Jockey Brian Hernandez, Jr. has been filling a rather unusual role for the past several days at Churchill Downs. During the special training hours set aside for Kentucky Derby contenders, Hernandez has been out on the track as his mount Art Collector's exercise rider rather than watching him from the rail.
Jockeys for big races will often be aboard their mounts for major workouts, but day-to-day exercise riders are usually tasked with galloping and jogging.
Trainer Tommy Drury indicated that the colt's regular exercise rider, James Lopez, has been undergoing quarantine due to the COVID-19 protocols at Churchill Downs.
“Tommy asked me a few days ago if minded just coming out and getting on him,” Hernandez explained. “I said 'of course I don't, I'm here every morning anyway.' It's like being back at Evangeline Downs again. When I first started riding, I had to gallop everything I rode.”
When Art Collector shipped in to Churchill from the Skylight Training Center on Wednesday last week, Hernandez got a leg up on the colt for Thursday morning's training session, a scheduled gallop.
Art Collector was a bit of a handful during a gallop under jockey Brian Hernandez on Aug. 27 at Churchill Downs
“The first morning after he came back from Skylight he was out here at Churchill and I galloped him,” Hernandez said. “He's normally a pretty laid-back horse, but that morning there it was a little later and we had a lot of traffic, he got a little aggressive and wanted to jump up and go. A couple times I had to reach up and slow him down. My wife, she was making fun of me later that night. She said if I was her gallop boy, she'd have fired me!”
Art Collector and Hernadez went through a five-furlong workout together on Friday, covering the distance in 1:00.80, before jogging one mile on Saturday and two miles on Sunday.
“With these good horses like that, you want to get on them every day if possible,” Hernandez said. “Getting on him the last couple mornings and jogging him, you know where you're at with him. He's jogging off great right now, and seems to be really happy with himself… He's a happy horse and he seems to be going the right way right now.”
The colt's regular exercise rider Lopez was able to return on Monday for a scheduled gallop.
“The good news is that Brian's been on this horse so much in the mornings, and he knows him well,” said trainer Drury, for whom Art Collector is a first Derby starter. “He's a very kind horse. The first day we galloped him here, that's probably the most animated I've ever seen him on the racetrack, so I was glad that Brian was able to get along with him.
“At this point, you're not so much thinking about training, you're just keeping him happy. He's fit and ready to roll.”
Thanks to the National Turfwriters and Broadcasters Association (NTWAB), which has assembled a group of pool reporters providing independent reporting to members unable to be on the Churchill Downs grounds this year due to COVID-19 restrictions.
The post Jockeying Around With Art Collector: Hernandez Filling In For Exercise Rider Aboard Derby-Bound Colt appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.
