Penalized Jockey Says He Had to Use Crop on Sovereignty

Junior Alvarado, the jockey who rode Sovereignty to victory in the Kentucky Derby last weekend, has been punished for striking the horse too many times with his riding crop. The Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority fined Alvarado $62,000 and suspended him for two racing days later this month after determining he used his crop eight times on Sovereignty at Churchill Downs, the Courier Journal reports. Under the rules, the limit is six times. The jockey said last week on a podcast that he was braced for a fine but that he needed to encourage Sovereignty down the stretch.

"I forgot it was a rule," Alvarado said. "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." The fine assessed is 10% of the jockey's share of the purse, but it was doubled to $62,000 because the violation was Alvarado's second within 180 days. The authority said the money goes to a jockey mental health program, per CBS News. "I'm riding a horse who's a heavy horse," Alvarado said. "He'll give you what he's got, but you have to get to the bottom. He's not going to give you anything for free. You have to make him do it." (More Kentucky Derby stories.)