LEXINGTON, Ky. – The jockey Brian Hernandez Jr. was badly hurt on Sept. 21 at Churchill Downs when his mount Sgt. Garcia broke down. Hernandez injuries: a lacerated liver, seven broken ribs, and a punctured lung. Hernandez had surgery to address internal bleeding and to insert screws and plates in his ribs.
And yet there Hernandez stood in a spiffy outfit Saturday at Keeneland, looking hale and hearty.
“I know it all sounded really bad,” Hernandez said. “It’ll be two weeks since they put the plates and the screws in the ribs. I got out of the hospital and have just kind of been staying busy with other things.”
Hernandez is working with a physical therapist and, if all goes well, could return to race riding near the end of October.
Hernandez, trainer Kenny McPeek’s go-to jockey, missed out on Grade 1 Keeneland rides last week aboard the 2-year-old Blackout Time, second in the Breeders’ Futurity, and Thorpedo Anna, soundly defeated as the heavy favorite in the Spinster.