Junior Alvarado | Horse Racing Free Tips

Speaker’s Corner Turns Back Fearless In Fred W. Hooper Stakes

Godolphin homebred Speaker's Corner ran a big race in Saturday's Grade 3 Fred W. Hooper Stakes at Gulfstream Park In Hallandale Beach, Fla., fighting for a contested early lead and fending off the late challenge of 6-5 favorite Fearless to win by a length. The 4-year-old son of Street Sense, ridden by Junior Alvarado for trainer Bill Mott, ran a mile over the fast main track in 1:35.26. Speaker's Corner was sent off as the 3-2 second choice.

Speaker's Corner set taxing fractions in the Hooper but still had enough in reserve to hold off Fearless in the one-mile race named for one of Florida's most iconic horsemen. With Junior Alvarado in the irons, Speaker's Corner assumed command along the backstretch before unleashing his winning kick in the stretch to record his first stakes victory. Fearless, the 6-5 favorite, circled horses in the turn and rallied gamely in the stretch but could not overtake the winner, falling a length short of Speaker's Corner. Officiating finished third.

Winning trainer: (Bill Mott): “We didn't know if we'd be on the lead. We didn't really plan to be there, but the horse broke well and he was taking him and he was traveling easily. He was in between horses and he said he didn't want to get jammed up so he let him cruise on and it worked out well. They took a little run at him around the turn and he was able to repel those horses and, of course, good enough to hold off the late challenge of Fearless.”

Winning jockey: (Junior Alvarado): “It was just a phenomenal performance by him. We always thought very high of him. He's been a bit of a process to build up and to get to this race and the way he did it. He has a great a great trainer in Bill Mott. I think I was just a passenger today. He was very good today. He put up the fast fractions with horses on the inside and outside. He put them away and still had enough courage to draw away home very strong.”

Bred in Kentucky by his owner, Speaker's Corner is out of the unraced Bernardini mare Tyburn Brook. His second dam, Round Pond (Awesome Again), won the 2006 Breeders' Cup Distaff and is also the dam of Grade 1 winner Long River.

Speaker's Corner broke his maiden at second asking as a 2-year-old, didn't make it back to the races until late in his 3-year-old season, and was second last-out in the listed Discovery Stakes at Aqueduct. Overall, the colt has won four of his seven starts to earn over $280,000.

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Jockey Junior Alvarado Hoping To Build On Last Winter’s Success At Gulfstream

Having exceeded his own expectations in his full-time return to Gulfstream Park last winter, jockey Junior Alvarado is going about putting together an even better encore performance.

Alvarado was off to a strong start at the Championship Meet, ranking third in the rider standings with $1.4 million in purse earnings and fourth with 22 wins entering Wednesday's card. The 35-year-old has been in South Florida since opening day Dec. 3, after not arriving last year until the meet was nine days old.

“Even a month, month and a half before I came here [this year] I was looking forward to getting here,” Alvarado said. “You get the nice weather and you get to ride a lot of nice horses, too. I'm definitely very excited to be here.”

A native of Venezuela where he won his first career race in 2005, Alvarado ranked sixth with 53 wins and seventh with $2,355,580 in purse earnings during the 2020-2021 Championship Meet. Eight of his wins came in stakes, including Grade 3 triumphs in the Sweetest Chant, Canadian Turf, Hurricane Bertie and Appleton.

Alvarado notched a dozen multi-win days last winter, including a five-win day March 20 and a four-win day last Dec. 31. This winter he registered a double Dec. 5, 23, 26 and Jan. 9 and a triple Dec. 11, and scored his first stakes win in the Dec. 18 Fort Lauderdale (G2) aboard $1 million Pegasus World Cup Turf (G1) candidate Doswell.

“I would have to say last year was really kind of an unknown for me, just to come here and try for the first time after a while,” Alvarado said. “I didn't know what kind of trainers would ride me and I knew I had to put in a lot of work to get some trainers to look for me and give me a chance. I think we did pretty good last year.”

A year-round force in New York, where he has been a regular since 2010, Alvarado has worked his way to being a go-to rider for Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott. He rode 65 of Mott's starters last winter at Gulfstream with 17 wins, 18 seconds and five thirds, taking the Sweetest Chant with White Frost and the Cutler Bay and Palm Beach with Annex.

Overall, Alvarado won for 23 different trainers last winter with multiple victories for Antonio Sano, Jose D'Angelo, John Kimmel, Juan Carlos Avila, Carlos David, Carlos L. Perez and Hall of Famer Mark Casse.

Other wins came for Michael DePaulo, Francisco D'Angelo, Danny Gargan, William Tharrenos, Mark Hennig, Ron Spatz, Barclay Tagg, Armando De La Cerda, Jeremiah O'Dwyer, Gail Cox, Tom Bush, Hector Rodriguez, Antonio Cioffi and Hall of Famer Roger Attfield.

