Albarado Celebrates 1,000th Churchill Win
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Jockey Robby Albarado celebrated his 1,000th victory at Churchill Downs Nov. 13 after Red Maserati won the third race by a length.
Albarado is the third jockey in the 140-year history of Churchill Downs to reach the prestigious milestone, the other two being Hall of Fame members Pat Day (2,482) and Calvin Borel (1,170).
"Considering all of the history at Churchill Downs and the two guys that are in front of me—Pat Day and Calvin Borel—it's an honor just to be in their presence and talking about those guys," Albarado said.
The win on the Pat Dupuy-trained Red Maserati was actually Albarado's 1,001st at the Louisville, Ky., track. He won his 999th Churchill race Nov. 6 aboard Bridaria and then was credited with win number 1,000 as a result of a ruling issued by the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission Nov. 8.
The KHRC uploaded ruling No. 14-0081 to its website stating that Proud Azteca was disqualified from first in the sixth race Oct. 30 after it was discovered that the Indiana-bred colt did not meet the conditions of the race, and, therefore, was determined to be ineligible. In turn, runner-up Hesinfront, ridden by Albarado, was moved up to first.
Albarado declined to recognize the significant milestone until he crossed the wire first so he could properly celebrate in the Churchill Downs winner's circle with his colleagues.
"I wanted to cross the wire with the 1,000th winner and didn't want to get put up and win it like that," Albarado said. "I did appreciate (the ruling) but it was more like I didn't do it; I didn't win it. Today confirmed it. It was nice."
Albarado also recorded his 900th Churchill Downs win aboard a Dupuy-trained horse, Strike Impact, on Nov. 12, 2010.
Albarado, 41, is in his 25th year as a jockey and has been a regular at Churchill Downs since 1996. He won the 2008 spring meet riding title with 73 wins and has finished in the top five of the Churchill standings 23 times, including seven seconds.
Overall, Albarado has won 4,662 races and his mounts have earned more than $190 million from 29,136 starts during a riding career that began in 1990. His earnings rank 17th all-time in North America.