Junior Alvarado was still ‘on Cloud 9’ while returning to action on Wednesday at Gulfstream Park, where he rode for the first time since partnering Senor Buscador to win Saturday’s $20 million Saudi Cup.
“I’m still on Cloud 9, reliving the moment, reliving the race,” said Alvarado. “I’m trying to put that into words, to be honest.”
Senor Buscador had to come from the clouds to secure victory by a head over Japanese star Ushba Tesoro with a relentless stretch run under Alvarado.
“I knew it was a long stretch run and he was coming, but it wasn’t like he was coming with the strongest finish,” said the jockey.
“He just kept grinding like he does. At the three-sixteenths pole, I was hoping for a third or fourth, just a good paycheck!
“There was a point that it looked like we could finish third. At the sixteenth pole, I had to turn it on. I was riding hard. From the sixteenth pole to the wire, I had to go all out. I couldn’t save anything for another day. I had to go all out because I thought I had a really good chance to win the race.”
Alvarado had become acquainted with Senor Buscador during a second-place finish in the Dec. 2 Cigar Mile at Aqueduct before coming within a neck of catching National Treasure in the Pegasus World Cup.
“I rode him in the Cigar Mile and I got the chance to work with him here at Gulfstream every time he worked,” he said.
“I tried to understand what he really wants and when he wants. When you get to know things about a horse and what they want, you make them comfortable and get the best out of them,” Alvarado said. “It helped me have two races under my belt.”
Alvarado, who fell a nose short of winning Wednesday’s Race 7 feature following a late rally aboard 16-1 shot Meyer, will ride Senor Buscador with added confidence in the $12 Dubai World Cup on March 30.
“Going into the Saudi Cup, he wasn’t the favorite, but I was very confident,” he said. “I knew he was going to be coming to the wire. I’m not saying I knew he was going to win the race, but I knew he was going to show up.
“He’s just a hard-knocking horse. He’s a horse that shows heart that always shows up.”
Alvarado ventured from Venezuela in 2007, riding his first US winner at Gulfstream on Feb. 17 that year. The 36-year-old veteran, who rode 2023 Horse of the Year Cody’s Wish for a repeat victory in the Breeders’ Cup Mile at Santa Anita in November, has ridden the winners of 2,110 races and nearly $134m in purses in North America.
• Visit the Gulfstream Park website
Racing history through a lens: Raftery archive gifted to Keeneland Library by Barbara Livingston
View the latest TRC Global Rankings for horses / jockeys / trainers / sires