Change Of Control Rides Rail To Victory In Autumn Days At Aqueduct

Perry Harrison's Change of Control overtook pacesetter Athwaaq when straightened for home and repelled 6-5 favorite Too Sexy's deep-stretch bid to post a victory by three-quarters of a length in Sunday's $150,000 Autumn Days for fillies and mares 3-years-old and up going six furlongs on the outer turf at Aqueduct Racetrack in Ozone Park, N.Y.

Change of Control, who already registered a pair of graded stakes wins in her 5-year-old campaign, including a last-out score in the Grade 3 Franklin County in October at Keeneland Race Course in Lexington, Ky., made a successful debut at the Big A, tallying her fourth stakes win of 2021 for trainer Michelle Lovell.

The fifth running of the Autumn Days saw Athwaaq break on top from post 6, leading the eight-horse field through an opening quarter-mile in :23.26 and the half in :46.28 over firm going. Jockey Colby Hernandez tucked Change of Control in third position near the rail, with the pocket position enabling her to move up to second out of the turn.

Once straightened for home, Change of Control capitalized with the open seam from the inside, overtaking a tiring Athwaaq. Hernandez kept his charge to task as Too Sexy rallied to pass three rivals, gaining in the shadow of the wire before Change of Control completed the course in a 1:09.14 final time to improve to 4-2-3 in 10 starts this year.

Hernandez's rail-riding trip earned Change of Control, off at 7-2, a winner's circle trip, returning $9.90 on a $2 win bet. She improved her career earnings to $739,257.

“She gave us a good break and I was right there,” Hernandez said. “I tried to pop out and run second but they weren't letting me out. I saw the horse on the front looked like she was going to come out at the top of the stretch and we stayed there and it ended up working out perfect.

“Every single time she runs, it's like she gets better,” he added. “She's just a cool horse, does nothing wrong and anything you ask her, she does. She's a very cool horse to ride.”

Change of Control, bred in Kentucky by John O' Meara, is 2-for-2 at NYRA-operated tracks this year after winning the G3 Intercontinental in June at Belmont Park in Elmont, N.Y.

“Colby rode her perfect. He never panicked,” Lovell said. “He stayed right there on the inside and she just looked awesome. She did well in New York when we sent her up to Belmont in the summer, so I just thought this race was a really good spot. The owner gave us a lot of time finding the best races for her. She's really thriving and coming into her own.”

Lovell said Change of Control will now winter in Louisiana in preparing for her 6-year-old year in 2022 before embarking on the next phase of her career.

“She'll go to Fair Grounds for the winter. We'll try to map out her races really well over the winter, spring, and summertime, and then she'll go to the breeding shed,” Lovell said. “I'm not really sure what our plan is from here, but she'll come back to Churchill and come to Fair Grounds with the rest of my barn.”

Too Sexy, trained by Christophe Clement, topped the slow-starting Love And Thunder by one length for second. Jockey Jose Lezcano, who was aboard for Too Sexy's last-out win in the Floral Park in October at Belmont, said the outcome might have been different with a slightly more advantageous trip.

“She broke well and I had to wait a little bit until the eighth pole,” Lezcano said. “She gave a very good race and ran strong. She did everything right, the winner is just a very good horse. I think she also got a better trip than I got. I had to go between horses and she got through on the inside.”

Miss Majorette, Piedi Bianchi, Athwaaq, Raven's Cry, and Secure Connection completed the order of finish.

Live racing resumes Thursday at the Big A with a nine-race card. First post is 12:20 p.m. Eastern.

America's Day at the Races will present daily coverage and analysis of the fall meet at Aqueduct Racetrack on the networks of FOX Sports. For the complete broadcast schedule, visit https://www.nyra.com/aqueduct/racing/tv-schedule.

NYRA Bets is the official wagering platform of Aqueduct Racetrack, and the best way to bet every race of the fall meet. Available to horseplayers nationwide, the NYRA Bets app is available for download today on iOS and Android at www.NYRABets.com.

