Who will ride Alpha in the Kentucky Derby?

With little more than a week remaining until the Kentucky Derby, most of the leading contenders already have jockeys signed on to ride them. However, one of the biggest, most respected contenders of all still doesn't have a confirmed rider.

That horse would be Alpha. The son of Bernardini won the Withers Stakes (gr. III) and Count Fleet Stakes during the winter, the finished second by a neck in the Wood Memorial (gr. I) while coming off of a two-month layoff. Of all the Derby contenders, this colt has quite possibly the strongest ten-furlong pedigree of them all.

So why is this fine colt still without a rider? The reason is that his regular rider has been Ramon Dominguez, the two-time Eclipse award-winning jockey. Because Dominguez is such a terrific rider, he is in great demand from many people, and he frequently flies around the country to ride top horses in major stakes races. One of his top mounts is Hansen, champion two-year-old male of 2011 and winner of the Gotham Stakes (gr. III) this year. So Dominguez was faced with a major decision: Should he ride Alpha or Hansen in the Kentucky Derby? He chose the latter, leaving Alpha without a jockey.

This leads us to the question posed in the title of this piece: Who will ride Alpha in the Kentucky Derby?

One logical option would be Alan Garcia. The highly talented rider rode Alpha in two races last year, including the Champagne Stakes (gr. I), where the colt ran second to Union Rags. He frequently rides horses for Alpha's trainer, Kiaran McLaughlin, so it would come as a surprise to no one if Garcia gets the mount.

Another logical rider would have been Eddie Castro, who also rides many horses for McLaughlin. However, the jockey has already committed to ride Winter Memories in the Beaugay Stakes (gr. III) at Belmont Park on Derby day, so he is not an option.

Rajiv Maragh could certainly have a shot at securing the mount as well. He galloped Alpha the other day during routine training at Belmont Park, and is coming off of a successful meet at Gulfstream Park, where he won fifty-eight races and over $2 million in purse money. And while I don't know the exact statistics, it seems to me that McLaughlin and Maragh have teamed up fairly often in the past.

Are there any other possible riders? Garcia and Maragh are certainly my two top guesses, but there are plenty of other talented riders out there that could potentially be chosen. Edgar Prado is still without a mount, as is Jose Lezcano. How about Fernando Jara? He and McLaughlin teamed up to win the 2006 Belmont Stakes (gr. I) together with Jazil.

The official announcement as to who will ride Alpha will undoubtedly come during the next few days. After all, entries are taken on Wednesday, and we'll have to know then. My guess is that Alan Garcia will get the mount. What do you think?

-Keelerman