Hernandez Scores Pair of Grade 1s

It's not often a jockey wins two Grade I races in a span of four days at two different tracks, but Brian (BJ) Hernandez, Jr. did indeed post the Grade I double. The dual Grade I feat led the panel of racing experts to vote Hernandez Jockey of the Week for April 7-April 13. The weekly honor recognizes jockeys for significant riding accomplishments and who are members of the Jockeys' Guild, the organization which represents more than 1050 active, retired and permanently disabled jockeys in the United States. On Tuesday, with the Gr. I Blue Grass Stakes rescheduled at Keeneland because of severe weather opening weekend, Hernandez was aboard Burnham Square for the first time for trainer Ian Wilkes. Off at odds of 4-1 and breaking from post position three in the field of seven, Burnham Square raced at the back of the field as East Avenue with Luan Machado in the irons led the field. On the far turn, Burnham Square began his rally with a four-wide move into the sixth path at the top of the stretch. At the sixteenth pole, Burham Square pulled clear of River Thames with Irad Ortiz, Jr. which set up the two-horse duel with East Avenue down to the wire with Burnham Square up just in time to take the mile and one-eighth contest by a short nose in 1:51.33. "For a three-year-old to make such a long run like he did today and be able to run down Gr. I winners like he did--he's an exciting horse to move forward with," said Hernandez to Keeneland publicity. "When we turned for home my horse had a full head of steam, and I was pretty confident we were going to be able to run (pacesetter East Avenue) down." Hernandez's next stop was Oaklawn Park on Saturday to ride reigning Horse of the Year, Thorpedo Anna in the Gr. I Apple Blossom Handicap for trainer Kenny McPeek. The four-year-old filly was the 124-pound highweight and the overwhelming favorite in the field of six. Despite breaking poorly from post position five, Hernandez situated Thorpedo Anna in a tracking position just off the leader Wild Bout Hillary with Ramon Vazquez. Midway on the final turn, Thorpedo Anna took command and sailed home in front by 4-1/2 lengths in 1:44.27 for the mile and one-sixteenth. "That was kind of the plan, to follow the horse on the lead," Hernandez said to Oaklawn publicity. "The horse on the lead, she was cruising along pretty nicely, but that filly has never faced a filly of our quality. When she swapped leads going into the second turn and she jumped on her, I was like 'Okay, no worries.'" Hernandez will be riding at Keeneland all this week with mounts on Saturday in the Gr. II Elkhorn for trainer W. Bret Calhoun aboard Ole Crazy Bone and for Ian Wilkes on Uno Mas Bourbon in the Gr. III Ben Ali Stakes. Other contenders for Jockey of the Week were Dylan Davis who won the Gr. I Ashland at Keeneland and two stakes races at Aqueduct, Julien Leparoux who won the Gr. I Madison at Keeneland, Flavien Prat who won the Gr. I Maker's Mark Mile and Gr. III Commonwealth at Keeneland and Luis Saez who won the Gr. I Jenny Wiley at Keeneland.