Alvarado comeback gets boost from Whitney Stakes win
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Junior Alvarado had just ridden one of the fastest horses he’d ever been on to an allowance victory and had one more mount at Aqueduct before he was going to enjoy the Christmas holiday with his family.
Alvarado was in the gate aboard Miss Narcissist for the East View Stakes last Dec. 22 when that filly flipped in the gate, pinning Alvarado’s left ankle against metal. The result was a broken ankle and broken momentum.
Alvarado missed the next four months of action, losing most of the business he had built up during the course of a sensational 2013, when he won 191 races and his horses earned $12.8 million in purses – both personal bests.
When Alvarado returned in mid-April, he was starting over.
It had been a slow go for Alvarado, 28, until Saturday, when he guided 10-1 Moreno to a front-running upset in the Grade 1, $1.5 million Whitney Stakes at Saratoga.
“It was great,” said Alvarado. “I had it on my mind that I wanted to try and win that race, but it’s not that easy just thinking about it. We got it done. It was a big relief, takes some pressure off of me. I had it set in my mind to try and win that race since I rode that horse the first time.”
Alvarado rode Moreno for the first time July 5 in the Grade 2 Suburban Handicap at Belmont Park. Joel Rosario had ridden Moreno in his three previous starts, including a 12th-place finish June 7 in the Grade 1 Metropolitan Handicap.
Eric Guillot, the trainer of Moreno, had horses in Saratoga since mid-May. He was standing along the rail on the Oklahoma training track one morning, when he saw a friend of his, John Canney, a lawyer from Vermont and an astute handicapper. Guillot asked Canney if there was a young, strong rider he’d suggest for Moreno.
“I said, ‘Who can ride? Who’s strong?’ ” Guillot said. “He said, ‘Junior Alvarado.’ Sure enough, he was right. I didn’t even know what the kid looked like.”
Though Moreno was beaten in the Suburban, Guillot liked how Alvarado rode him, getting him to the front and trying to maintain a clear advantage before he got caught by Zivo. Guillot said he wanted the same type of ride in the Whitney, and this time he got the desired result.
“He rode him perfect,” Guillot said.
Alvarado hopes the Whitney victory is the impetus for a strong second half to 2014. It was just his second stakes victory of the year, after winning 30 stakes in 2013. Alvarado’s other stakes win came aboard Size in the Iowa Oaks on June 28 at Prairie Meadows. Alvarado rides Size this Saturday in the Grade 3, $100,000 Monmouth Oaks for Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott.
Mott was instrumental in Alvarado’s success last year, putting him on 42 winners, eight of which were stakes, including the Grade 1 Cigar Mile and Grade 2 Suburban on Flat Out.
The last winner Alvarado rode before he got injured was Mean Season, an extremely talented sprinter for Mott who later got hurt after winning an allowance race at Aqueduct.
“I think he’s turning the corner into a pretty good rider,” Mott said. “He made the transition from Chicago, which is a big one, and he did very well. He was rolling quite well, and then he’s had a couple of injuries that set him back. And you’ve got to restart your whole career sometimes. As time goes on, he’ll be back with the leaders.”
Alvarado, who came to the U.S. from Venezuela in 2007, was the leading rider at the 2009 Arlington Park meet. He finished in the top three there in 2010 and 2011 before moving his tack to New York.
Alvarado was fifth on the NYRA circuit in 2013 with 188 wins. At the current Saratoga meet, he has seven wins and is tied for ninth with Rajiv Maragh. Alvarado is closing in on 1,000 career victories – he has 992 – something his father reminds him of after each win.
“Every time I win a race, I get a text from my dad,” Alvarado said. “Hopefully we get it here. That would be pretty awesome.”