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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Michelle Lovell Celebrates ‘Very Special’ New York Win From Louisville

Trainer Michelle Lovell is hoping Griffon Farm's homebred Just Might can return to his top form and cap a 72-hour stakes double in Saturday's $110,000 Mighty Beau Overnight Stakes at Churchill Downs.

Lovell made the difficult decision to stay in Louisville on Thursday and continued to oversee her stable at Churchill Downs while assistant Chad Mouton traveled to New York with her fellow turf sprint specialist Change of Control to compete in the $200,000 Intercontinental Stakes (Grade 3). The classy 5-year-old mare rallied from just off the pace for a 1 ½-length victory.

“This mare has been incredibly special to us,” Lovell said. “She tries so hard every time she runs and has been in top form this year. Colby (Hernandez) got her into a great spot early and she was able to relax behind the pace. Into the stretch, it looked like Colby had a ton of horse and when she was able to get outside, she really showed her stride late. That was a great win for everyone involved.”

Just Might, a four-time winner from 25 starts, who is also co-owned and bred by Lovell, was installed as the 9-2 third choice on Mike Battaglia's morning line odds for Saturday's Mighty Beau.

“He ran some of his best races over the winter at Fair Grounds,” Lovell said. “We've run him the last couple years against some graded-type fields, including in the Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint (G1). I think he matches up well with Saturday's field and hopefully this race gives him a confidence boost heading into the summer.”

Hernandez, who collected his first career graded stakes win aboard Change of Control in the Intercontinental, returned to Kentucky on Friday and is slated to ride Just Might in the Mighty Beau from post No. 2.

Just Might won the last two runnings of the $100,000 Colonel Power Stakes at Fair Grounds. Typically run at 5 ½ furlongs on turf, this year's edition was switched to the dirt due to inclement weather. The son of Justin Phillip entered the Mighty Beau with solid career record of 25-4-7-6 with purse earnings of $333,533.

“I've been partners with Dr. (Robert) Griffon for many years and this horse is very special to us,” Lovell said. “He's like family to me and I've trained for him nearly my entire career.”

The complete field from the rail out (with jockey, trainer and morning line odds): Smart Remark (Rafael Bejarano, Vicki Oliver, 15-1); Just Might (Hernandez, Lovell, 9-2); Carotari (Julien Leparoux, Brian Lynch, 4-1); Johnny Unleashed (Gerardo Corrales, Eric Foster, 12-1); High Crime (James Graham, Darrin Miller, 10-1); The Connector (Francisco Arrieta, Mark Hoffman, 12-1); Classy John (Corey Lanerie, Dallas Stewart, 4-1); Verb (Mitchell Murrill, Keith Desormeaux, 10-1); Elusive Mischief (Chris Landeros, Ian Wilkes, 15-1); and Totally Boss (Brian Hernandez Jr., Rusty Arnold, 3-1).

The Might Beau, run at five furlongs on the Matt Winn Turf Course, is slated as Race 11 with a post time of 5:58 p.m. First post for the 11-race program is 12:45 p.m. Fans are invited to stay after the finale to watch the 153rd running of the $1.5 million Belmont Stakes (G1) on the Big Board. Post time for the Belmont is 6:49 p.m.

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Change Of Control Splits Horses To Capture Intercontinental

Struggling to find racing room around the far turn, Colby Hernandez managed to guide 7-5 second choice Change of Control to a small seam between horses and was rewarded with a drawing away victory in Thursday's Grade 3, $200,000 Intercontinental Stakes at Belmont Park. It was the first graded stakes win for the 5-year-old daughter of Fed Biz, trained by Michelle Lovell on behalf of owner Perry Harrison.

Change of Control ran seven furlongs over the “good” turf in 1:22.07, defeating Piedi Bianchi by 1 1/2 lengths on the wire.

“This mare has been incredibly special to us,” Lovell said. “She tries so hard every time she runs and has been in top form this year. Colby [Hernandez] got her into a great spot early and she was able to relax behind the pace. Into the stretch, it looked like Colby had a ton of horse and when she was able to get outside, she really showed her stride late. This is a great win for everyone involved.”

I'llhandalthecash was quickest out of the gate to lead by just over a length down the backstretch, with Piedi Bianchi hovering on the outside in second through fractions of :23.64 and :49.40. Change of Control stayed on the inside in third, while favored Publication broke a step slowly and was last early.

Change of Control was shuffled back a bit around the far turn, behind a three-way battle for the lead, but the eventual winner was loaded for bear and hunting room to run.

Hernandez finally saw the seam between rivals and swung Change of Control toward the outside. Change of Control responded gamely and dug in toward the wire, pulling away to win by 1 1/2 lengths over Piedi Bianchi. Madeline Must ran third over I'llhandalthecash, with 6-5 favorite Publication finishing fifth and last.

“When she broke, she broke sharply,” said Hernandez, who was celebrating his first graded stakes win. “She left there well, and I had to get on her a little bit. After that, I was just able to sit on her. All I needed was daylight and she kicked on.”

Bred in Kentucky by John O' Meara, Change of Control is out of the stakes-placed Quiet American mare America's Blossom. A $95,000 yearling at OBS, Change of Control has accumulated a record of 7-6-5 from 27 starts with earnings of over $550,000.

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Giant’s Causeway Victory A Double Milestone For Trainer Lovell

Horseshoe Racing's Change of Control returned to Churchill Downs shortly after her one-length victory over favored Into Mystic in Saturday's $100,000 Giant's Causeway at Keeneland in Lexington, Ky.

The victory marked the 500th career triumph for trainer Michelle Lovell.

“Words still can't describe how proud I am of this horse,” Lovell said of the 5-year-old mare by Fed Biz. “She is just maturing so much and is so classy. She is probably the most classy horse that I've ever trained in my career.

“That's why it was so special to win not only that stakes (her first at Keeneland) but have that be a milestone win.”

Lovell indicated Change of Control could start next in the $150,000 Unbridled Sydney going 5½ furlongs on the grass at Churchill on April 29.

The win was the sixth in 25 career starts for Change of Control, who was bred in Kentucky by John O' Meara. She was ridden to victory by Colby Hernandez.

Change of Control is a 5-year-old mare by Fed Biz

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