Robby Albarado to retire after Saturday's Turfway card
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Jockey Robby Albarado announced Wednesday that he will ride the final race of a career that “far exceeded my wildest dreams and expectations” when he climbs aboard Big Bugg’s Girl in the seventh race Saturday night at Turfway Park.
Albarado, 48, was the regular rider during the Horse of the Year campaigns of Mineshaft (2003) and Curlin (2007-08) while winning such major events as the Preakness, Breeders’ Cup Classic, and Dubai World Cup in a brilliant career that began at age 16 in his native Louisiana.
“It’s time,” said Albarado, whose 5,222 career wins ranks 30th and $221,560,458 in earnings put him 15th among North American jockeys all-time. “I’ve been thinking about this for quite a while now.”
Albarado, a married father of five, said he intends to take the next few weeks off while traveling to Louisiana and Florida. He said he intends to become a jockey agent sometime in early 2022.
Albarado’s peak years came with the late Lenny Pike Jr. as his agent and with Mineshaft and Curlin as his marquee mounts. With Curlin, Albarado won the 2007 Preakness, the 2007 BC Classic, and the 2008 Dubai World Cup, among other major events.
Albarado’s final moment in the international spotlight came in October 2020 when he upset the Preakness with a clever ride aboard the filly Swiss Skydiver, defeating Kentucky Derby winner and eventual Horse of the Year Authentic. “Just unbelievable,” the overjoyed jockey said in the post-race bedlam.
Born in Lafayette, La., Albarado was riding races by age 12 at bush tracks in his native state. His first official win came in June 1990 at Evangeline Downs, and after a few years he moved to the Chicago circuit, then shortly thereafter to Kentucky, where he spent the rest of his career, a good part of it as a perennial top-tier jockey. He wintered mostly at Fair Grounds, where he notched his 5,000th winner in January 2017. In 2017 and 2018, he was on the ballot for the Racing Hall of Fame but did not attract enough votes for election.
Albarado suffered numerous serious injuries in more than 30 years of riding, but the worst setback came when he lost the Kentucky Derby mount on Animal Kingdom, who instead won the 2011 renewal under John Velazquez after Albarado had been named on the Churchill Downs program. Albarado had suffered a facial injury that week in a post-parade accident.
All in all, however, it was an incredible ride, he said.
“I have to thank everybody who helped me get to where I am today, the horses and the people,” he said. “Especially the horses. They really do lift us up.”