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Lovell Says Change Of Control’s Next Start Still To Be Determined

Perry Harrison's Change of Control returned to Churchill Downs Friday night at 9:15 following her 1½-length victory in the Grade 3 Buffalo Trace Franklin County over a yielding turf course for her second graded stakes victory and second stakes victory at Keeneland Race Course in Lexington, Ky.

Trainer Michelle Lovell reported the 5-year-old mare was doing well Saturday morning with plans for a next start to be determined.

Trainer Ben Colebrook had a similar report on Voodoomon Racing's Ambassador Luna, who set the pace in the 5½-furlong sprint through the rain as a 62-1 longshot.

“There are no definite plans yet,” Colebrook said of Ambassador Luna, who won an off-the-turf stakes at Churchill Downs in 2020 in what was her first dirt start. “We have options.”

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Change Of Control Takes Buffalo Trace Franklin County In A Keeneland Deluge

Perry Harrison's Change of Control was first out of the gate and first to the finish line in posting a 1½-length victory over 62-1 longshot Ambassador Luna in the 25th running of the $150,000 Buffalo Trace Franklin County Stakes  (G3) for fillies and mares on a rainy Friday afternoon at Keeneland in Lexington, Ky.

Trained by Michelle Lovell and ridden by Colby Hernandez, Change of Control covered the 5½ furlongs on a turf course labeled yielding in 1:05.89.

With the victory, Change of Control became the fourth horse to win the Giant's Causeway during Keeneland's Spring Meet and come back in the Fall Meet to win the Buffalo Trace Franklin County. The others were Dyna Da Wyna (2004), Confessional (2001) and Ayrial Delight (1999).

It is the second Keeneland stakes victory for Lovell and Hernandez, both coming with Change of Control.

Ambassador Luna quickly overtook Change of Control after the start and led the field of 10 through a first quarter-mile in :22.66 as Change of Control raced fourth while in the clear.

In the stretch, Ambassador Luna shook off bids from In Good Spirits and Yes It's Ginger but could not hold off the charge of Change of Control, who assumed control just before the sixteenth pole.

“It was a little tough,” said Hernandez. “When we broke out of the gate I looked over and she was a little in front, but you couldn't see that good out there. But she broke very sharp, I was able to get in a good position and then sit and wait, and when I called on her she finished up strong.”

A Keeneland sales graduate, Change of Control is a 5-year-old Kentucky-bred daughter of Fed Biz out of the Quiet American mare America's Blossom.

With Friday's $90,000 winner's share, Change of Control increased her earnings to $656,775 with a record of 30-8-6-6. It was her second graded stakes victory and fourth stakes triumph overall.

Change of Control returned $14.60, $7.60 and $4.20. Ambassador Luna, ridden by James Graham, returned $42.40 and $12.80 while finishing a neck in front of favored Campanelle (IRE), who rallied for third and paid $3 to show under Joel Rosario.

It was another 4¼ lengths back to In Good Spirits with Lagertha (CHI), Yes It's Ginger, Catch a Bid, Lead Guitar, Violenza and She's So Special following in order.

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Breeders’ Cup Presents Connections: Hernandez Dropped The Mic On ‘Em In New York

Though he's won over 2,200 races since beginning his career in 2006, jockey Colby Hernandez just celebrated his first graded stakes victory last Thursday at Belmont Park. The 31-year-old Louisiana native celebrated the milestone when he piloted Change of Control to a 1 ½-length victory in the Grade 3 Intercontinental Stakes for trainer Michelle Lovell.

“I'd never been to Belmont, even visiting or anything, so when I first walked out on the track I was just like, 'Wow, how do you even ride this?'” Hernandez recalled. “After I got on the horse I just settled right down. In the race all I kept thinking was just be patient, just be patient, just make your move at the right time.”

Initially blocked behind horses at the head of the lane, Hernandez found a seam and sent Change of Control on through. Then, just as he was switching his stick to his left hand to send the mare home, Hernandez accidentally dropped the whip.

“I just thought, 'Oh no,'” he said, laughing good-naturedly. “Then I moved my hands on her and she went on, and I was like, 'Okay, we're safe, we're okay now.'”

