LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — The move didn’t light up the tote board or draw gasps from the crowd. It didn’t even register as bold at first glance. But somewhere on the turn for home of the 151st Kentucky Derby, Junior Alvarado made the quietest, smartest decision in the race — and it won him the thing he’s chased for two decades.
He stayed on Journalism’s tail.
That was it. When Umberto Rispoli gave Journalism his cue and sent him rocketing past horses on the outside, Alvarado didn’t look to engage him. While everybody was watching Journalism’s impressive burst, Alvarado knew what he had in the tank. He let Journalism charge into the lead, trailed patiently behind him, then unleashed a surprise of his own.
“I think when we hit the three pole, right behind Journalism, I knew I probably wouldn't be able to move in next to him right at that point,” Alvarado said. “I’m just waiting, and I’m like, ‘I know I’ve got them. So let me just wait a little bit.’ . . . I don't want to waste my burst of punch right there and then get flat at the end. So little by little inching out, I could feel turning for home he was going to get there. I knew, once we hit the eighth pole, it was impossible somebody was going to come and beat him. I always trust him. I knew what he was capable of.”
He was capable of making history, of carrying the blood of the greatest sire in Kentucky Derby history and the long hopes and vast fortune of Godolphin Racing and the legacy of one of the great horse trainers in history and, as it turned out, the dreams of a 38-year-old Venezuelan rider.
When Alvarado asked for more, Sovereignty responded — running right past the favorite down the stretch and into garland of roses for a 1 1/2-length win.
For Alvarado, riding in his sixth Derby, it was a dream come true. His father was a respected jockey in his home country, and Junior grew up following his path.
“It means the world to me, for me and for my family. Coming from my country where the only race that we would be able to watch back there was just the Kentucky Derby,” Alvarado said. “It was the only race from the USA we were able to watch. It started getting in my head. I said, that would be nice to be in the United States and ride in the Kentucky Derby. Then little by little, I think I started to point that out to be -- to make it come true. And I think today we just did that.”
It also was a study in resilience. Just over five weeks ago, a horse Alvarado was riding suffered a fatal heart attack and collapsed. Alvarado was dislodged and suffered a hairline fracture of his shoulder. He was out of racing for three weeks and missed Sovereignty’s run in the Florida Derby.
Junior Alvarado celebrates on the way to the Kentucky Derby winner's circle aboard Sovereignty.
But trainer Bill Mott told him not to worry. He would be back on the horse when he healed. And Mott was good to his word.
Then, two days before the Derby, Alvarado fell from a mount during Thursday’s races at Churchill Downs. He was shaken up, but nothing was broken.
Certainly not his spirit.
Alvarado began racing in 2005 and got his first win at La Rinconada Hippodrome near Caracas, Venezuela. Two years later, he was racing in the U.S. But it has been a long road to the winner’s circle he rode into on Saturday.
His association with Mott has been a major factor in his recent success.
“If I could win with anyone, it would be Mr. Mott,” Alvarado said, while being interviewed by NBC’s Donna Brothers on horseback. “We’ve been a team for a while. It’s like a dream come true to have it come with him and the Godolphin team. . . . He told me the day I got out of the hospital, ‘Do what you need to do. He will be waiting. All the other horses you’re riding, you’ll get back on.’”
Said Mott: “My regular rider, Junior Alvarado, I think it made that special. I think it makes it special for both of us.”
Alvarado’s perseverance and resilience paid off in the ride of his life.
Sovereignty, the third Kentucky Derby winner by Into Mischief, clipped heels with a competitor and bobbled just after the start, and Alvarado had to settle near the rear of the pack early, running 17th in the 19-horse field after three-quarters of a mile.
“The third or fourth jump after the break, the horse next to me on the outside kind of came right in front of me,” Alvarado said. “I clipped heels a little bit right there. So, I'm thinking, oh boy, I hope he didn't lose his shoe on this track like this.”
But from there, he settled in, bumped briefly with another horse around the far turn, then moved up racing six-wide following Journalism’s advance as they turned for home.
Junior Alvarado points to the sky after winning the Kentucky Derby aboard Sovereignty.
And when that moment came — with the Twin Spires looming, the grandstand roaring, and the favorite hanging in the final furlong — Alvarado didn’t panic. He didn’t rush. He trusted his horse. He trusted himself.
He waited. And then he went.
It wasn’t just the ride of the race. It was the ride of his life.
In the end, the man who once watched this race on the family TV in Venezuela — the son of a jockey, the kid who dreamed his way into the game — didn’t just make it to the Derby. He won it.
He followed the right path. He waited for his moment. And when it came, he rode straight into history.
Heading into the race, Journalism was the favorite with closing odds of 7-2, followed by Sandman at 5-1 and Luxor Cafe at 8-1.
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