Jockey Brian Hernandez, Jr. has tested positive for the coronavirus, as first reported by the Daily Racing Form. He had been scheduled to ride Art Collector in Saturday's Kentucky Derby, but the colt was removed from consideration Tuesday morning due to a minor hoof injury.
Hernandez and the other riders were tested for COVID-19 Monday. Hernandez said in a text to Kentucky Derby pool reporter Jennie Rees that he tested positive for the coronavirus but that he also tested positive for the antibodies, “which means I am no longer contagious.”
Hernandez was named on four mounts at Churchill Downs on Tuesday, but he has taken off and is awaiting further updates on what the positive test menas.
“Now we are waiting for Churchill and the health department to tell us when we can go back to riding,” Hernandez said.
The news that he'd tested positive came to Hernandez even as there were issues whether his scheduled Kentucky Derby mount, Art Collector, would run after Bruce Lunsford's colt nicked his left front heel in a routine gallop Monday morning. The final decision to withdrawal Art Collector from the Kentucky Derby was made Tuesday morning after the colt continued to show tenderness in the heel.
Hernandez last rode at Ellis Park on Aug. 29, and is named to ride three graded stakes mounts on Thursday and Friday's cards.
The post Brian Hernandez Tests Positive For Coronavirus, Off Tuesday Mounts At Churchill Downs appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.
