Junior Alvarado

Alvarado was originally to be named Rafael Alvarado Jr. but when his father went to register the name it came out Junior Rafael Alvarado and he's been called Junior ever since.  Alvarado and his wife, Kelly, have a son, Adrian, and a daughter, Adalyn.

Alvarado started riding in America in South Florida in 2007.  He thought about returning to his native Venezuela but decided move his tack to Chicago at the urging of trainer Moises Yanez, for whom he enjoyed considerable success. 

Junior made a big splash in his first meet at Arlington in 2008, winning 81 races to finish eighth in the standings.  After the 2008 Arlington meet, he went to Hawthorne for a time before returning to Venezuela. He returned to the United States in time for the 2009 Arlington meet and jumped to the head of the class in his second meet at Arlington, taking the 2009 riding title with 110 wins, three more than James Graham. He won three stakes races at the meet in the Illinois Owners Stakes with Voy Por Uno Mas, the Sea Erin with Public Speaker and the Grade III Arlington-Washington Lassie aboard eventual Eclipse Award winning 2-year-old filly She Be Wild.

In his bid to repeat as riding champion, Junior finished second to Michael Baze in the standings with 97 victories. However, he scored the biggest win of his young career when he guided Richard L. Duchossois Éclair de Lune to victory in the Beverly D. Stakes to record his first Grade 1 win.

Alvarado moved in 2010 to New York to ride full time. Alvarado added Grade 1 wins in 2012 with Emma's Encore and 2013 aboard Strapping Groom and Flat Out. During the 2013 season, Alvarado estanblished a new benchmark for purse earnings in a single season with $12,865,602. In 2014, he won the $1.5 million Whitney Stakes on Moreno on Aug. 2 and later that month he recorded the 1,000th win of his career when he rode Sherkis to victory in the fourth race on Aug. 25 at Saratoga Race Course.

Alvarado finished fourth aboard Mohaymen in the 2016 Kentucky Derby with his first starter in the first jewel of the Triple Crown. Alvarado surpassed 1,500 career victories in 2018.

Alvarado continued to rack up wins in major races during the late 2010s and into the 2020s. His top runners included Jockey Club Gold Cup winner Preservationist, Belmont Derby winner Gufo, and Carter Handicap winner Speaker’s Corner. In 2022, Alvarado piloted the Bill Mott-trained Olympiad, who emerged as a major player in the older male division, with wins including the New Orleans Classic Stakes and Stephen Foster Stakes. His other top horse for 2022, Cody’s Wish, became a fan favorite and a multiple Grade 1 winner in the summer and fall, giving Alvarado his first Breeders’ Cup win in the Big Ass Fans Dirt Mile at Keeneland. Alvarado had been Cody's Wish's regular rider throughout most of the 2022 season, which included a victory in the Grade 1 Forego at Saratoga. 

Alvarado picked up his second World Championships win a year later when Just F Y I took the NetJets Juvenile Fillies and added a third Breeders’ Cup win the following day when he guided Cody’s Wish to a repeat win in the Big Ass Fans Dirt Mile. That win solidified Cody’s Wish as the 2023 Horse of the Year, while Just F Y I was named champion 2-year-old filly.

Alvarado in 2024 earned the most lucrative win of his career when he rode Senor Buscador to victory in the $20 million Saudi Cup. The jockey continued to enjoy success on several top-rated horses, and in the fall he teamed with Mott-trained 2-year-old Sovereignty to win the Street Sense Stakes at Churchill Downs and emerge as a leading contender for the 2025 Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve. Alvarado suffered a shoulder injury in March 2025 and missed the colt’s final Derby prep, but was reunited with Sovereignty for the May 3 Derby. In an exciting finish, the pair outbattled favorite Journalism to win the first leg of the Triple Crown on a sloppy racetrack at Churchill Downs, Alvarado’s first victory in the race. 

Five weeks later, Alvarado earned his first career Belmont Stakes win aboard Sovereignty as that colt once again defeated Journalism and Baeza with a powerful stretch run in front of thousands of boisterous fans at Saratoga Race Course.