Del Mar jockeys: Who are the money riders for dirt and turf?

Photo: Del Mar

With Del Mar opening Friday, we wanted to take a look at jockey stats at the track over the last year, and clear trends emerge. Juan Hernandez is the clear leader, with 68 victories from 237 starts, posting an impressive win rate of 28.7%.

His performance has been consistently above expectations, with a Horse Racing Nation impact percentage of 17.8%, demonstrating his ability to outperform the odds of his mounts. Hernandez has been very effective on the main track, winning at a 42.6% clip.

Umberto Rispoli and Hector Berrios also crack 20% winners overall. 

Vincent Cheminaud ships in to ride opening day, and he has had success at Del Mar with four victories from just 15 mounts in the last year. 

Jockey Starts Wins Win % HRN Impact
Juan Hernandez 237 68 28.7% 17.8%
Antonio Fresu 309 50 16.2% -4.0%
Umberto Rispoli 226 47 20.8% 3.6%
Kazushi Kimura 252 28 11.1% -2.7%
Kyle Frey 230 25 10.9% 4.0%
Hector Berrios 160 32 20.0% 32.0%
Armando Ayuso 168 18 10.7% 16.7%
Edwin Maldonado 154 14 9.1% -25.7%
Tiago Pereira 148 14 9.5% -3.7%
Abel Cedillo 124 12 9.7% -5.8%

Hernandez dominates on the main track 

When it comes to main track performance, Hernandez has been exceptional with 46 wins from 108 mounts. On dirt his mounts are performing significantly above the odds, with an HRN impact percentage of 29.3%.

Antonio Fresu follows with 27 wins on the dirt and has outperformed expectations with a 9.6% HRN impact. Rispoli has been highly effective as well, winning 22.0% of his mounts with a 26.0% HRN impact.

On the negative side, veteran rider Mike Smith is winning at only 8.7% on dirt and is significantly overbet. The HRN impact of his mounts are a negative 53.8%, which means he's being bet like he should be winning about 18% of those mounts. 

Jockey Dirt starts Dirt wins Win % HRN Impact
Juan Hernandez 108 46 42.6% 29.3%
Antonio Fresu 131 27 20.6% 9.6%
Kazushi Kimura 107 15 14.0% 9.8%
Umberto Rispoli 59 13 22.0% 26.0%
Kyle Frey 117 13 11.1% -14.0%
Tiago Pereira 86 10 11.6% 7.0%
Ricardo Gonzalez 55 8 14.5% 35.4%
Hector Berrios 50 7 14.0% -5.5%
Abel Cedillo 68 6 8.8% -29.4%
Edwin Maldonado 75 9 12.0% -19.9%
Diego Herrera 61 4 6.6% -40.2%
Tyler Baze 56 3 5.4% -49.8%
Adrian Escobedo 35 3 8.6% 21.8%
Mike Smith 23 2 8.7% -53.8%

Top turf riders deliver value for bettors

Hector Berrios has emerged as one of the most effective turf riders at Del Mar, with 25 wins from 110 starts for a 22.7% win rate. His turf performance has been 48.5% above expectations, making him a highly profitable jockey for bettors to follow on the lawn.

Rispoli and Hernandez are winning at 20% and 17%, respectively, although both are performing right around expectation.

Vincent Cheminaud has been strong on turf in limited mounts, hitting at 28.6% with four wins from just 14 starts and a 141.9% HRN impact. Armando Ayuso also has outperformed expectations significantly on grass with 13 wins from 91 starts and a 69.4% HRN impact, making him another strong value play for turf races.

Jockey Turf starts Turf wins Win % HRN Impact
Umberto Rispoli 167 34 20.4% -3.0%
Antonio Fresu 178 23 12.9% -16.2%
Juan Hernandez 129 22 17.1% -0.6%
Hector Berrios 110 25 22.7% 48.5%
Kazushi Kimura 145 13 9.0% -13.9%
Armando Ayuso 91 13 14.3% 69.4%
Kyle Frey 113 12 10.6% 34.6%
Mike E. Smith 62 8 12.9% -2.1%
Diego Herrera 79 7 8.9% 17.0%
Abel Cedillo 56 6 10.7% 41.5%
Edwin Maldonado 79 5 6.3% -34.2%
Tiago Pereira 62 4 6.5% -23.0%
Vincent Cheminaud 14 4 28.6% 141.9%
Ricardo Gonzalez 63 2 3.2% -47.7%
Adrian Escobedo 20 2 10.0% 113.2%

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