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