Yes, Bill Mott was committed to Junior Alvarado and had him ride sovereignty in the Gi Kentucky Derby (in mischief) after missing the main preparation in the Gi Florida Derby. Alvarado broke his shoulder blade in a buried March 23 in Gulfstream and was sent to the sidelines. Manny Franco filled up for the Florida Derby and drove a nice race, with the sovereignty to a second place.
That opened the door to a number of possibilities. Mott could have kept Franco on the horse, or if he could easily have one of the two best drivers of sports, Flavien Prat and Irad Ortiz Jr., to take the mountain. Nobody had an upper derby mountain.
But Mott, when it became clear that Alvarado would heal in time to make the derby, the mountain returned to Alvarado. It was a great gesture, but it was also the smartest step he could have taken. He knew that Alvarado's riding gave him the best chance of winning.
“I would like to say it was great to have junior back on him. He didn't drive him on the last day because of an injury,” said Michael Banahan, the director of the USA Bloodstock for the owner, the mighty Godolphin stable. “The trust that junior has in a horse, especially a horse that comes out of the pace and knows him so well, helped him to get there today because he knows that he will be there for him. Manny Franco drove him down in Florida.
Alvarado left his home Venezuela, where he was a graduate of the Jockey Academy of this country, in 2007, whether he was the leading driver in Arlington Park in the USA in 2009 and 2010 and on board ECLAIR de Lune (ger) (ger) (GER) (ger) (GER) (gen) (gen) (gen) (gen). From there he made his way to Recent York to challenge some of the best jockeys in the world.
In 2011, his first full year in Recent York, he won 162 races. In 2012 he won 183 races. Nevertheless, he always seemed to be in the shadow of the superstars in the Recent York colony. He was not someone you thought of when it came to driving in the Kentucky Derby. He only got his first Derby Mount in 2006 and he was 0: 5 for the race on Saturday.
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Nobody pays more attention to details than the Hall of Fame Mott. With his stable he could have used every jockey he wanted, but he saw something in Alvarado, apparently not doing the other. In 2011 he had his first mounting animals for Mott and went 7-against-20, winning a price of 35%. He liked Alvarado, but he also liked the fact that he could make him in a de facto house jockey. He didn't have to look for jockey because he knew that Alvarado would always be available to him. It was part of the bond that was getting stronger.
“At the time I drove for, I was probably not entirely aware of it,” said Alvarado that Daily racing form. “Maybe you will start driving to him for a few months and people say: 'Oh, you ride to Mott, you ride to mott!'”
Mott would still exploit other drivers, but his contact was Junior Alvarado. He drove 416 winners for Mott of 2339 mounts for a 17.8% clip. They teamed up for 46 victories with graded operations, including 16 class I. This combination of jockey and trainer who clicked was something about this combination.
Before the derby, Alvarado was known as a regular driver of Cody's Wish (Curlin), the 2023 horse of the year. Alvarado rode him in 10 of his 16 races, including his last nine starts. His most memorable victories in Cody's wish came in the back-to-back run of the Gi Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile and the 2023 Gi Metropolitan H.
Alvarado would have thought that it would never get better. Especially after he had his shoulder problems. But it did. He won the derby.
“I was completely with a broken heart,” he said about his shoulder injury. “I thought it was. I knew that it was this horse. All the time, I knew that it was the right horse to win the derby for me. And I always say that if it should be, it should be. But as I said, I don't know that I do it with the call I have with the call. You will go back on the horse. ' To do the right way to recover properly, and I just did.
“You don't get that in business often, because this is the type of business. Someone else can ride the horse. You ride it well and you can keep it. I did a good job. How do you get it?
His relationship with Mott was one of the first things that appeared in his head after crossing the derby.
“If I could win with anyone, it would be Mr. Mott,” said Alvarado when Donna Brothers interviewed NBC to horse. “We've been a team for a while. It is as if a dream is committed to bring it with him and the Godolphin team. He told me that on the day I got out of the hospital, 'do what you have to
Mott did not have to remind you how well his connection with Alvarado had worked for both.
“My regular driver, Junior Alvarado, I think that made it special,” he said after the race. “I think it does something special for both of us.”
Alvarado will not win a driving title this year and it is unlikely that he will be an Eclipse Award candidate. But he is a very good jockey that has put a relationship with one of the best trainers in sports in the level. For mott, for Alvarado, for Godolphine and for sovereignty, it couldn't work better.
Will sovereignty in the prevention run?
On Sunday morning, Mott was not ready to commit himself as methodologically as every trainer of sport and not to make it in decisions.
“We have to consider all the options with him,” he said on Sunday. “We certainly respect the triple crown and what it means, but we are not dead. We have to let the horse tell ourselves how he is doing in the near future, and then we go out of there.”
I would be surprised if he run in the prevention. While Mott understands the history of the race and the importance of the triple crown, he will put the horse in the first place and it is unlikely that he will decide that the best for sovereignty is to run back in the prevention in two weeks. “
So let's start the debate from the front. The three -time crown must be repaired, and the obvious solution is to create more space between the races, in particular the checkness and the derby. Tradition is great, but not so good when you have a diluted triple crown.
Strange opportunities
The derby has become a race in which, more often than not, one can make no sense out of bet. It seems that many beds, especially people who pay attention to sport once a year, try to find the next mine, the bird (Birdstone) or Affluent Strike (Keeen ICE). How else can you explain why the judgment (guilt), which was a not threatening fifth in the GI-blue grass, started with 20: 1, while the Blue Grass winner Burnham Square was 19: 1?
