How famous can the Kentucky Derby make you? Well, you just have to look at the 2025 edition. Sovereignty showed his class at the Churchill Downs under the expert guidance of his jockey. In fact, trainer and Hall of Famer Bill Mott wouldn’t have any other jockey on Sovereignty’s saddle, because you don’t gamble with wins. And now, the 38-year-old jockey from Venezuela is reaping the rewards of being a Kentucky Derby winner. After all, from that $3.1 million Derby-winning purse, Alvarado’s share came to about $310,000.

Did Junior Alvarado ever dream of pitching in an MLB game? Well, he is surely living out that fantasy in real life. Daily Racing Form’s New York correspondent, David Grening, just posted on Twitter that the 2025 Kentucky Derby-winning jockey is inside the New York Yankees Stadium. “@JuniorandKellyA throwing out first pitch at Yankee Stadium tonight.”

What a week Junior Alvarado is living out! First, the coveted Derby win. Something everyone in the thoroughbred business dreams of, but only a few get to experience. And Alvarado is one of those few. The win even catapulted him to being adjudged the Jockey of the Week, April 28-May 4. Well, it is kind of obvious. But it just makes the week even sweeter for the Fountain of Youth winner.

And now, Alvarado gets to throw out the first pitch inside Yankee Stadium. It will take place right before the game between the Yankees and the San Diego Padres. And with the throw from the pitcher’s mound, the jockey will become a part of another prestigious legacy that is shared by a select few.

Had Junior Alvarado dreamt that his 2025 would be going like this? When he takes center stage at the home stadium of the most successful MLB team, all eyes will be on him. Being talked about like a celebrity, being the center of attention, and the word of mouth spreading his achievements. He will feel it. The feeling of accomplishment. Achievement. This is what success looks like for sure.

Junior Alvarado joins a rare few sportspersons who have had the privilege of throwing the first pitch. But is he the first jockey? Well, not quite. Before him, 2 jockeys have been honored with the ceremonial first pitch in an MLB game. The first was in 2015, when Victor Espinoza threw the first pitch in the same Yankee Stadium. Espinoza was invited after he had become the first Triple Crown-winning jockey in 37 years.

And the 2nd? It was again a Kentucky Derby winner. Hall of Famer Javier Castellano threw the first pitch inside Yankee Stadium, making it 3 for 3 as far as the Yankees-Kentucky Derby connection is concerned.

It seems like the Yankees really appreciate a capable horse rider, and Junior Alvarado fits the bill perfectly.

From Venezuela, to the Kentucky Derby, to America’s Yankee Stadium

With odds of 7-1, Sovereignty was not the favorite. But he was capable. “When we hit the five-eighths pole he said he was ready,” Junior Alvarado said to Churchill Downs Publicity after the Kentucky Derby on May 3. “I didn’t want to get too excited. When we turned for home, I got him in the clear and showed his stuff.”

And the rain also played a part, no doubt. At least that’s what the jockey of the Derby favorite, Journalism, thinks. “On a fair track, I think I have the better horse,” Ernesto Rispoli said to the BBC on May 4. But it all comes down to the hands you are dealt. And Junior Alvarado used the conditions perfectly. “Fortunately, there was a lot of speed in the race,” trainer Bill Mott said after winning his 2nd Kentucky Derby on May 3.

“When you have a good pace, the field strings out a little bit more, and it offers you an opportunity to drop in once they line up a little bit.” And with the experienced Alvarado knowing exactly how Sovereignty would do, it was a matter of skilled execution. “It gives the outside horses a chance, and that’s what happened.” And it all started in Venezuela, all thanks to Junior Alvarado’s father’s little suggestion.

“My dad was a rider too. I did pretty good as a bug boy in Venezuela but my dad always put it in my mind, ‘You should go to the United States,’” Alvarado said to This is Horse Racing in July 2012. “I’m like, ‘I’m doing good here.’ I wasn’t really thirsty.” But then things changed, and his father gave him the all-important nudge.

Alvarado continued the story, “We watched racing from the United States, I was like, ‘Wow, I kind of like it.’ Dad say, ‘Let’s try to do it, maybe we can find some help there, get somebody to sign your paper.’ He was the one with the idea.”

Little did he know back then, back in 2012, even, that he would be entering Yankee Stadium as a celebrity. And all because of this fateful 2025 Kentucky Derby glory.