Hernandez Rides 3,000th Career Winner

Jockey Juan Hernandez reached a notable milestone May 24 when earning his 3,000th career win at Santa Anita Park. Hernandez accomplished the feat in Sunday's ninth and final race when guiding Syntax to victory in a starter allowance going 1 mile on turf. Hernandez went right to the lead with the Librado Barocio-trained filly and rationed her speed deftly to prevail by a half-length. "I was thinking about it before the race, that it would be nice to do it here," Hernandez said. "Then I just rode my race. After the wire, when I heard Frank Mirahmadi say that is win No. 3,000, I thought, 'wow, I made it.'" Hernandez was joined in the winner's circle by his wife Melissa and their two sons, Juan and Emilio. "I just want to thank everyone for their support," Hernandez said. "My family here and my family in Mexico." Hernandez, 34, hails from Veracruz, Mexico. He rode his first winner in 2009 in Puerto Rico before relocating to Northern California. After finding lots of success on that circuit, he moved to the southern part of the state full-time in 2020. He has since won nine riding titles at Santa Anita. At the current Hollywood Meet, Hernandez is winning at a robust 29% clip (17-for-58) through Sunday. Hernandez has been represented by agent Craig O'Bryan since he moved to Southern California. "Juan has been just an absolute pleasure to work with," said O'Bryan, who has represented many top jockeys during his long career. "I'm really proud of him; he deserves it." In his career, Hernandez has won 21 grade 1 races and tallied total purse earnings of $111,501,184. "I just love riding horses," Hernandez said. "Let's keep winning races."