Long Island ice cream shop sponsoring two jockeys in Saturday's Belmont Stakes

Hildebrandt’s has two chances to win the Triple Crown, so to speak.

The Williston Park ice cream shop, co-owned by Randy Sarf, will be sponsoring jockeys Junior Alvarado and Umberto Rispoli in this Saturday’s 157th running of the Belmont Stakes at Saratoga Race Course.

Rispoli rode Journalism — the 8-5 morning line favorite for the Belmont Stakes — to a victory in the Preakness Stakes on May 17 with “Hildebrandt’s Ice Cream,” on his right leg. Alvarado first brought Sarf’s business to the forefront at the Kentucky Derby on May 3 with a win aboard Sovereignty — who drew 2-1 odds for the Belmont — also sporting the Hildebrandt’s logo.

It’s not a bad return for the longtime horse enthusiast’s first year of jockey sponsorship. Sarf, 55, who grew up in Great Neck and now lives in Mineola, bought his first horse when he was 18 and now has 12. He also hosts The Horse Whisperer podcast, which focuses on jockeys.

“I connected with [Rispoli] through my podcast,” Sarf told Newsday by telephone from Saratoga Springs on Tuesday. “After that, he came in second in the Derby. Junior’s horse decided not to go to the Preakness.

“I was looking to find somebody that was going to win the Preakness and wear the pants and the shirt. So then I hooked up with Umberto, he didn’t have a sponsor for the Preakness because his sponsor, Twin Spires, wasn’t allowed to sponsor in Maryland. So Umberto and I locked in an arrangement and part of the arrangement included the Belmont Stakes Day, as well.”

As a result of the exposure from the Kentucky Derby and Preakness, Sarf said he was invited to set up a Hildebrandt’s ice cream booth at Saratoga Race Course this week.

Sarf would not reveal how much he has paid for each of the sponsorships but said his commitment this year to five sponsorships for multiple jockeys — Long Island-based jockey Manny Franco wore “The Horse Whisperer” branding while finishing eighth aboard East Avenue in the Kentucky Derby — totals “a minimum of six figures.”

But Sarf said Alvarado and Rispoli winning the Triple Crown’s first two legs, respectively, means his investment is paid off.

“I already saw it back, I won the Derby and the Preakness,” Sarf said. “Nothing else needs to happen. It’s no different than a horse winning. When a horse wins the Kentucky Derby, the horse is worth triple. When a horse wins the Derby and the Preakness, it’s worth even more. Now, if I win the third leg? Forget about it. Is it worth six figures, what I’ve done so far? It could be worth seven or eight.”

This marks Sarf’s first year sponsoring jockeys, but it is not a new practice. It is regulated and sponsorship must be approved by each track’s officials.

Notably, jockey Victor Espinoza was fined $15,000 after the 2015 Travers Stakes at Saratoga Race Course for violating New York State Gaming Commission rules and wearing promotional material on his boots and pants without permission as he rode Triple Crown winner American Pharoah. He had a Monster Energy Drink logo on his boots and “Espinoza” on his pant leg.

Two months earlier, Espinoza wore a “Wheels Up” membership logo without issue as he guided American Pharoah to victory at the Belmont Stakes.

Rispoli said he would very much like to see jockey sponsorships become more prevalent.

“I think that would be really helpful for everybody,” Rispoli told Newsday on Monday at the Belmont Stakes post position draw. “I really appreciate what Hildebrandt’s did for me for the Preakness and will do for the Belmont, as well. I think this should be something that, I wouldn’t say should be mandatory, but it would be more easy to attract people to the sport.

“We can use these sponsorships during the big days. When people are watching horse racing. As an athlete, you watch soccer players, NFL players, basketball players, they do commercials. Unfortunately, we [the jockeys] are not there. But I think we are serious athletes.”

Simply put, the sponsorships are an additional revenue stream for the often-underpaid jockeys.

Or, sponsorships can be used to help other jockeys.

“I believe they donate part of that to the PDJF [the Permanently Disabled Jockeys Fund],” Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott, who has Sovereignty in the Belmont Stakes, told Newsday. “The trainers have nothing to do with that. But the fact that they are donating to the disabled jockeys’ fund, I think that benefits all of us.”

“The highest-paid jockey makes, after taxes, a million a year,” Sarf said. “They risk their life every single day. The breeders make billions of dollars [collectively]. They’re not giving any of that money to the jockeys.”

In 2010, an article in the Kentucky Journal of Equine, Agriculture, & Natural Resources Law estimated that jockeys finishing out of the money at the Kentucky Derby pocketed “a couple of hundred dollars apiece.”

By Andrew Gross

andrew.gross@newsday.comAGrossNewsday

Andrew Gross joined Newsday in 2018 to cover the Islanders. He began reporting on the NHL in 2003 and has previously covered the Rangers and Devils. Other assignments have included the Jets, St. John’s and MLB.