Aqueduct: Alvarado breaks ankle in gate accident

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Jockey Junior Alvarado will be out at least three months after sustaining a broken left ankle in a gate mishap just prior to the start of Sunday’s $100,000 East View Stakes at Aqueduct.

Alvarado, tweeted a photo of the ankle Sunday night and wrote that it was broken in three places. After meeting with his personal physician on Monday, Alvarado was scheduled to have surgery to repair his ankle Thursday.

Alvarado was aboard Miss Narcissist, the favorite, when that New York-bred 2-year-old filly acted up in the gate and Alvarado caught his foot on the gate. Miss Narcissist was scratched with a cut on her left hind foot. Underthemoonlight was kicked by Miss Narcissist and also was scratched from the East View, which was won by Flipcup.

Alvarado, 27, enjoyed the best year of his career in 2013. He won a personal-best 191 races and his mounts earned $12,861,892, placing him 10th nationally in that category. On the New York Racing Association circuit, Alvarado ranked fifth in wins (188) and his horses earned $12,338,908.

Alvarado won 30 stakes – seventh-best nationally – including Grade 1 victories in the Cigar Mile on Flat Out and the Forego on Strapping Groom. Over the weekend, Alvarado won the $100,000 Gravesend Handicap at Aqueduct aboard Strapping Groom. On Sunday, in the race prior to the East View, Alvarado won a first-level allowance race aboard Mean Season by eight lengths for Bill Mott. Mean Season was assigned a preliminary Beyer Speed Figure of 105 in just the second race of his career.

Another Davis saddles up

If you’re wondering where the next generation of jockeys is coming from look no further than the household of former rider Robbie Davis and his wife Marguerite.

On Thursday, Katie Davis will become the third progeny of the Davises to ride in a race when she climbs aboard longshot Got the Moves, trained by Joe DeMola, in the sixth race. Davis, 21, is the sibling of older sister Jackie (26) and younger brother Dylan (19), who both ride.

“I’m ecstatic,” Katie said shortly after the overnight came out. “My heart starts pumping thinking about it.”

Growing up, Katie Davis first got involved in the show horse arena but got hooked on the sport when she started getting on horses.

“I didn’t really start thinking about race-riding when I was 15 or 16,” Davis said. “Once I saw Jackie do it, I said ‘Why can’t I’ ”

Though Robbie Davis trains three horses, he didn’t feel any of them were a good fit for Katie’s first ride. Katie Davis, who does get on her father’s horses in the morning, worked Got the Moves a couple of times for DeMola.

“She’s a handful,” said Davis, who worked during the summer for trainers Wesley Ward and Dale Romans. “She’s so fast coming out of the gate.”

As for Robbie Davis, he said he tried to steer all of his children in another direction other than race-riding, “but that didn’t work.”

Changes in new condition book

The first condition book put out with Martin Panza in charge has a few changes that, effective Jan. 1, may limit options for some horses.

Panza, who began as the senior vice president of racing operations in November, has taken the optional-claiming clause out of allowance races. In many instances, horses that were coming out of a maiden victory and into allowance company for the first time would be running against horses who had won multiple races, those horses being entered for a claiming price.

“You try to put horses in the same category. That’s what writing races is about,” said Panza, who was the long-time racing secretary at Betfair Hollywood Park before joining NYRA. “So a non-[winners of] two is a race for horses that have only won one race; non-[winners of] three is for horses that have won only two races.”

The reason the optional-claiming tag clause was initially put in place was to open the race up to more horses, thus increasing field size.

Asked if he felt field size could be impacted by this change, Panza said, “It could. We got to see.”

The first condition book for 2014 also reflects a $10,000 decrease in purses in many categories from the first two months of the Aqueduct meet. Panza said the purses offered are the same that were offered in January 2013.

Rick Violette, president of the New York Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association, said the purses offered in the fall were significantly higher because NYRA was trying to pay down an inflated purse cushion.

Saratoga Snacks seeks Robb repeat

Saratoga Snacks, who has won 6 of 9 starts against New York-breds, will seek a repeat victory in the Alex Robb Stakes when the race is run for the 35th time on Saturday.

Saratoga Snacks will enter the Robb off an eighth-place finish in the Grade 1 Cigar Mile, a race in which he stumbled badly at the start. On Sunday, Saratoga Snacks worked a half-mile in 48.21 seconds, the fastest of 47 works at the distance over a muddy Belmont Park training track.

Saratoga Snacks, trained by Gary Sciacca for Hall of Fame football coach Bill Parcells, drew the outside post in the eight-horse field.

Others entered include Awesome Vision, West Hills Giant – who is entered in an open-company stakes Friday – Bake Shop, Zetterholm, Moneyinyour Pocket, Comandante, and Sound of Drums.