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Frankie Dettori Named Longines World’s Best Jockey For Third Consecutive Year

Lanfranco “Frankie” Dettori has won the title of 2020 Longines World's Best Jockey, meaning the legendary rider has received the award for three consecutive years. Dettori, who also took the competition in 2015, has been named the Longines World's Best Jockey four of the last six years.

In 2020, Dettori won five of the world's Top 100 Group or Grade 1 races, with his qualifying victories coming in the Gold Cup (Stradivarius), St James's Palace Stakes (Palace Pier), King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Qipco Stakes (Enable), Al Shaqab Goodwood Cup Stakes (Stradivarius), and Prix du Haras de Fresnay‐le‐Buffard ‐ Jacques Le Marois (Palace Pier).

The scoring process rewards jockeys for finishing in the top three, giving Dettori a total of 102 points on the year. He narrowly defeated Ryan Moore, the 2014 and 2016 Longines World's Best Jockey, who finished 2020 with 98 points. William Buick was third with 66 points, while Irad Ortiz, Jr., was just behind him in fourth with 64 points.

The awarding of the Longines World's Best Jockey title is based upon performances in the 100 highest-rated Group 1 and Grade 1 races as established for the year by the Longines World's Best Racehorse Rankings Committee. The scoring incorporates races from Dec. 1 of the previous year until Nov. 30 of the current year. Jockeys accrue 12 points for a win, 6 points for placing second, and 4 points for placing third.

Dettori is the only four-time winner of the Longines World's Best Jockey award, which was established in 2014. Historically, a ceremony has been held to honor the winner during the gala dinner of the Longines Hong Kong International Races in December, but due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the in-person ceremony will not take place this year. Instead, Dettori will be honored in mid-January when the 2020 Longines World's Best Racehorse and Longines World's Best Horse Race winners are announced.

The full and final standings for the 2020 Longines World's Best Jockey competition can be found at www.ifhaonline.org.

The Longines World's Best Jockey Award was established seven years ago by Swiss watch brand Longines and the IFHA as a way to quantitatively recognize a jockey as the best among his or her global peers. It marked the first time a rider was honored in such a way.

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Four Stakes Wins Earn Junior Alvarado Jockey Of The Week Title

Four stakes wins over the Thanksgiving weekend led to Junior Alvarado named as Jockey of the Week for Nov. 23 through Nov. 29. The award, 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 950 active riders in the United States as well as retired and permanently disabled jockeys.

With no racing scheduled on Thanksgiving Day, Alvarado made the most of the three days of racing at Aqueduct with mounts in 10 stakes races. On Friday, Alvarado scored by a nose with City Man for trainer Christophe Clement in the Gio Ponti over a stubborn Bodecream.

“Every time Christophe Clement brings a horse over, it doesn't matter the odds, they always seem to be fighting to win the race,” Alvarado said.

Also on the Friday card, Alvarado was aboard Feel Glorious, again for Christophe Clement, winning the Forever Together by three-quarters of a length.

“I had the best filly,” said Alvarado. “Turning for home, I put her in the clear to the outside and when she switched leads, she started picking it up.”

Fresh off a successful Friday, Alvarado had the mount on Forza Di Oro for trainer Bill Mott in the Grade 3 Discovery on Saturday. Around the far turn, Alvarado guided Forza Di Oro through an opening and drew off by 3-3/4 lengths.

“When he switches leads like he did today, he gives that next gear, Alvarado said.

On Sunday, trainer Bill Mott gave a leg up to Alvarado in the Tepin aboard Lovestruck who repelled a threat by Invincible Gal to hit the wire in 1:47.14.

“We were expecting the kind of run from her that we saw today,” said Alvarado. “There's still room for her to improve.”

As the leading rider by stakes wins, Alvarado posted a 22.72 percent win rate while in-the-money on 54.54 percent of his mounts. With five wins, three seconds and four thirds from 22 mounts, his purse earnings totaled $383,602.

Alvarado out-polled Rafael Bejarano who was the leading jockey by purse earnings, Irad Ortiz, Jr. who won three stakes races at Del Mar, Joel Rosario who won two stakes races at Del Mar and Tim Thornton who was the leading jockey by total wins with 10.

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Hollie Doyle Nominated for BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award

Jockey Hollie Doyle, who won her first Group 1 race this season, was nominated for the 2020 BBC Sports Personality of the Year award. The winner is voted on by the public on Dec. 20. If she wins, Doyle would join Sir Anthony McCoy as the second winner from the sphere of racing. Doyle was named the Sunday Times Sportswoman of the Year in November. She broke her own record for most winners in a calendar year by a female jockey with 117 in October and was fourth in the Flat jockeys’ championship. The 24-year-old also rode five winners on the same card at Windsor in August and rode Glen Shiel (GB) (Pivotal {GB]) to win the G1 British Champions Sprint S. In addition, Doyle also celebrated a first win at Royal Ascot in 2020 with Scarlet Dragon (GB) (Sir Percy {GB}). Doyle scored with another three winners at Wolverhampton on Tuesday.

“It is a huge privilege to be nominated for such an illustrious award,” Doyle said. “It’s hard to get my head around being nominated alongside the likes of Lewis Hamilton, but I’m really pleased that horse racing has been recognised alongside these sports. Racing can be in its own little bubble as such, so hopefully this might help to open the door to a wider audience.”

The other five nominees are: Formula One’s Lewis Hamilton, cricket’s Stuart Broad, snooker’s Ronnie O’Sullivan, boxer Tyson Fury, and footballer Jordan Henderson.

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‘I Got Away With It For Far Too Long’: Previously Suspended Jockey Calls For Stricter Cocaine Testing

Recent British jockey suspensions due to cocaine positives have encouraged Professional Jockeys Association (PJA) chief executive Paul Struthers to call for increased testing and penalties, reports the Racing Post.

Jockey Nathan Evans was banned six months last week after testing positive for cocaine, and champion British jockey Oisin Murphy received a three-month ban from France Galop after a positive he claimed was due to contamination from a sexual partner.

Kieren Shoemark, 24, made his way back from a cocaine positive and six-month suspension issued in 2018, and is now adding to the voices calling for additional testing. The young rider explained that cocaine has become an increasingly serious problem among jockeys, and that current protocols don't do enough to ensure detection of the drug.

“People being caught taking drugs is not a good thing for the sport; it's giving it a bad name,” Shoemark told the Racing Post. “If people know there's zero tolerance, they're going to take notice as they know they're going to get caught. I don't use 'cheat the system' lightly, but a lot of people are getting away with it — I got away with it for far too long. Hair sampling has to be the way forward.”