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‘It’s Time’: Jockey Robby Albarado Set To Retire

Two-time Preakness-winning jockey Robby Albarado told the Daily Racing Form this week that he plans to retire after riding at Turfway Park on Saturday. With 5,222 wins from a career that began in Louisiana in 1990, Albarado ranks 30th among North American jockeys.

“It's time,” Albarado told DRF. “I've been thinking about this for quite a while now.”

Albarado was most recently in the spotlight for his partnership with Swiss Skydiver, the filly who beat the boys in the 2020 edition of the Preakness Stakes. He was also the jockey of 2003 Horse of the Year Mineshaft, as well as of Hall of Famer and two-time Horse of the Year Curlin, his partnership with the latter including wins in the 2007 Preakness, 2007 Breeders' Cup Classic, and 2008 Dubai World Cup.

Among Albarado's other achievements are a victory in the 2009 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf with Tapitsfly and in the 2011 Breeders' Cup Mile with Court Vision.

Future plans could see Albarado become a jockey's agent in 2022.

Veteran Jockey Robby Albarado to Retire

Jockey Robby Albarado, a winner of more than 5,000 races and the regular rider of Hall of Famer Curlin, has decided to retire. The 48-year-old rider will end his career Saturday at Turfway Park, where he has a mount in the seventh race.

The news of his retirement was first reported by Daily Racing Form's Marty McGee.

“It's time,” Albarado told DRF. “I've been thinking about this for quite a while now.”

Albarado told McGee that he plans on becoming a jockey agent next year.

Albarado started out at the bush tracks in his native Louisiana and earned his first official win in 1990 at Evangeline Downs. He continued to ride in Louisiana, Arkansas and Illinois before becoming a regular on the Kentucky circuit in 1996. By the mid-nineties, he had established himself as one of the leading riders in the Midwest. In 1998, he won 269 races with earnings of $9,366,585. That same year, he won his first two Grade I races, winning the Three Chimneys Spinster and the Turf Classic at Churchill Downs.

Albarado had his share of injuries and twice fractured his skull, but didn't allow that to slow him down. In 2003, he picked up the mount on Mineshaft and won four graded stakes on him on his way to the Horse of the Year title.
He won his first Triple Crown race in the 2007 GI Preakness aboard Curlin. He rode Curlin in all but one of his 16 career starts, which included wins in the G1 Dubai World Cup and the GI Breeders' Cup Classic. Curlin was named Horse of the Year in 2007 and 2008.

In 2011, he was slated to ride Animal Kingdom in the Derby but suffered a minor injury the week of the race, which cost him the mount. With John Velazquez aboard, Animal Kingdom won the first leg of the Triple Crown.

Albarado was convicted in 2012 of assaulting a former girlfriend, but, on appeal, the charges were overturned. In 2011, he faced similar charges when charged with three counts related to a domestic dispute with his wife. Those charges were later dropped.

Starting in 2019, his business began to slow down. He won just 24 races that year and won 24 again in 2020. But his 2020 season was not without its highlights. He picked up the mount on 3-year-old filly star Swiss Skydiver (Daredevil) and rode her to wins in the 2020 Preakness and, this year, in the GI Beholder Mile. In 2021, he has had just two winners from 93 mounts.

According to Equibase, Albarado has 5,222 career wins from 34,113 mounts and has earnings of $221,560,458.

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Several Valets Boycott Bryony Frost Over Bullying Case; Robbie Dunne Calls Threatening Statement ‘A Figure Of Speech’

The British Horseracing Authority's disciplinary hearing into the jockey bullying case brought by Bryony Frost against Robbie Dunne came to a conclusion on Wednesday, reports the Racing Post, with the panel expected to have a final decision on Thursday. Dunne is officially charged with seven breaches of the rules of racing, four relating to conduct prejudicial to the integrity, proper conduct, and good reputation of the sport, and three of acting in a violent or improper manner.

Dunne gave testimony on Tuesday, arguing that when he said he would “put her through a wing,” he didn't mean it as a threat.

