Juan Hernandez plays it ‘very smart, very cool’ to be a top jockey

Right before the 2020 Del Mar summer meet, jockey Juan Hernandez was looking to relocate from the Northern California circuit. He needed an agent, someone to handle his book on a Southern California circuit that includes some of the top riders in the nation.

Craig O’Bryan, who has represented such Hall of Fame riders as Eddie Delahoussaye, Gary Stevens and Alex Solis, was retired, but suddenly work became all the more appealing when the 72-year-old O’Bryan heard Hernandez was looking for an agent.

He was asked this week where accepting Hernandez’s book ranks among the smartest decisions he’s made during his 50-plus years as an agent.

“Probably No. 1,” O’Bryan said with a laugh during a telephone interview with the Southern California News Group. “You can’t get much better than that.”

It keeps getting better, too. Hernandez goes into three-day weekend of racing at Santa Anita with a 33-12 edge over Edwin Maldonado in the jockey standings. He’s won with an astounding 31% of his 108 mounts. It’s not a wise proposition at this point to leave any of his horses off your exotic wagers.

“If you’re a numbers guy, to be 30 percent at a meet like Santa Anita is unheard of,” O’Bryan said. “Laffit (Pincay) in his heyday might have been around 24. Shoemaker maybe 25. Irad Ortiz won seven the other day down at Gulfstream and he was 22 percent before that day. It’s a tribute to Juan. He tries every time. He gives it 110 percent.”

How has he been able to do it in a jockey colony that includes Flavien Prat, Umberto Rispoli, John Velazquez and other top-notch riders?

“He’s riding really well. He’s riding for a lot of the right people. Baffert, I think we’ve won five stakes for Bob,” O’Bryan said. “We’ve been very lucky with him. Everybody. He’s not only a very good rider, but he’s also very smart and he’s also very cool. He’s a lot like a rider I had back in the ’80s, Eddie Delahoussaye. Eddie never got rattled.

“It doesn’t hurt that he’s a very nice person, too. I’ve had some jockeys who even though they could ride they would ruffle feathers, do silly things. He’s just very smart. He just gets it. He understands the game and the horses.”

O’Bryan stressed how important it is for a jockey to be personable with the owners.

“It’s a huge advantage, just a huge advantage,” he said. “I’ve had jockeys, and I won’t mention any names, but you spend most of your time putting out fires. I have people coming up to me, some gambler the other day at Clockers’ Corner, I wouldn’t know the guy and I’m pretty sure he doesn’t own horses. He told me, ‘I gotta tell you, Juan met my girlfriend one time and every time he sees her, he’s like, ‘Hey, how you doing?’ Just stuff like that. It’s not contrived, it’s not phony. He’s just a genuinely nice person.”

And as good as Hernandez was when he made the move down south, O’Bryan has seen improvement during the past 2½ years.

“We talked about a couple of things and for whatever reason he listened to me,” he said. “He’s putting his horses on the turf in good spots. Sometimes turf riding can be a little tricky. You can get stuck on the rail. We’ve talked about getting a good trip, don’t get stuck behind a 40-1 shot. Gary Stevens always said I just try to put a bull’s-eye on the favorite and follow them, try not to get behind longshots because they’re probably going to stop.”