Woodbine’s leading jockey in 2020, Rafael Hernandez won 129 races in the abbreviated season
Rafael Hernandez, leading rider at last year’s Woodbine meet and voted a Sovereign Award as Canada’s outstanding jockey of 2020, will be sidelined at least three weeks after sustaining a hairline vertebra fracture from a spill on the Ontario track’s opening program last Saturday.
Hernandez was riding Super Jade in the day’s 11th and final race when his mount clipped heels with Leo Salles-ridden Queen Beach, who had drifted out on the stretch turn.
The incident proved fatal for Super Jade, a 4-year-old Ontario-bred filly by Souper Speedy who was making her third career start.
Hernandez worked several horses the morning after the spill and rode 11 races on Sunday but told his agent, Anthony Esposito, that he felt some pain when he coughed.
“When you have a spill like that, everybody is body sore, but he wasn’t feeling any pain in his neck or back,” said Esposito. “When he coughed, he felt some discomfort, and thought he might have done something to his ribs.”
Hernandez went to a nearby hospital and Esposito said X-rays of the ribs were clean. An MRI identified a hairline fracture in the second vertebra near the top of the neck.
“The doctor said the average person needs four to six weeks of rest but athletes could probably recover in three to five weeks,” Esposito said. “No brace or medication is required; it’s only healed by rest.”
Hernandez edged Justin Stein 129 to 127 in the rider standings during the abbreviated 2020 Woodbine meet after finishing second to the now-retired Eurico Rosa Da Silva in 2019. The native of Puerto Rico has compiled 2,729 career wins from 14,023 mounts since taking out his jockeys’ license in 2004. Hernandez won two races on Saturday’s card before the spill and added one victory on Sunday.
Salles was assessed a 10-day suspension (June 21-30, inclusive) for his role in the accident. He received a three-day suspension (July 1, 2, 3) for causing interference one race earlier on the Woodbine card.
“This was so unnecessary,” said Esposito. “(Salles) was supposed to get 45 days last year and they shortened it because of COVID.”
That suspension stemmed from an Aug. 9 race at Woodbine when stewards said Salles was “endangering the health and safety of another jockey and his horse” after he appeared to run up on horses’ heels in the stretch.
“There’s a fine line between aggressive and careless and he blurs that line,” Esposito said.
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