“It's a common thing that's said in the weighing room,” said Dunne. “Never once have I seen someone go through with it. It's just a matter of speech . . . it wasn't a threat, it was a figure of speech.”

Continuing the theme of Frost's isolation since she filed her complaint, it was also revealed this week was that a group of valets at Fontwell Park had refused to work for Frost on Tuesday. Former jockey and master valet Chris Maude confirmed the boycott, according to a report in The Guardian.

“I think they're upset that it's been thought and been in the press that they condone any sort of bullying behavior,” Maude said. “I think they were very upset that their names have been in the press and they've found the whole thing quite harrowing to be honest. So they said they would rather not work for her today.”

In his closing statement, BHA representative Louis Weston said: “If what is being said, when you come to determine this case, there is a weighing room culture that allows one jockey to threaten another with serious injury to them or their horse, or to call another a whore, a slut or a slag then that culture is one that is sour, rancid and one that we say should be thrown out and discarded. Its time, if ever it had its time, has gone.”

He added: “It cannot be that Ms. Frost can be allowed to compete on a racecourse on a level playing field only to find when she comes back to the weighing room she's met by Mr. Dunne acting out a role of some patriarchy re-enacting social attitudes of the 1950s in his capacity of self-appointed enforcer of traditions he perceives to be put in place in the weighing room. It's just unacceptable.”

Read more at the Racing Post here and here. Read more at The Guardian here.

The post Several Valets Boycott Bryony Frost Over Bullying Case; Robbie Dunne Calls Threatening Statement ‘A Figure Of Speech’ appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Four Claiming Crown Wins Net Paco Lopez Jockey Of The Week Title

Paco Lopez started the 2021-2022 Gulfstream Park Championship Meet in style with a five-win day on Saturday including four stakes races in the Claiming Crown Series. Lopez's achievements earned Jockey of the Week for Nov. 29 through Dec. 5. The honor, which is voted on by a panel of racing experts, is for jockeys who are members of the Jockeys' Guild, the organization which represents more than 1050 active, retired and permanently disabled jockeys in the United States.

For the 10th consecutive year, Gulfstream Park hosted the Claiming Crown, a series of nine starter stakes races celebrating the blue-collar horses that are the back-bone of racetracks around the country.

Lopez was aboard Blue Steel for trainer Jeff Hiles in the Claiming Crown Iron Horse Kent Sterling Memorial to start the series. The pair took over the lead around the turn and kicked clear to win the race by a half-length in 1:44.61 for 1 1/16 miles.

Lopez also won the next race, his third on the card, the Claiming Crown Distaff Dash for trainer Jane Cibelli aboard Payntdembluesaway. Off as the favorite in the field of 12, Payntdembluesaway scored a four-length victory in :55.31 for the five furlong turf test.

Trainer Eddie Plesa, Jr. gave a leg up to Lopez on Miles Ahead in the Claiming Crown Rapid Transit, a seven furlong race on the dirt. Off as the favorite in the field of 10, Miles Ahead tracked the leaders outside and up the backstretch wearing down his rivals to pull clear by 1 1/4 lengths in 1:21.99.

The Claiming Crown Emerald was the last of the starter series. Riding for trainer Luis Carvajal, Jr., Lopez took Mid Day Image straight to the lead from the inside post, maintained a clear lead at the top of the stretch and went on to post a 1 1/4-length win in 1:39.82 for 1 1/16 miles on the turf.

“Not too bad a day,” said Lopez to the Gulfstream Park Publicity team. “We had five wins and a couple of seconds. My horses ran very well today.”

A multiple graded stakes winner and the 2008 Eclipse Award winner as leading apprentice, Lopez shares the Gulfstream Park track record with seven wins on a single day.

Lopez's weekly statistics were 35-8-6-3 and total purse earnings of $371,525.

Other nominees for Jockey of the Week were Arnaldo Bocachica with 10 wins, Juan J. Hernandez who won the G1 Starlet, Sonny Leon also with 10 wins and Luis Saez who won the G1 Cigar Mile.

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