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Soverignty’s Jockey, Junior Alvarado, has faced criticism for his treatment of the horse.
On May 3, at 7:02 p.m., 19 horses took to the racetrack to compete in the 151st Kentucky Derby. Throughout the race, several horses suffered setbacks due to the rainy conditions, but after a slight rain delay, Sovereignty edged out the favorite, Journalism, to win the first leg of the Triple Crown with a time of 2:02.31. Going into the race with 5:1 odds on SportsLine, Sovereignty was the second-highest-ranked horse competing against Journalism during the final stretch of the race.
Journalism had recently won the Santa Anita Derby and was the only horse entering the race with three wins in graded stakes races. However, both Journalism and Sovereignty had significant racing experience compared to the other horses. Both three-year-old colts with pedigrees including prior Derby winners, the two horses fought for the lead, with Sovereignty beating Journalism by one and a half lengths.
For Sovereignty’s stable, Godolphin, his win on May 3 represented the first Kentucky Derby win for the company after 12 failed attempts in prior years. Owned by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the Emir of Dubai, the stable is based in Dubai and has training centers worldwide. Sovereignty’s trainer, Bill Mott, trained the 2019 Kentucky Derby winner, Country House, who won after Maximum Security’s disqualification due to interference with other horses during the race.
In a press conference, Mott reflected on the difference between the two races, stating, “I don’t want to take anything away from Country House’s effort because he actually ran a very good race that day … He may have been second best on the day, but I guess it was our luck that the horse who crossed the finish wire first took out three to four other horses. They had to do something, they had to put us up.”
“I said afterwards that I’d want to finish first, to cross the line first. We always take them any way we can get them, but this was pretty special,” he added.
However, Mott’s second win this year has included similar controversy and questions of whether Sovereignty’s win was valid. According to regulations set by the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA), jockeys are only permitted to whip their horses six times, however, jockey Junior Alvarado struck Sovereignty eight times.
Alvarado addressed his misstep in an interview with The C.L. Brown Show: “I forgot it was a rule. I was seeing my dream coming true right in front of me. The whip rule was the last thing I had in my mind. I have to pay the consequences, I guess.”
Reflecting on his thoughts during the race, Alvarado said, “If I had to do it again, how could I make sure I don’t go over? I don’t see how. You’re about to win the biggest race in the world. I can’t think about how many [times] I’m hitting the horse. I’m just riding.”
However, the consequences for each extra strike include a 10% fine on a jockey’s winnings, and, as such, HISA fined Alvarado $62,000 following the race. Additionally, as this was Alvarado’s second whipping violation in the past 180 days, HISA also suspended the 38-year-old jockey from racing for two days. Following this controversy, Alvarado faced many accusations of animal abuse, as HISA’s reasoning for limiting the number of strikes allowed on a horse in a singular race was to prevent the horse from being injured.
Addressing these allegations of abuse, Alvarado stated in an interview with the Daily Racing Form, “I didn’t abuse the horse. Nobody can tell me, even if they can prove that I hit the horse two extra times, it was in an abus[ive] way, it’s just ridiculous. The punishment doesn’t fit the crime, and I don’t think there was any crime.”
Although he has protested the ruling, HISA’s decision to fine and suspend will likely hold as their regulations regarding the capacity to whip a horse during a race are clear.
Overall, Alvarado’s accusations of abuse and violation of HISA regulations have overshadowed the validity of Sovereignty’s win and call into question the justifications for whipping a horse at all.