Brian Joseph Hernandez Jr. has joined special company.
The 38-year-old Hispanic American Eclipse Award-winning jockey has become the eighth jockey in history, and the first since Calvin Borel in 2009, to win both the Kentucky Oaks and the Kentucky Derby in the same year after Mystik Dan (18-1) won the 150th Kentucky Derby on Saturday in a photo finish.
It was the first time in 28 years the Kentucky Derby was won by a nose and just the 10th time ever.
Track Phantom (41-1) and Just Steel (21-1) led up until the 3/4-mile mark, with Fierceness, the 3-1 favorite, in third. Mystik Dan, though, held the inside right behind them.
Ridden by Hernandez, Mystik Dan busted through the pack after the final turn. After the turn, Fierceness fell way behind.
Mystik Dan led by several lengths in the final stretch, but Sierra Leone (9-2), the second-highest favorite, crept up from the outside, pushing Japanese horse Forever Young toward the railing.
Those three horses were within noses of each other, but it was Mystik Dan’s that crossed the line first.
Hernandez said he was “smiling the whole time,” even when a late surge from Sierra Leone had him questioning whether he had ended his Run for the Roses drought.
“We might have taken out a little bit of the inside fence, but that’s OK,” he joked.
Sierra Leone finished second and Forever Young finished third, while Fierceness finished 15th, 24½ lengths behind.
This year’s race came with much less controversy than last year’s. A dozen horses died at Churchill Downs in the days, and even hours, leading up to last year’s race.
Notably absent from this year’s race was Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert, who’s two-year ban was extended through 2024, making this the third straight Kentucky Derby a Baffert-trained horse did not compete.
A six-time winner at the Derby, Baffert was banned after 2021 Kentucky Derby winner Medina Spirit was stripped of the title due to a failed post-race drug test. The horse died of a heart attack that December.
Mystik Dan will now begin the quest for a Triple Crown at the Preakness Stakes at Baltimore’s Pimlico Race Course on May 18.
Hernandez began riding professionally in 2003 and got his first win on November 29, 2003, at Louisiana’s Delta Downs. As of May 2024, he has over 2,500 victories.
