BY GULFSTREAM PARK PRESS OFFICE (Edited)
HALLANDALE BEACH, FL – Mrs. Candace O, a 4-year-old Daredevil filly making her third career start, came with a late run down the center of the track to catch fellow longshot Loyalist in mid-stretch and draw off to win Race 5 Sunday at Gulfstream Park, giving Jose Alvarado his first career training victory.
Sent off at 13-1 under jockey Heriberto Figueroa, Mrs. Candace O covered a mile-and-70 yards on the all-weather course in 1:43.42 to win the maiden claimer for fillies and mares 3-years-old and older by a length-and-three-quarters.
Mrs. Candace O paid $28.40 to win.
“It’s exciting,” Alvarado said. “We needed it. It came a good time for us, so it’s good.”
Mrs. Candace O was the eighth starter for Alvarado, 39, a native of the Dominican Republic whose father, Juan, formerly trained for Ocala, Fla.-based Arindel and won Grade 3 stakes with Clapton, Key Biscayne and millionaire Octane.
“I came here young with my dad back in the Calder days,” Alvarado said. “I’ve always been involved with my dad’s training. I worked for Fred Warren, the late David Brownlee and I worked for Arindel. We’ve been around.”
Jose Alvarado’s first starter came April 19, 2025 when In the Blue ran eighth at Tampa Bay Downs. He ran two more horses last year and has five starters this year, the last three with Ms. Candace O at Gulfstream.
Bred in Florida by Bridlewood Farm, who co-owns the filly with Alvarado, Ms. Candace O ran sixth in debut sprinting five-and-a-half furlongs on the synthetic course on May 31 and was last of five in a six-and-a-half-furlong maiden special weight June 27 over the main track. She broke from the rail Sunday and was unhurried early but closed to within a head at the top of the stretch until soaring past in the lane.
She is out of Bode’s Express, by Bodemeister and now has $18,010 in earnings from her three starts.
“I thought she had a good shot,” Alvarado said. “The distance, the stretching out was going to help her a lot. She kind of doesn’t like to be rushed, and I thought the dropdown would hopefully wake her up today.”
Alvarado is based at the Ocala Horse Farm Complex where he said he currently has two horses and a mare in foal.
“A friend of mine introduced me to the guys at Bridlewood and they gave me an opportunity to train their horses,” he said. “I’m very grateful.”
Return to the July 28 issue of Wire to Wire
