Santa Anita Stable Notes Friday, April 5, 2024

STABLE NOTES BY VICTOR RYAN
FRIDAY, APRIL 5, 2024

Juan Fernandez; Benoit Photo

HERNANDEZ AIMS FOR 2nd DERBY WIN IN A WEEK WITH WYNSTOCK
SATURDAY’S COAST-TO-COAST PICK 5 STARTS AT 1 P.M. PT
41 WORKERS EMPLOY NEW SYNTHETIC TRAINING TRACK FRIDAY
ANGELS FLIGHT, JOHN SHEAR STAKES PUT BOW ON CLASSIC MEET

HERNANDEZ AIMS FOR 2nd DERBY WIN IN A WEEK WITH WYNSTOCK
Last Saturday at Oaklawn Park, Santa Anita leading rider Juan Hernandez won his first-ever seven-figure purse when piloting Santa Anita-based Muth to victory in the GI, $1.5 million Arkansas Derby for Baffert.

This Saturday at Santa Anita, Hernandez will try for a Derby double. He has the call on Wynstock, also for Baffert, in the 87th running of the GI, Santa Anita Derby. Hernandez has never won Santa Anita’s most prestigious race for 3-year-olds.

Wynstock won the GII Los Alamitos Futurity, but his only start this year resulted in a last-place finish in the GIII Southwest when catching a muddy track at Oaklawn Park Feb. 3. Both efforts came with Kyle Frey in the irons.

By Solomini, Wynstock is the 8-1 fifth choice on the morning line in a field of eight. Hernandez previously rode Wynstock in his first two maiden starts last year without a win. Despite Wynstock’s up-and-down form, Hernandez expressed confidence heading into Saturday.

“I think I have a really good chance. I’m going to give it my best shot,” said Hernandez, a 32-year-old native of Veracruz, Mexico. “I’ve been winning some big races the last two or three years, but it would really be special to win my first Santa Anita Derby.”

Hernandez getting the call on Wynstock was not expected when Derby entries were taken on Wednesday.

He is also the regular rider of Wynstock’s unbeaten stablemate, Maymun. On Feb. 11, Maymun and Hernandez teamed to narrowly win a one-mile allowance over Baffert-trained Imagination, who is the 8-5 morning line favorite in the Santa Anita Derby. However, when entries for the Derby were taken Wednesday, Maymun was not entered.

Entering the final weekend of the Santa Anita Classic Meet, Hernandez is all but assured of his fifth Santa Anita riding title. He has 50 wins at the stand, eight more than co-runner ups Flavien Prat and Antonio Fresu. Prat is riding at Keeneland this weekend. Fresu would need a herculean effort. With 32 races remaining over the next three days, Fresu has 24 mounts scheduled, just one more than Hernandez.

“My agent and I, Craig O’Bryan, are a really good team,” Hernandez said. “He’s the one getting me on the good horses. That makes it easy for me. My job is to put the horse in the right spots and give them an opportunity to win.

Hernandez, who began riding in the U.S. in 2009, has 2,611 career victories and more than $82.8 million in purse earnings. He previously was the leading rider at Santa Anita’s 2023 Fall Meet, 2023 Hollywood Meet, 2022-23 Classic Meet, and 2021-22 Winter-Spring Meet.

“I love riding,” Hernandez said. “I’m just going to keep working hard and hopefully get better.”

The Santa Anita Derby is one of five stakes on a 12-race card Saturday. Post time is 4:45 p.m. PT. The race will be aired live on CNBC and streamed on Peacock starting at 4 p.m. The field in post position order: Curlin’s Kaos, Diego Herrera (20-1); Tapalo, Umberto Rispoli (5-1); Stronghold, Antonio Fresu (5-2); Imagination, Frankie Dettori (8-5); Wynstock, Juan Hernandez (8-1); Tessuto, Kazushi Kimura (10-1); Mc Vay, Hector Berrios (5-1); E J Won the Cup, Mike Smith (15-1).

SATURDAY’S COAST-TO-COAST PICK 5 STARTS AT 1 P.M. PT
The $1 Coast-to-Coast Pick 5 Saturday starts at 1 p.m. PT and includes four races from Santa Anita and one from Gulfstream Park. Average field size is 9.6 starters per race before scratches.
Kicking off the sequence is the third race from Santa Anita, an allowance/optional claimer for older fillies and mares at six furlongs on turf. A field of 10 is entered led by 5-2 morning line favorite Big Summer for trainer Carla Gaines.
The action then moves to Gulfstream Park for its eighth race, an allowance/optional claimer for 3-year-old fillies at 1 1/16 miles on turf. Another field of 10 is entered led by 5-2 morning line favorite Madame Mischief for trainer Jorge Delgado.
In the seventh race at Santa Anita, an allowance/optional claimer at a mile on turf, a field of 12 older fillies and mares is entered. Gaines again has the lukewarm favorite with Summer Lake, who is 9-2.
The ninth from Santa Anita, the GIII Monrovia on the hillside turf course, has a field of eight entered led by 9-5 morning-line favorite Ag Bullet for trainer Richard Baltas. Rounding out the sequence is the GI Santa Anita Derby, which goes as the 10th race at Santa Anita at 4:45 p.m. PT. It has a field of eight entered led by 9-5 morning line favorite Imagination for trainer Bob Baffert.
The Coast-to-Coast Pick 5 will also be offered Sunday, the final day of Santa Anita’s Classic Meet. Provided there is no carryover from Saturday’s Coast to Coast, Sunday’s pool will be seeded with an additional $100,000.

41 WORKERS EMPLOY NEW SYNTHETIC TRAINING TRACK FRIDAY
Santa Anita recently installed a new synthetic training track for exactly the circumstances that occurred Friday at The Great Race Place.
When rain saturated Santa Anita overnight and into Friday morning, the main track was sealed and closed for training. In recent years, that meant horses would be limited to walking the shedrow for their daily exercise. That was not the case Friday. Remaining open for full activities was the training track.
Under a light drizzle, 41 horses had times workouts including stakes winner Forbidden Kingdom and Zoffarelli.
Forbidden Kingdom, off since winning the GII Joe Hernandez on turf Dec. 30, worked five furlongs in 1:00.00 for trainer Richard Mandella. It was the fastest of 10 moves at the distance. Zoffarelli worked five furlongs in 1:01.00 for trainer Jeff Mullins.

FINISH LINES:
First post Saturday is 12 p.m. PT…Sunday is the final day of the Classic Meet. Racing will resume April 19 with the start of the Hollywood Meet. The co-features Sunday, the John Shear for 3-year-olds and Angels Flight for 3-year-old fillies, are both contested at about 6 ½ furlongs on the hillside turf course…Trainer Neil Drysdale reported Friday morning all was well with Nadette after she earned her first U.S. stakes win in Thursday’s GIII Wilshire…Saturday’s Big 3 Pick 3 starts at 1:07 p.m. PT with the GII Wood Memorial from Aqueduct. The $3 minimum wager also includes the GII Blue Grass from Keeneland and GI Santa Anita Derby…Due to the annual Derby Day 5K Run & Walk, which starts at 8 a.m. Saturday, the main track will close for training at 7:30 a.m. The training track closes at 6 a.m… horsemen and locals are advised that Baldwin Ave. will be closed to vehicular traffic between the 210 Freeway and Huntington Drive from 7:30 a.m. to 10. a.m. …Horseplayer Steve Pollack will be host Tom Quigley’s handicapping guest Saturday on the Santa Anita simulcast feed starting at 10:50 a.m…