Alvarado reaches riding milestone

Milestones were reached recently at Golden Gate Fields, which concludes its winter-spring meeting this week.

Last Friday, jockey Frank Alvarado scored the 3,000th victory of his career as well as numbers 3,001 and 3,002 before being shaken up in a spill Saturday. Also on Saturday, Halo Dolly became a millionaire.

The Golden Gate meet wraps up Sunday. The final stakes of the meet, the $50,000-added Albany, a five-furlong turf sprint, that has nominees and potential runners from A to Z, will be run Saturday. Twenty-nine runners ranging from A Toast to You to Zehner’s Zenna are nominated. Early confirmations beside those two are Ain’t No Other, who won the five-furlong Jess Jackson on the turf at Santa Rosa last year, and Moonshine Bay. Cunning Ride, and Teton Country.

Big week for Alvarado

Alvarado, a 45-year-old native of Panama City, Panama, became the 167th jockey to record 3,000 victories when Curly Girly rallied in the final yards to run down I Like a Kathy of a 5 1/2-furlong starter allowance race.

Alvarado posted the first victory of his career on April 24, 1984, aboard Gold Son at the Presidente Remon Racetrack in Panama City. He moved to the United States in 1990 and scored his first victory on March 3 of that year aboard Solely True at Gulfstream Park.

“When I started riding here in 1990, I never thought I would hit 1,000,” said Alvarado. “When I won my 1,000th, I never thought I’d win 2,000. When I won 2,000, I never thought I’d win 3,000.”

Alvarado won twice on Saturday before suffering a concussion when his mount couldn’t avoid a fallen runner in the stretch. His right shoulder was also bruised, but he said Monday he planned to work horses Wednesday and ride Thursday if he felt all right.

Alvarado thinks 4,000 wins is a possibility.

“The next day, my son told me only 998 to go,” Alvarado said.

Alvarado is the lone Bay Area-based jockey to have won a million-dollar race. In 2007, he won the Sunshine Millions Classic on McCann’s Mojave.

Alvarado has been based in the Bay Area since 2000 and has been the second-leading rider at Golden Gate six times and at Bay Meadows four times. He has won 16 graded stakes in his career.

Halo Dolly a millionaire

Halo Dolly, a 6-year-old Popular mare, passed the million-dollar mark in earnings with her second last Saturday. The $9,100 she earned boosted her career earnings to $1,003,416.

“We wanted her to get there,” said Jerry Hollendorfer, who trains her and is a co-owner. “This is her last year, but I don’t know if we’ll put her up for sale or use her as a broodmare.”

Hollendorfer has always spotted her well, and she has 18 wins, including the Grade 2 Yellow Ribbon, Grade 3 Wilshire, and the past three runnings of the Solana Beach.

“You try to pay attention,” said Hollendorfer. “It’s not as hard as it seems. Some horses just have talent to win a lot of races.”

Brent retiring

There’s almost nothing that Greg Brent hasn’t done in racing.

“I saw Native Diver run the first time I ever went to the racetrack, and I’ve loved the sport ever since,” said Brent.

Brent has mixed feelings about retirement after a 41-year career in racing. He is currently a placing judge at Golden Gate

“It will feel strange after working in this business so long to have holidays and weekends where I don’t have to get up early to go to work,” he said. “I’ve never attended a Kentucky Derby, and now I can go to places like Saratoga. I can visit Australia and New Zealand and go back to Europe.”

Brent, who actually did some hands-on work grooming horses, began his racing career selling Daily Racing Forms as a college student. He did racing charts for the Form for a while and got a job in the racing office, later becoming a racing official in a variety of roles.

He served as an assistant racing secretary and was named racing secretary for the Vallejo Fair in 1976. He was later the racing secretary at Santa Rosa and Pleasanton for a number of years beginning in the 1980s. He was the racing secretary for Bay Meadows and Golden Gate Fields for almost five years beginning in 2000.

“I’ve worked with a lot of great people and been around some good horses,” Brent said. “Racing is like a family. It’s a really great community of people.”

Though he “still loves the game,” Brent is concerned about the changes in racing in California and on the West Coast where racetracks are virtual islands unlike the East Coast where a number of tracks large and small are accessible.

“The whole West Coast breeding industry has fallen behind, and our horse inventory is down,” he said. “We can’t get enough to make some types of races go.”

Final analysis

Steve Sherman was proud of the job his father, Art, and brother Alan did with California Chrome, who finished fourth, beaten less than two lengths, as he tried to sweep the Triple Crown in the Belmont.

“It’s very hard,” he said. “You don’t realize how tough it is when you’ve got a horse that has a chance to win.

“He was knocking on the door, and, considering all that happened he ran well. A big chunk of his foot tore off, and those things sting, especially on a sandy track like that.