Longtime Sherlock employee Alvarez takes over late trainer's stable

ARCADIA, Calif. – In 2019, the unraced 2-year-old filly Time for Sally caught the attention of trainer Gary Sherlock on a visit to breeder Terry Lovingier’s Southern California farm.

“He said, ‘This is the best filly,’ ” Edwin Alvarez recalled on Wednesday.

Alvarez was standing outside of Barn 99 on the Santa Anita backstretch, remembering the early encounter he and Sherlock had with Time for Sally.

Alvarez worked for Sherlock for 15 years until the trainer’s death on Dec. 29 from cancer. Alvarez has since taken over the 10-horse stable.

Time for Sally will start for Alvarez in Friday’s eighth race. Sunday, the stable plans to run Show It N Moe It in the $75,000 Kalookan Queen Stakes for fillies and mares at 6 1/2 furlongs.

Time for Sally drew the rail in a maiden special weight race at 5 1/2 furlongs on turf for 3-year-old California-bred fillies. Time for Sally’s debut was delayed because of injury last year, Alvarez said. Owned by the partnership of Lovingier, Tom and Sally London, and Eugene Zondlo, Time for Sally has worked quickly at times in advance of Friday’s race.

“She came back like a champ,” Alvarez said.

Show It N Moe It, a 5-year-old mare bred by Lovingier and owned by the same partnership as Time for Sally, has won 6 of 27 starts and earned $511,541.

A two-time stakes winner, Show It N Moe It was turned out briefly at Lovingier’s farm following a second in the Betty Grable Stakes for California-bred fillies and mares at Del Mar on Nov. 17. There was talk of retiring Show It N Moe It, but those plans have changed.

“He said, ‘Let’s try her again,’ ” Alvarez said of a conversation with Lovingier. “She likes this track, too.”

Alvarez, 44, began working for Sherlock in 2004, a few years after he emigrated from Guatemala. Last Sunday, Sherlock’s family and friends gathered at Clocker’s Corner during training hours to pay tribute to the late trainer.

A win this weekend would be poignant for everyone who knew Sherlock. In recent years, Sherlock won stakes with such runners as Intangaroo and Lost Bus and started the stakes winner Uncle Lino in the 2016 Preakness Stakes.

Alvarez worked for Sherlock during those years, and said operations at the barn will remain the same in the near future.

“I don’t want to change anything,” he said. “We’ll try to keep it going in memory of him. I hope to win for him.”