Arlington Park: Alvarado out with broken collarbone

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. – Junior Alvarado, leading rider at the Arlington meet, sustained a broken collarbone when his mount, Monkey’s Moonbeam, broke down at about the five-sixteenths pole during the fourth race late Friday afternoon.

Monkey’s Moonbeam was racing near the back of an off-the-turf field when she suffered a catastrophic leg injury. Alvarado managed to keep his seat after his mount’s first bad step, but as Monkey’s Moonbeam went down he was thrown in front of her, breaking his collarbone in the fall.

Jay Fedor, Alvarado’s agent, said the jockey was to see an orthopedic specialist early this week. A doctor who saw Alvarado when he was taken to the emergency room at Northwest Community Hospital estimated that the injury would require four weeks to heal, according to Fedor.

Alvarado, leading rider here in 2009, topped the standings entering Saturday’s races with 19 wins, five more than second-place Eddie Perez.