Alvarado honored with George Woolf Award

Junior Alvarado, who has won such major races as the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile and Saudi Cup in recent months, has been honored with the 2024 George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award in a ballot of riders nationwide.

The result was announced on Friday by Santa Anita, which administers the award. Alvarado, 37, will receive the Woolf Award at a ceremony at Santa Anita at a date to be determined.

The Woolf Award, first presented in 1950, honors riders for achievement on the racetrack as well as personal character.

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For Alvarado, the award comes at a time when the Venezuela native has been in racing’s international spotlight.

Last November at Santa Anita, Alvarado won the BC Juvenile Fillies aboard Just F Y I and recorded a popular win a day later on Cody’s Wish in the BC Dirt Mile.

Cody’s Wish was honored with the Eclipse Award as the 2023 Horse of the Year in January. Just F Y I was recognized as the 2023 champion 2-year-old filly.

On Feb. 24, Alvarado rode Senor Buscador to a thrilling win in the $20 million Saudi Cup in Saudi Arabia.

Alvarado, who through Thursday had won 2,117 races in North America, has been a fixture on the New York circuit since 2010, having relocated from Illinois where he was leading rider at Arlington Park in 2009.

A native of Venezuela, Alvarado moved from the South America country to the United States in 2007, and rode his first winner in this country at Gulfstream Park that year. The son of a rider, Alvarado began his career in Venezuela in 2005.

In the United States, Alvarado has consistently ranked among the 15 leading riders in the nation in earnings in the last decade, ranking as high as 10th in 2015.

Alvarado was one of five finalists for the Woolf Award along with Alex Birzer, Julien Leparoux, Edwin Maldonado, and Rodney Prescott.

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