It may have been an embarrassing moment for Hernandez, Lovell explained, even though he won the race. She watched the race on television from her base in Louisville.

“Watching it, we were just so excited about the win,” Lovell said. “Then I said, 'I don't think he ever hit her.' We watched the replay, and he drew it to his left hand and then crossed the wire without it.

“After the race, I called him and thanked him for going up to ride her. I told him losing the whip was his 'mic drop' moment, and he laughed so loud, just belly-laughed. Thank goodness he wasn't embarrassed, but he has the best attitude and he's such a genuine person.”

Hernandez is also based in Kentucky now, after moving his family to Louisville last summer. He'd previously ridden the Louisiana circuit, including at the Fair Grounds, Evangeline, Delta Downs, and Louisiana Downs, for the majority of his career, earning multiple leading rider titles.  

“I guess it was comfort, because I would do really well there every year, year-in and year-out,” Heranndez said.

Last spring, however, the pandemic's effect on racing in that state forced the young rider's hand.

The Fair Grounds ended its race meet early, and Evangeline was supposed to be the next track to open up, but management continued to delay the decision. Hernandez' older brother, Breeders' Cup Classic and Eclipse Award-winning jockey Brian Hernandez, Jr., encouraged him to come to Kentucky as Churchill Downs was preparing to open for live racing.

“I stayed in an Air BnB in Kentucky, and my wife and kids came up to visit me, and we just liked it here,” Hernandez explained. “We put our house in Louisiana on the market after a month.”

Married to his long-time sweetheart Treva for three years, Hernandez has two children aged six and seven. Both quickly settled into life in Kentucky, although they were frustrated about the lack of things to do during the earliest days of the pandemic.

The kids went to school online, and Hernandez made time to take them to the local park on dark days, but they couldn't attend races. They were able to play with their older cousins, riding horses at the elder Hernandez brother's farm, and made new friends when they moved into a subdivision in September.

His son is especially interested in racing, Hernandez said, reminding him of his own childhood attending the races on weekends and any day there wasn't school in Louisiana. The Hernandez brothers' father, Brian Hernandez Sr., was a jockey for many years, and both Hernandez brothers began galloping Thoroughbreds at a training center when they turned 12 years old.

Colby Hernandez was still in high school when his big brother moved to Kentucky and won an Eclipse Award as leading apprentice jockey in 2004. He thought about following in his brother's footsteps, and did for a short time after acquiring his own jockey's license in 2006, but Colby found himself feeling homesick and went back to Louisiana.

He established a solid business in the state, riding multiple stakes winners, most notably a talented Louisiana-bred mare named Pacific Pink trained by Eddie Johnston. The 2012 daughter of Private Vow earned over $730,000 and won eight restricted stakes over her career, forever endearing herself to Hernandez.

“She had a running style like Zenyatta, you just take her back and make one run,” Hernandez said. “She was very easy to get along with, does whatever you ask her, never gives you any trouble, always gave me everything every time I asked her. She was a lot like Change of Control that way.”

Hernandez began riding horses for Lovell at the Fair Grounds several years ago, and picked up the mount on Change of Control there at the New Orleans in 2019. He also began to ride a Lovell-trained gelding named Just Might, who would go on to provide Hernandez with his first Breeders' Cup mount in last fall's Turf Sprint (finishing ninth). 

Lovell was ecstatic when Hernandez made the choice to move up to Kentucky last year, and he's maintained the mount on both of her top horses. In fact, just two days after winning his first graded stakes with Change of Control in New York, Hernandez was back in the winner's circle at Churchill Downs after winning the listed Mighty Beau Stakes with Just Might.

“He's a hard worker, he's always got a great attitude, he never says 'no' when I need him to work one, and I just think he deserves all the opportunities he gets,” Lovell said. “He's just a very natural rider, and he's got the talent to do well here.”

“She's given me a bunch of firsts, and I'm very grateful,” Hernandez said. “I started out better than I thought up here, and when I came back after the winter, business had built up even more. It's home now.”

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