Acadiana native wins the Kentucky Oaks and Kentucky Derby, in historic weekend at Churchill Downs
LAFAYETTE, La. (KLFY) - This is the story of one Acadiana High Product, who's done something in the sports of horse racing, that only seven jockeys have done before him, winning the Kentucky Oaks on Friday, and the Kentucky Derby on Saturday.
Brian Hernandez Junior, becomes the eighth and the first since his idol Calvin Borel did it back in 2009. "Actually, he's he's been an idol of mine growing up. When I first moved to Kentucky as an 18-year-old kid, he was the guy that I was in the same corner with. And I always got two witnesses, and three Derby wins", said Hernandez Jr. Now Bryan Hernandez Jr. is in the same rarefied air as his mentor. Borel both completed the Double, so to speak, winning the Kentucky Oaks and the Kentucky Derby in the same year for Brian, his Derby win inspired by Borel.
"It was pretty special. You know, we used we we mimic one of his trips on Saturday, and that kind of helped us kind of work out the trick we ended up with with Mr. Band.", said Hernandez Jr.
What a trip it's been for Brian, a lifelong horse racing lover in a sport he's been a part of his whole life. "Growing up in Louisiana, I grew up. My dad was a jockey for numerous years here in Louisiana. And to just grow up around the racetrack, it was something that we always just kind of My little brother and I were both jockeys. It was something that we just fell into and always had a passion for."
The passion continues for Brian this week as he has to head back to Churchill Downs and race Thursday through Sunday.