Silks Simulcast Center Opens at 8 a.m. Saturday; Rainbow 6 Jackpot Pool Guaranteed at $400,000
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Junior Alvarado, a mainstay at New York racetracks for the past decade, has decided to stick around following the April 3 conclusion of the Championship Meet to ride year-round at Gulfstream Park.
“I’ve been riding the last 10 years in New York. There’s a tough colony there. I just think moving here year-round is a good move to win races,” the 36-year-old Venezuela-born jockey said Thursday after recording his 48th victory of the Championship Meet aboard Kodama ($9) in Race 4. “For the family, I think it’s the right time to settle in beautiful Florida.”
Alvarado, who won his first race in Venezuela in 2005, rode his first winner in the U.S. at Gulfstream on Feb. 17, 2007. He ventured to Chicago-area tracks in 2008 and split his time between Chicago and New York in 2010 and 2011. He began riding in New York year-round in 2012. Alvarado has ridden at Gulfstream Park during the last three Championship Meets before riding the rest of the year in New York.
“In 2007, that was the first year I came here. I stayed year-round and then in 2008 in May I made my move to Chicago,” Alvarado said. “I like it here, but my business in New York was too good to leave. I think it’s perfect timing now to move here.”
Alvarado, who has ridden the winners of 1907 races and $109 million in purses, ranks sixth in wins and fifth in purses-earned this season at Gulfstream Park.
Silks Simulcast Center Opens at 8 a.m. Saturday
Gulfstream Park’s Silks simulcast center will open at 8 a.m. Saturday for patrons interested in watching and wagering on the Dubai World Cup program. Simulcast wagering will begin with Race 2 on the Meydan card at 8:20 a.m. Post time for the $12 million Dubai World Cup (G1) is scheduled for 12:30 p.m.
Rainbow 6 Jackpot Pool Guaranteed at $400,000
The 20-cent Rainbow 6 gross jackpot pool will be guaranteed at $400,000 Friday at Gulfstream Park after going unsolved Thursday for the seventh racing day in a row since the jackpot was hit or a $342,836.75 payoff.
The Rainbow 6 sequence will span Races 4-9, anchored by a well-stocked starter allowance in Race 8 and optional claiming allowance in Race 9.
A field of battle-tested older horses, headlined by 5-2 morning-line favorite Unprecedented, will line up for Race 8, a five-furlong sprint on Tapeta. Frank Russo-trained Unprecedented is coming off a pair of front-running victories while racing on an all-weather surface for the first time. Martin Drexler-trained Reconfigure is scheduled to clash with Unprecedented again after coming up a neck short of victory against the Russo trainee last time out. Harry’s Ontheloose, a hardnosed turf sprinter, is slated to make his first start for trainer Brendan Walsh off the $62,500 claim. Elizabeth Dobles-trained Cuy, who has blossomed since being introduced to Tapeta during the Fall Meet, is coming off a starter allowance victory on the all-weather surface.
Race 9, a 1 1/16-mile optional claiming allowance on turf, attracted a full and balanced field of 12 older fillies and mares, including Shug McGaughey-trained Champagne Lady, the 3-1 morning-line favorite. The 5-year-old daughter of Uncle Mo came off a year-and-a-half layoff to graduate at Gulfstream Dec. 15 before finishing third after prompting the pace last time out.
The Rainbow 6 jackpot is paid out when there is a single unique ticket sold with all six winners. On days when there is no unique ticket, 70 percent of that day’s pool goes back to those bettors holding tickets with the most winners, while 30 percent is carried over to the jackpot pool.
Who’s Hot: The trainers and jockeys shared the wealth on Thursday’s program with no one winning more than one race.
Gulfstream Park Today by David Joseph
Photo of Junior Alvarado by Ryan Thompson
