(NEXSTAR/WDKY) – Junior Alvarado, the jockey who rode Sovereignty to victory at the 151st running of the Kentucky Derby earlier this month, has been issued a suspension and ordered to pay a hefty fine for excessive use of his riding crop during the race.
The Kentucky Horse Racing Commission (KHRC) announced the penalties on Friday after a hearing by the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA) determined Alvarado struck Sovereignty eight times with his crop — two more times than allowed.
The penalties for such an offense include a fine amounting to 10% of Alvarado’s winnings in the race as well as a one-day suspension. But seeing as this was Alvarado’s second offense within 180 days (he was last penalized for whipping a horse seven times during a December 2024 race), the penalties were doubled from $31,000 to $62,000, and he is to be suspended for “two Kentucky racing days.”
Those suspension dates are listed as May 29 and May 30.
“Upon receipt of this ruling, it is required within thirty (30) days to pay any and all fines imposed to the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority,” a ruling announcement from the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission stated.
HISA rules stipulate that jockeys must not strike their mounts more than six times, and “in increments of no more than 2 strikes before allowing horse to respond for at least 2 strides.” Fines and suspensions become more severe depending on how many times a jockey strikes a horse over the limit.
Alvarado had previously admitted to striking Sovereignty more than six times, telling BloodHorse in a post-race conference on May 3 that he “couldn’t keep track” of his crop usage.
“It’s such a big race, there’s so much that you’ve got on your mind,” he told a journalist for the horse-racing site.
Alvarado has not yet indicated whether he intends to appeal the ruling. But in an interview with a journalist for the Louisville Courier-Journal before the penalties were handed down, he hinted that he wouldn’t contest.
“The whip rule was the last thing I had in my mind,” he said. “I have to pay the consequences, I guess.”
Despite riding Sovereignty to victory at the Kentucky Derby, the horse’s trainer said Sovereignty won’t be running in this weekend’s Preakness Stakes, meaning there will be no chance for a Triple Crown winner in 2025.
“We want to do what’s best for the horse,” trainer Bill Mott announced this past week, after remarking earlier that Sovereignty had suffered a minor scrape during the Derby, the Associated Press reported. “Of course, you always think about a Triple Crown, and that’s not something we’re not going to think about.”
Sovereignty is still expected to run in the Belmont Stakes in June.