Jockey Junior Alvarado fined, suspended after riding Sovereignty to victory in Kentucky Derby

The jockey who rode Sovereignty to victory in the 151st Kentucky Derby has been fined and suspended for striking the Derby-winning horse eight times during the race, two past the six-strike limit on a horse’s hindquarters. The ruling against Junior Alvarado was issued on May 9, according to Bloodhorse.

Alvarado’s fine totals $62,000 and the jockey has been suspended for two racing days for violating the riding crop rules. The fine is 10% of Alvarado’s purse for winning the Kentucky Derby, but due to a prior infraction the fine and suspension are doubled. He won $310,000 for riding Sovereignty to the win. His suspension is set to run from May 29-30.

The jockey acknowledged going over the amount of strikes during the race. He realized it after reviewing replay of the event, but says that he was unaware during the race.

“I couldn’t keep track of that,” Alvarado told BloodHorse on Saturday. “It’s such a big race, there’s so much that you’ve got on your mind.”

The final time Alvarado was noted to have struck Sovereignty was around 1/16 of a mile from the finish line. Umberto Rispoli, who rode Journalism who the favorite coming into the game, also stuck his horse for the final time during that stretch. Rispoli struck his horse six times during the race.

“When the extra whip happened, I was right next to the favorite and I needed to do what I needed to do at the time,” Alvarado continued. “After (watching a replay), I saw I went over, but I had no time to think about that (in the moment). I just wanted to win the biggest race in America.”

Notably, if Alvarado would have been determined to have struck Sovereignty at least 10 times, two less than the final count, Alvarado and Sovereignty would be disqualified from the Derby. There would have been “stiffer penalties” handed down to the jockey.

It was already reported that Sovereignty would not be riding in the Preakness, which is the second leg of the Triple Crown. That doesn’t take away the fact that Sovereignty won the 151st Kentucky Derby, which was a record-setting event for Derby viewership. In the end he did beat Journalism, followed by Baeza and Final Gambit. With a run of 2:02.31 on the sloppy track, Sovereignty won $3.1 million with the win.