So far this year, Alvarado has won for Hall of Famer Todd Pletcher, Matthew Williams, Tharrenos, D'Angelo, Gilberto Zerpa, Jane Cibelli, Mott, Tagg, Sano, David, Armando De La Cerda, Kathleen O'Connell, Chris Davis and Championship Meet leader Saffie Joseph Jr. Alvarado and Joseph are 6-for-12 together with two seconds and a third.

“With Billy Mott and with so many other trainers, I think [last year's meet] was actually beyond what I thought it was going to be,” Alvarado said. “It was definitely greater than I thought.”

Alvarado rode his first race in the U.S. at Gulfstream Feb. 2, 2007, and registered his first domestic win aboard Satira in a maiden claiming race two weeks later. He moved on to the Chicago circuit in 2008, winning the 2009 riding title at Arlington Park, before venturing to New York.

Approaching 1,900 career victories, Alvarado parlayed his strong winter showing at Gulfstream into a career-high 14 graded-stakes in 2021 including the June 5 Jaipur (G1) at Belmont Park aboard Mott-trained Casa Creed. His previous season high was 10 graded wins in 2020, 2019 and 2015.

“I might not get the number one, top horses year-round, but most of the time we're winning a lot of big races around the country. This year has been no exception. Hopefully we can keep picking up nice horses and winning big races,” he said. “Once you get the nice ones, we'll try to stay on them as long as we can and we'll go anywhere we have to go to keep the mount.”

One change from last winter is that Alvarado's wife and three children, ages 2, 6 and 10, were unable to spend the entire season with him in Florida.

“Last year, I brought them here and they did their schooling on-line,” he said. “This year we couldn't do that; they had to stay at school. So I just came by myself and I'll be going back and forth every other week to visit and they'll come on their [vacation] days off so we'll make it work.”

In the meantime, Alvarado is focused on the task at hand.

“My goal is to win at least the same amount of races and hopefully more,” he said. “A lot of people know me now. They weren't sure about my riding style. I gained confidence last year through the meet and showed that I can ride here and hopefully that will help a little bit to get more business going and win more races.”

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Sister Nell Gives Pletcher, Alvarado First Win Of Gulfstream’s Championship Meet

Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher notched his first victory of the 2021-2022 Championship Meet at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach, Fla., Sunday when JSM Equine LLC's Sister Nell captured her career debut under a perfectly executed ride by Junior Alvarado.

The 2-year-old daughter of Kitten's Joy scored a 14-1 upset victory after saving ground while rating off the early pace in the mile maiden special weight race on turf carded as Race 3. After cutting the corner into the stretch and caught behind a wall of horses in mid-stretch, Alvarado took advantage of room that opened up along the rail, and the homebred filly surged through the opening to prevail by a half-length.

Pletcher has won a record 18 Championship Meet training titles.

Sister Nell was also jockey Alvarado's first winner of the Championship Meet.

“He got a great trip, saving ground. When we turned for home, I was just hoping for a little bit of room, and when I found it, she gave me a very nice kick at the end,” Alvarado said.

Alvarado returned to South Florida last season to ride during the Championship Meet after spending several winters in New York, riding 53 winners to rank seventh in both victories and purses-won.

“I love it here. Even before getting here, it was getting into the 20s and 30s. It was already getting a little chilly there,” said Alvarado, who also scored aboard favored Strike Hard in Sunday's Race 9 feature. “Moving here and getting the great sunshine does make you ride better.”

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Caramel Swirl Rallies Late To Win Raven Run At Keeneland

Seventh in the field of eleven early, Caramel Swirl did not let traffic stop her from making a bid for the lead in the Grade 2 Raven Run. Over a fast track at Keeneland Race Course in Lexington, Ky., the daughter of Union Rags went five-wide around the far turn to find racing room and outlast Joy's Rocket to win by a head.

Breaking cleanly from post eight, Junior Alvarado positioned Caramel Swirl toward the back of the pack early behind the leader Strong Silent and Cilla in second. Three-wide on the backstretch, traffic forced Alvarado to take his filly even wider on the far turn to find running room in the Keeneland straight. As Cilla took over the lead in the early stretch, Caramel Swirl and Joy's Rocket rallied to her outside. The two were head to head as they passed Cilla in late stretch, Caramel Swirl eking out a short lead as they approached the finish line.

At the wire, Caramel Swirl held the advantage over Joy's Rocket with Cilla in third. The final time for the seven furlongs was 1:23.42.

Find this race's chart here.

Caramel Swirl paid $8.60, $5.60, and $4.40. Joy's Rocket paid $19.60 and $10.40. Cilla paid $7.40.

Bred in Kentucky by owner Godolphin, Caramel Swirl is out of the Smart Strike mare Caramel Snap. She is trained by Bill Mott. With her win the G2 Raven Run, the 3-year-old filly has three wins in seven starts in 2021 for a lifetime record of 9-3-3-1 and career earnings of $317,300.

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