Signature win for Hernandez
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Brian Hernandez Jr. will need a minute to digest his signature victory in the 150th Kentucky Derby.
Maybe even more time since the milestone derby capped the best weekend of a jockey career spent mostly under the radar.
The Louisiana native rode Mystik Dan to an epic win Saturday at Churchill Downs, sliding past favorite Fierceness along the rail at the final turn and holding off Sierra Leone and Forever Young by a nose in an epic three-horse photo finish. Hernandez wasn’t even sure he had won until seeing the replay and keeping his eyes glued to the flat screen that showed the continuous loop.
“I’m like, woo, I think we just won the Kentucky Derby,” the 38-year-old said. “But then those horses, they were so far out there, you couldn’t really see them. And then they surged so quickly.
“I was like, ‘Oh man, I hope we won. I hope we won.’ And then when they hung up our number, it was just instant relief.”
Hernandez’s derby victory aboard Mystik Dan at 18-1 odds came a day after he rode filly Thorpedo Anna to a wireto-wire rout by 4 3/4 lengths in the 150th Kentucky Oaks. That made him the first jockey to complete the Derby/Oaks double since Hall of Famer Calvin Borel achieved the feat aboard Mine That Bird and filly Rachel Alexandra, respectively, in 2009. Kenny McPeek became the first trainer to earn the double since Ben Jones in 1952.
“We came into the weekend thinking we had really good chances both Friday and Saturday,” Hernandez added. “To have the horses pull it off for us, we really have to thank all the guys back in the barn.
“I don’t know how long it’s going to take to sink in. It’s definitely a surreal moment.”
Hernandez’s victory was fitting since he studied Borel’s derby wins aboard Mine That Bird and Super Saver (2010), along with being around him during 20 years of racing in Kentucky.
Those lessons paid off as he broke through after four derby finishes ranging from eighth to 12th, including 11th last May on Sun Thunder.
His seminal moment shouldn’t have been shocking considering Hernandez already had an Eclipse Award to his name as top apprentice rider in 2004 along with a Breeders’ Cup Classic win in 2012 with Fort Larned. He also was third in the Preakness two years ago with Creative Minister and has a slew of graded stakes wins.
Winning the Kentucky Derby brings a whole different type of recognition, along with a sparkling title that will precede Hernandez for the rest of his life. McPeek asserted immediately afterward that the rider can no longer be considered underrated after a “brilliant” ride and called the gutsy inside path taken to victory typical for the jockey.
“He knows what to do there,” McPeek said. “I always had a world of confidence in him. Rarely second-guess anything he does.”
BOSTON -- William Nylander stood in a solemn visitors locker room at TD Garden just before midnight.
The Maple Leafs had battled back from a 3-1 series deficit against the Boston Bruins with consecutive 2-1 victories -- including one that required extra time -- in their first-round playoff series to push the club’s Original Six rival to the limit before suffering a devastating Game 7 overtime loss.
Nylander’s message
“Look, I don’t think there’s an issue with the core,” the winger said of Toronto’s gifted, high-paid and, to date, underachieving nucleus just before Saturday turned into Sunday. “I think we were (expletive) right there all series and battled hard, got to Game 7 and OT. “That’s a (expletive) feeling.” It’s the job of general manager Brad Treliving to take sentiment out of the equation.
Nylander, Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner and John Tavares make up the Leafs’ so-called “Core Four” of talent up front.
There’s no doubting the individual ability the Leafs have accumulated. Matthews led the NHL with an outrageous 69 goals in the regular season, Nylander hit 98 points, and Marner was on pace to crack 100 for the first time before suffering a high ankle sprain in March.
Tavares, meanwhile, had his worst offensive campaign since 2016-17 and will be 34 in September, but he’s provided value on the free-agent contract he signed six summers ago.
The Leafs, however, are in an all-too-familiar spot -- out at the post-season’s first hurdle for the seventh time in eight years. Matthews had four points in was emphatic. the 2024 series with the Bruins despite missing two games. Nylander scored twice in Game 6 and again in Game 7 coming off a migraine headache that kept him out of the first three contests.
Marner, however, had just three points and Tavares added two over their seven appearances in a showdown that saw Toronto score just 12 times and go an unacceptable 1-for-21 on the power play.
The Leafs stars made available to the media late Saturday were asked about the future of the core -- which currently accounts for roughly half Toronto’s salary cap number -- as currently constructed.
“We’ve been through a lot together,” Matthews said. “We haven’t quite gotten over that hump. But through the years, you grow and we become extremely close.”
Toronto did finally experience a playoff breakthrough last spring when a string of post-season misery ended with its first series triumph in nearly two decades.
The good vibes were shortlived with a meek five-game exit in the second round. The questions about this group’s ability to get it done resurfaced.
That chatter is now once more.
Head coach Sheldon Keefe, whose future will also be a topic of discussion despite a contract extension that’s yet to kick in, gave an honest assessment of how opponents, including the Bruins in these playoffs, approach his team’s usually potent attack with stiff defence that looks to stifle the middle of the ice.
“It’s very evident,” he said. “(When) teams play the Leafs, they set up the game for the Leafs to beat themselves.” front-ofmind