SARATOGA SPRINGS – It was hard to tell who was happier, jockey Junior Alvarado of Garden City after winning his first Belmont Stakes or Hildebrandt’s co-owner Randy Sarf after the Williston Park ice cream shop sponsored the winning rider in each Triple Crown race.
“It’s been very special,” said Alvarado, who wore a Hildebrandt’s logo on his leg while guiding Kentucky Derby-winner Sovereignty to a three-length win on Saturday and wore a Hildebrandt’s hat during his post-race press conference. “I’ve been in a very good ride with (trainer Bill) Mott and (owner) Godolphin. It’s been surreal. My first Kentucky Derby. My first Belmont Stakes. I don’t think it gets better than this.”
Jockey Umberto Rispoli also wore a Hildebrandt’s logo as he rode Journalism to a second-place finish after winning the Preakness.
Sarf, 55, who grew up in Great Neck and now lives in Mineola, is in his first year of sponsoring jockeys, though he bought his first horse when he was 18 and now has 12. He told Newsday this week his sponsorship investment totals “six figures.”
“I’m speechless for words,” Sarf told Newsday via text message after Saturday’s race. “My family just wanted the Triple Crown of branding and brought new meaning to the game of horse racing for these jockeys to be put in the spotlight with one of the biggest brands of ice cream out there right now.”
Fox also interviewed Sarf during its Belmont Stakes broadcast.
Texted Sarf, “I’m more happy for Junior than anything else.”
Notes & quotes: Raging Torrent, an 8-1 choice, held off 3-4 favorite Fierceness over a mile in the Grade 1 $1 million Hill ‘N’ Dale Metropolitan Handicap to earn an automatic bid to the Grade 1 $1 million Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile on Nov. 1 in Del Mar, California…Saturday morning’s hard rain kept racing off the two turf courses so four were moved to the main track and two Grade 1 stakes – the $500,000 Jaipur and the $1 million Resorts World Casino Manhattan – were postponed to Sunday…The attendance was 46,243.
