Hernandez picks McCraken as Derby mount
After riding two horses into contention for the Kentucky Derby, jockey Brian Hernandez Jr. on Monday announced his ride choice for the May 6 Run for the Roses.
Hernandez will ride McCraken, who finished third in Saturday’s Toyota Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland Race Course.
“It was a really, really tough decision, because both trainers and owners have been extremely loyal to me throughout the year,” Hernandez told The (Louisville) Couri
er-Journal. “It was one of those decisions that took a whole lot of time and a whole lot of talking with my agent.”
Hernandez’s other potential ride was Girvin, whom he had ridden to victory in the April 1 Louisiana Derby.
After Hernandez chose McCraken, Girvin’s trainer, Joe Sharp, announced via Twitter that Mike Smith would be his jockey for the Kentucky Derby.
Owned by Whitham Thoroughbreds, McCraken won three races at Churchill Downs as a 2-year-old — including the Grade II Kentucky Jockey Club — and captured the Grade III Sam F. Davis Stakes on Feb. 11 at Tampa Bay Downs in his 3-year-old debut.
McCraken missed the March 11 Tampa Bay Derby because of an ankle injury, and Saturday’s Blue Grass was his first race back.
Trainer Ian Wilkes said McCraken was too fresh and showed too much speed out of the gate.
Hernandez said the race did nothing to diminish his hopes for McCraken in the Kentucky Derby.
“You always want to keep winning … but after watching the replay a few times, he ran a really, really good race Saturday,” Hernandez said. “For his first time at a mile and an eighth and those horses running away from him, he had every right to give it up. But he hung in there and ran on. He was tired and still gutted it out.” Off the trail: Bloodhorse.com reported that Southwest Stakes winner One Liner will not run in Saturday’s Arkansas Derby and is off the Kentucky Derby trail.
One Liner worked 5 furlongs in 1 minute, 1.80 seconds Saturday at Palm Meadows Training Center in Boynton Beach, Fla.
Elliott Walden of co-owner WinStar Farm said One Liner “just didn’t breeze great” but that there was no apparent injury.
“We don’t want to take him over there if he’s not the One Liner we know. So we’re going to try to figure it out,” Walden told the website.
One Liner has won all three of his career races and earned $373,800. He won the Grade III Southwest Stakes on Feb. 20 at Oaklawn Park by 31⁄2 lengths over Petrov.
Irap moves up:
From maiden to Blue Grass Stakes winner to Kentucky Derby hopeful, Irap accomplished something that hadn’t been done in the 93-year history of Keeneland’s showcase race.
Irap laid just off pacesetting Wild Shot, made his move with a halfmile left and withstood a late charge from Practical Joke.
Irap, the first maiden to win the Blue Glass, has more than enough points (113) for his connections to start making Derby plans.
“Although he was still a maiden, he showed promise to where you wanted to believe he could win a big race like this,” said Jack Sisterson, assistant to trainer Doug O’Neill.