Apprentice Courtney Hernandez Gets First Win
Description:
Apprentice jockey Courtney Hernandez registered her first career win at Delta Downs on the night of March 14 aboard Mission to Collect, who finished in a dead-heat with Xstream Heart in the $5,000 claiming race.
Hernandez, 20, is the daughter of jockey Brian Hernandez, a mainstay on the Louisiana circuit. She is the sister of Brian Hernandez Jr., the 2004 Eclipse Award-winning apprentice best known for guiding Fort Larned to victory in the 2012 Breeders' Cup Classic (gr. I). A second brother, Colby Hernandez, also rides at Delta Downs and reached the 1,000-win plateau March 8.
Courtney Hernandez earned her breakthrough win with her 14th lifetime mount. She began riding professionally in 2013.
Mission to Collect was all out to hold on for a share of the win in the fourth race, a 6 1/2-furlong event, after leading by three lengths in the stretch. The victory, at 9-1 odds, came for trainer Shelton Zenon, who conditions the 5-year-old daughter of Wire Me Collect for his son, Shelton J. Zenon Jr.