Rain dampened one other day of racing at Saratoga Race Course Aug. 30 as moist circumstances compelled 5 races to be moved from the turf course to the principle observe and the cancellation of a steeplechase race.
The 5 off-the-turf races introduced the whole for the meet to 64 via 35 days of racing.
Up to now three years, the figures for 35 days have been 17 final 12 months, 39 in 2021, and 26 in 2020.
Among the many races moved to the principle observe, which was upgraded to quick after the sixth race, was the featured $150,000 P.G. Johnson Stakes for 2-year-old fillies. An unique discipline of 11 was diminished to 5.
Thirty-four horses have been scratched from the 5 races that have been taken off the grass, the overwhelming majority of them as a result of floor change.
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Muddy circumstances throughout coaching hours on the principle observe Aug. 18 at Saratoga Race Course
Alvarado Named 2023 Mike Venezia Award Winner
The New York Racing Affiliation introduced Aug. 30 that veteran jockey Junior Alvarado is the winner of the 2023 Mike Venezia Memorial Award.
Alvarado, based mostly this summer time at Saratoga and the common jockey of Cody’s Want, was chosen by a committee comprised of members of the Venezia household, representatives of The Jockeys’ Guild, and retired Eclipse Award-winning jockey Richard Migliore. Alvarado will likely be acknowledged in a winner’s circle ceremony at Saratoga Sept. 2.
“The Venezia Memorial Award is about representing the game we love a lot in the easiest way attainable,” stated Alvarado. “I’m grateful and proud to be chosen as this 12 months’s winner and I stay up for celebrating with my household and thanking the Venezia household right here at Saratoga Race Course.”
The Mike Venezia Memorial Award is offered yearly to a jockey who shows the extraordinary sportsmanship and citizenship that personified Venezia, who died as a results of accidents suffered in a spill in 1988. Venezia, a local of Brooklyn, N.Y., gained greater than 2,300 races throughout his 25-year profession.
“Junior is a real skilled at what he does, each as a prime jockey and as a job mannequin,” stated Terry Meyocks, president and CEO of The Jockeys’ Guild. “The winners of the Venezia Award are ambassadors for thoroughbred racing; they’re champions on and off the observe. We welcome Junior to the ranks of those that have beforehand been honored with the Venezia Award.”
A local of Barquisimeto, Venezuela, and the son of jockey Rafael Alvarado, Junior Alvarado, 37, rode his first winner in 2005 at La Rinconada Hippodrome in Caracas earlier than shifting to the US in 2007 when he rode his first winner at Gulfstream Park. After incomes the 2009 using title at Arlington Park, Alvarado moved to New York in 2010 and he has been a mainstay on the circuit ever since, successful the 2014 Whitney Stakes (G1) on Moreno , and racking up greater than 1,400 wins and greater than $106 million in earnings on the NYRA tracks. For his profession, Alvarado has greater than 2,000 wins and greater than $126.9 million in earnings.
Driving Cody’s Want and the late Artwork Collector for Corridor of Fame coach Invoice Mott has helped ship Alvarado’s profession to an entire new degree. He recorded his first profession Breeders’ Cup victory in 2022 guiding Cody’s Want to a hard-fought victory within the Breeders’ Cup Filth Mile (G1) at Keeneland. Alvarado additionally was aboard Cody’s Want for victories in a collection of different grade 1 races, most lately on this 12 months’s Metropolitan Handicap at Belmont Park, the Churchill Downs on the famed Kentucky observe, and the 2022 Forego at Saratoga. These 4 grade 1 races have been a part of a six-race win streak put collectively by Cody’s Want, all with Alvarado aboard. Driving Artwork Collector for Mott, Alvarado gained the Pegasus World Cup Invitational (G1) at Gulfstream.
Junior Alvarado aboard Cody’s Want after successful the Churchill Downs Stakes at Churchill Downs
The Venezia Memorial Award is a 13-inch bronze sculpture with a title that reads, “The Jockey, A Champion.” Alvarado joins a legendary group of riders who’ve gained the award beforehand, led by Venezia, who posthumously earned the inaugural award in 1989. Different winners embrace Invoice Shoemaker, Chris McCarron, Angel Cordero, Jr., Jerry Bailey, Mike Smith, Pat Day, Laffit Pincay, Jr., Robbie Davis, Eddie Maple, Jorge Chavez, Mike Luzzi, Dean Kutz, Gary Stevens, Richard Migliore, Patti Cooksey, Edgar Prado, Ramon Dominguez, John Velazquez, Jon Courtroom, Mario Pino, Joe Bravo, Javier Castellano, Kendrick Carmouche, DeShawn Parker, and the 2022 winner, Julien Leparoux.
For Migliore, the 2003 Venezia Memorial Award winner who’s now with NYRA TV, the award carries on the reminiscence of Venezia.
“As a younger jockey, I watched and realized numerous classes from Mike Venezia, somebody I proceed to admire right this moment,” stated Migliore. “The Venezia Award is a reminder that Mike’s appreciable legacy endures. On behalf of the previous winners of this prestigious award, I congratulate Junior on this well-deserved honor.”
The Venezia Award merchandise is by the NYRA Press Workplace.
