend with Thorpedo Anna and Mystik Dan last year?

BH: We were really confident in Thorpedo Anna. When she went in and won like she did on Friday, I think it just kinda made going into Derby Day just that much easier. It made it to where everything was real nice and smooth and that's a testament to Kenny (McPeek) as well. There was no pressure in the Derby and that makes all the difference in the world being a rider when there's not that pressure on you. We were able to let Mystik Dan find his way and give him the right trip. It was all meant to be just the way things developed from the post-position draw all the way to him winning.

Q: How much did winning the Derby and Oaks change your life?

BH: I don't think it changed our lives that greatly. The next morning, I still had to get up and go help (wife) Jamie clean stalls at the barn (at our farm) and do all that stuff (laughs). I guess if it's changed anything, we're just a little more recognized now (Editor's Note: Hernandez, Jr. was featured in the popular new Netflix series 'Race for the Crown'). It opened up a few different opportunities. And we've gained some better horses. I think that's the only thing that's changed about us.

Q: Is there any way to top that now? You've already won a Breeders' Cup Classic with Fort Larned for the same connections of Burnham Square. How does this impact your goals and outlook moving forward?

BH: Once you win races like the Oaks and Derby, it tends to put it in the back of your mind, you want to do it every year. We're just trying to hope for a repeat and hopefully give these horses two good trips and go from there. It would be really awesome to be able to win the Derby for the Whithams and Ian (Wilkes) just because they were the people that gave me my first opportunity in Grade I races. To be able get them a Derby, that would be the ultimate goal.

Q: What were your impressions of Burnham Square after riding him for the first time in the Blue Grass?

Burnham Square, with Brian Hernandez, Jr. up, working for the Kentucky Derby | Horsephotos

BH: He impressed me because he was able to make such a long, sustained run. I got him in the clear midway down the backside, and, just past the five-eighths pole, he started to make up ground and pick up those horses. For him to make that long of a run and run down East Avenue–a Grade I winner–it showed that he's looking to become an even better horse.

He's not the type of horse that we can force into doing something early in the race. He's gonna have to leave there and travel and get his legs under him, then come with his run.

I was fortunate enough to ride his mother and a few others of the family as well.

Q: Trainer Ken McPeek announced on Twitter that Take Charge Milady's foot abscess has healed. You rode her for the first time in the Ashland, a very good second.  What were your impressions of her?

BH: She was impressive in the Ashland. I had worked her a couple of weeks before that down in New Orleans. She was training at Oaklawn all winter, then he sent her to New Orleans to train. She worked really well and we were going into the Ashland thinking she had a big chance. Even in the Ashland, if we'd been able to get a little better trip around the second turn, I think we would've made it a whole lot closer on La Cara.

Q: It will be a real treat for the Oaks crowd to see Thorpedo Anna race in the La Troienne. What's this ride been like with her?

BH: She's that once-in-a-lifetime racehorse. Especially now, each race that she goes into, she's 1-9, or she's the heavy favorite. So, there's always that added pressure of people having the target on your back. She just goes out there and does what she needs to and puts them away. She goes out there and shows her dominance is the best way to put it. She runs the heart out of horses. It's been a fun ride, that's for sure.

Brian Hernandez, Jr. celebrates as Thorpedo Anna captures the 2024 Kentucky Oaks | Horsephotos

Q: It's obviously a huge weekend coming up now. What does it mean to you to be in the spotlight on these big days?

BH: That's what we worked so hard for all these years. You want the opportunities in these Grade I races and these big weekends. That's why 20 years ago I left Louisiana and moved here to Kentucky hoping for that chance to ride these big horses in big races. It's what we get up for every morning. Right after this year's Derby, the 2-year-olds will start coming in and we'll start looking for horses for next year's Oaks and Derby.

The post Jockey Brian Hernandez, Jr.: ‘Once You Win Races Like the Oaks and Derby, You Want to Do it Every Year’ appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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