Daily Racing Form National Digital Edition
Albarado finds serenity now
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Robby Albarado thought he had it won. Charging down the center of the Saratoga main track aboard Mambo in Seattle in the 2008 Travers Stakes, Albarado hooked up with Colonel John and Garrett Gomez inside the eighth pole, and the horses were inseparable for the last sixteenth of a mile.
After the two colts hit the wire, Albarado raised his whip triumphantly, thinking he had nailed Colonel John on the money. The photo showed a different result.
“I’m still not over that one yet,” Albarado said recently. “Look at the photo finish of that race. My horse’s body was in front of his, my body was in front of Gomez’s; everything was in front but the nose.”
Albarado has ridden in only one Travers since then, finishing eighth aboard Golden Soul in 2013. On Saturday, Albarado gets another chance to win Saratoga’s most prestigious race when he rides Grade 1 Haskell winner Girvin in the 148th Travers. Girvin drew post 6 of 12 in the Grade 1, $1.25 million Travers, which attracted Kentucky Derby winner Always Dreaming, Preakness winner Cloud Computing, and Belmont Stakes winner Tapwrit.
“I love him – love him – going into the weekend,” Albarado said shortly after he worked Girvin last Saturday at Saratoga. “You have to the way he’s training. I don’t know how the rest of them are training, but I like our spot. I wouldn’t want to trade spots.”
Albarado, 43, comes into the Travers feeling as good physically and mentally as he has in a while. Albarado has been riding for 2 1/2 months since a broken leg sustained in April forced him to miss 6 1/2 weeks and the ride on Girvin in the Kentucky Derby. Girvin finished eighth in the Derby under Mike Smith.
“Physically, I feel the best I’ve felt in a long time,” Albarado said. “The more injuries I get, the more conscious I am of my health for some reason.”
Mentally, Albarado said he’s at peace after some rocky times when he got into domestic disputes with his first wife and then a girlfriend. Charges were dismissed in the case involving his now ex-wife. Initially, Albarado was fined $500 in the second case, but that was overturned on appeal.
Albarado is remarried, and he and second wife Paige have a 14-month-old son, Liam. Albarado has three children from his first marriage.
“I’m more at peace,” Albarado said. “You fight all these personal things. You think, ‘I can get over them,’ but they bother you. I got a lot of peace at home. My personal life is going good; it translates over to work. I’m in a good spot.
“My first few kids, I was chasing my career. I was trying to get going and establish myself. It seems like it’s different with this one. I’m home a lot with him, I enjoy my time with him. Before, I’d go off and do things I probably shouldn’t have done when I could have been home with them. This is different. I spend as much time as I can with him. It’s great. And the support I have from my wife – we got together at probably the worst time of my life and my career. She stuck with me. She had a chance to run, and she didn’t.”
Some of Albarado’s biggest supporters on the track didn’t run away, either. Trainer Dale Romans has stuck with Albarado and has him on some of his best 2-year-olds, including Dak Attack, whom Albarado rode to victory in last Sunday’s Ellis Park Juvenile, and Free Drop Billy and Hollywood Star, both of whom finished second in graded stakes at this meet.
“He’s very confident right now, and maybe that makes you peaceful,” Romans said. “He should be. I think he’s one of, if not the best, rider in the country, in my opinion. He’s right there with the best. He’s got the experience, the age, and if you talk to any of these older jockeys, they’ll tell you the same thing. He was nominated for the Hall of Fame, and he eventually will be in. He should be, anyway.”
Albarado has 5,069 career victories, ranking 31st all time, and is one of 14 riders to have amassed more than $200 million in purse money.
In the spring, Albarado hired a new agent, Ron Ebanks, who has instilled even more confidence in him.
“He’s got me thinking I can win every damn race I ride, whether I can or not,” Albarado said. “If you believe you can, you do. It’s a good feeling to have somebody believe in you.”
Albarado certainly believes in Girvin. He was supposed to ride him in the Derby after Brian Hernandez Jr. elected to ride McCraken. Albarado didn’t ride Girvin until the Haskell at Monmouth, where he rallied from last to run down McCraken in the final jump and win by a nose. The way Girvin finished that nine-furlong race gives Albarado confidence that the colt can get the 1 1/4 miles of the Travers.
“He’s going to stay,” Albarado said. “If the Haskell was another eighth of a mile … he was getting better and better at the wire.”
Just how confident is Albarado in Girvin? At Tuesday’s post-position draw, Joe Sharp, the trainer of Girvin, texted Albarado that the colt drew post 6.
Sharp said Albarado texted back, “All we need is a place in the gate. He’s ready, and so am I.”
The Travers field, in postposition order and with riders and morning-line odds, is: Cloud Computing (Javier Castellano, 8-1), Giuseppe the Great (Tyler Gaffalione, 20-1), West Coast (Mike Smith, 4-1), Tapwrit (Jose Ortiz, 7-2), Good Samaritan (Joel Rosario, 5-1), Girvin (Albarado, 10-1), Always Dreaming (John Velazquez, 6-1), Lookin At Lee (Ricardo Santana Jr., 30-1), McCraken (Hernandez, 12-1), Irap (Mario Gutierrez, 8-1), Gunnevera (Edgard Zayas, 20-1), and Fayeq (Luis Saez, 30-1).
The Travers will go as race 11 on a 13-race card that begins at 11:35 a.m. Eastern and will be broadcast live on NBC during a 90-minute broadcast that begins at 4:30 p.m.