The past few years have been filled with highlights for jockey Junior Alvarado. He partnered with the Bill Mott-trained Cody's Wish , the 2023 Horse of the Year, in capturing back-to-back runnings of the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile (G1) in 2022-23. Then last year, Alvarado won the richest race in Thoroughbred racing: the $20 million Saudi Cup (G1) aboard the Todd Fincher-trained Senor Buscador .
Now Alvarado, a 39-year-old Venezuela native, is pursuing racing's most coveted prize: the May 3 Kentucky Derby (G1) at Churchill Downs. After five losing mounts in the first leg of the Triple Crown, he rides Sovereignty, the anticipated 5-1 second favorite behind Journalism, the 3-1 morning line favorite.
"Me coming from Venezuela, there was not much (international) TV back then when I was riding there, but there was one race for sure that you always would watch: the Kentucky Derby," Alvarado said, walking between stables on his way to breeze horses the morning of April 27. "And I remember always saying like, 'Yeah, hope I get the opportunity to be there one day and win the Derby.' Like I would just imagine winning the Derby would be something probably indescribable, you know. And I just think I have my best chance coming this Saturday."
For the third straight year, he rides a 3-year-old in the 1 1/4-mile race for Mott, a Hall of Famer. Previously Alvarado guided Rocket Can to a ninth-place finish in 2023 and Resilience to run sixth in 2024 for the Hall of Famer, who won the 2019 Kentucky Derby with the Flavien Prat-ridden Country House via the disqualification of Maximum Security for interference.
Alvarado's two mounts for Mott followed three earlier rides in the Derby for other trainers: Mohaymen, who ran fourth in 2016; Enticed , 14th in 2018; and Tax, also 14th in 2019.
Not one of his five rides was deemed by the betting public to be as capable of winning the Derby as Sovereignty, who won the March 1 Fountain of Youth Stakes (G2) at Gulfstream Park and the last fall's Street Sense Stakes (G3) at Churchill Downs with Alvarado in the saddle.
In Sovereignty's most recent start, the March 29 Florida Derby (G1), jockey Manny Franco was aboard, subbing for Alvarado, who had fractured his shoulder blade in a spill at Gulfstream in the days before the race. Sovereignty rallied to be second but fell a length and a quarter short of the now-sidelined Tappan Street.
Alvarado, who was hospitalized, called it "heartbreaking" to have to watch the Florida Derby rather than be on the Into Mischief colt's back, as he had been in Sovereignty's four other starts.
"I was just like devastated," Alvarado said. "But, you know, I got a call from Mr. Mott, like the day after I left the hospital, and he said to me, 'Listen, when you get back, you'll get to ride all your horses back. You get to ride Sovereignty back. So you do what you need to do.' And that gave me peace of mind, and I think that actually helped me to do what I needed to do just the right way, so I can heal up quick. And I just did that."
Alvarado resumed riding on April 16 at Keeneland, 24 days after his injury. He won a race there a few days later, bringing his North American win total to 2,234, all since 2007. The son of a jockey, Alvarado has additional victories in Venezuela, where he began riding. He won his first race there Dec. 30, 2005, at La Rinconada Hippodrome near Caracas.
Speaking on a National Thoroughbred Racing Association teleconference April 24, Mott noted the rider's familiarity with the late-running colt.
"He's got a good sense of what the horse wants to do and, you know, his way of running," the trainer said. "I think he knows. I believe Junior has a feeling for how much horse he's got left under him and when he needs to get him started."
Alvarado said that by riding for Mott frequently and breezing many of his horses in the mornings, "I know what to do, what to expect from the horses."
Alvarado similarly had a rapport with the Mott-trained Cody's Wish, another Godolphin homebred, who now stands at stud in Kentucky at Darley, the stallion division of Godolphin, the global horse racing organization founded by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum.
The Derby is one of the select grade/group 1 races worldwide that has eluded Godolphin. Godolphin also has the speedy East Avenue in the Derby, with Franco picking up that ride on the Brendan Walsh trainee.
Alvarado said he is excited for Saturday's race, saying a Derby victory "would mean the world to me." His wife, Kelly, and his three children will be in attendance, said the rider, who is mostly based in New York from spring through fall.
"I think especially I want to do it for my family, since they've been with me through the ups and downs, a lot of injuries," he said. "And I just want to do it for them, too, so they get the happiness that I get when I win a race."
