Alvarado will miss Florida Derby with shoulder injury

Junior Alvarado will be sidelined for three weeks after injuring his shoulder blade in a racing accident at Gulfstream Park on Sunday.

Alvarado was named to ride Sovereignty in Saturday's Grade 1 Florida Derby.

His agent, Mike Sellito, confirmed a Daily Racing Form report that Alvarado has a hairline fracture in his scapula. The accident occurred in Sunday's 10th race at Gulfstream, where Alvarado was riding Term, a 4-year-old gelding, in a maiden special weight race. The horse fell entering the backstretch, according to the Equibase chart. DRF reported that he had a fatal heart attack. As Avarado was seeing to his mount, he was hit by another horse.

Alvarado has ridden Sovereignty in all four of his starts. The Godolphin homebred by Into Mischief got his first win in the Street Sense (G3) at Churchill Downs in October then won the Fountain of Youth (G2) on March 1 in his only start this year. He was the 8-5 morning-line favorite for the Florida Derby.

Selitto told DRF that trainer Bill Mott would meet with Godolphin officials Tuesday to discuss a new rider for Saturday.

Alvarado was in fifth place among Gulfstream jockeys during the current meet, with 41 wins from 243 starts.