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A Classic Season for Castellano

ARCADIA, CA – As Javier Castellano gets ready to ride three mounts on Breeders' Cup Saturday, the recently turned 46-year-old is amidst one of the best years of his career. And it almost never happened.

A pair of Breeders' Cup wins at the 2019 Championships put an exclamation point on the Hall of Famer's eighth straight season with more than $20 million in earnings. But, the year 2020, like it was for so many, was more about overcoming adversity for the native of Venezuela.

Castellano was the first jockey to test positive for COVID-19–he wasn't symptomatic, thankfully–during the beginning of the pandemic in March and was on the sidelines again after undergoing hip surgery at the end of the year.

“It was tough, not just for myself, but for everybody in the world in 2020,” Castellano said. “I only missed three months. And it seemed like it was forever.”

Castellano returned to action in 2021, but wasn't exactly welcomed back with open arms. Competing in pound for pound the deepest jockey colony in the nation in New York, Castellano rode 105 winners that season, good for $9,804,024 in earnings. After going just 13-for-142 at the prestigious Saratoga meeting, Castellano's career was suddenly at a crossroads.

Javier Castellano entered the Hall of Fame in 2017 | Horsephotos

“I was devastated. I was ready to give up,” said Castellano, a winner of four straight Eclipse Awards as Outstanding Jockey between 2013-16. “I just came back from everything and people didn't give me an opportunity. One moment I thought, 'I think this is it. I can't keep doing what I'm doing.' I was really really depressed.”

He continued, “They didn't care about who you are or what you did in the past. It's amazing. I was a Hall of Fame rider, a four-time leading jockey in the nation in back-to-back years, had six Travers then, 12 Breeders' Cups and won more than 5,000 races. And it didn't mean anything. You have to prove yourself and that you belong.”

Castellano picked himself up off the mat and hired longtime former racing official P.J. Campo to handle his book. He began to right the ship with 163 victories in 2022. By comparison, Castellano rode a total of 212 winners combined the previous two years.

How did he power his way through?

“Mentally, I had to be strong,” said Castellano, a married father of three. “A lot of discipline and dedication. Do the homework every single day. Regroup and try to be very positive.”

The momentum began to build for Castellano after he won three races on Saratoga's opening day card that summer.

“In 2022, we started rolling a little bit in Saratoga,” Castellano said. “I also went out of town for the right people and won some races. I knock a little bit and the door began to open a little here and there.”

Castellano is no longer the one doing the knocking this year.

He put to bed an 0-for-15 mark on the first Saturday in May with a 15-1 upset aboard Mage (Good Magic) in the GI Kentucky Derby, and, just five weeks later, secured his first GI Belmont S. victory with Arcangelo (Arrogate). Castellano became the first jockey to win two Triple Crown races on two different horses in the same year since Calvin Borel did so in 2009. He's won 16 graded races so far this year, including seven at the top level.

“Thank God, I've been very blessed and very fortunate to have one of the best years of my career,” Castellano said. “It was a great achievement to win the Kentucky Derby and the Belmont Stakes, two Triple Crown races in the same year. I was always missing something on my resume.”

With Castellano's two Classic winners on a collision course this summer, he stuck with the recently retired Arcangelo, who followed up with a convincing win in the GI Travers S., the rider's record seventh victory in the 'Mid-Summer Derby.' The gray, unfortunately, was scratched from the Breeders' Cup Classic–a race Castellano won aboard the sensational Ghostzapper in 2004–earlier this week after developing a foot issue.

Javier Castellano celebrates aboard Ghostzapper following the 2004 Classic | Horsephotos

“He gave me an opportunity to regroup in my career, and, in my life, and enjoy these beautiful moments with my family,” Castellano said.

As for Arcangelo missing the Classic and now off to begin his career at stud at Lane's End, he said, “This is hard, but one decision I fully support. Arcangelo is safe and sound and that's all I can really think about. He has given me so much and I'm so blessed to have been part of the team.”

Castellano's mounts on Saturday's Championship program at Santa Anita include: GI Beverly D. S. winner and E.P. Taylor S. winner Fev Rover (Ire) (Gutaifan {Ire}) in the GI Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf; GII American Turf S. winner and narrow GI Saratoga Derby Invitational S. runner-up Webslinger (Constitution) in the GII Twilight Derby; and Time for Trouble (English Channel) in the 1 5/8-mile GII Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance S.

“It could be a good example for anybody,” Castellano concluded. “You never give up. When you want something in life, you have to work for it. When you work for it, you get it.”

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HOF Rider Jerry Bailey Talks Jim Dandy And More On Writers’ Room

It was a good week to have a Hall of Fame jockey on the TDN Writers' Room, presented by Keeneland, as the Green Group Guest of the Week and especially to have that jockey be Jerry Bailey, who knows a thing or two about analyzing a race for an audience. Bailey pulled no punches when asked about whether or not he felt Forte (Violence) should have been disqualified in the Jim Dandy Saturday at Saratoga.

“I thought it was a bad call,” said Bailey. “I thought he was the best horse in the race, but I thought he should have come down. The rules of racing state that even if you are not clear of somebody and you change paths and you interfere with their progress, which you clearly did, then you should be disqualified. I mean, if you look at the chart, even the chart says he forced his way out. I'm paraphrasing here, `repeatedly bumping with the outside horse.' And then he came back in and it was negligent. So, yeah, I thought he should have come down.”

Bailey said that the danger went beyond this one race. “Look, you want a safer product out on the track as you can possibly get for both horse and rider. And I'll tell you from experience, I went through it myself. I won't name the riders, but there were two or three in New York that the stewards let get carried away and go over the line repeatedly, and then the line gets farther and farther away and it gets more severe. And what happens is the riders take it into their own hands. If the stewards are not policing the riders and enforcing the rules, then the riders are left to police themselves. And that is not a good situation.”

Bailey also relived his exploits on Cigar, his Derby wins on Sea Hero and Grindstone, and told tales about his days in the jocks' room.

Elsewhere on the Writers' Room, also sponsored by Stonestreet, NYRA Bets, Lane's End Farm, XBTV, WinStar Farm, West Point Thoroughbreds, and the Pennsylvania Horse Breeders, Randy Moss, Zoe Cadman and T.D. Thornton discussed (what else?) the Jim Dandy non-DQ, and the other big races of the weekend, previewed the upcoming Test, Whitney, and Saratoga Derby at Saratoga as well as the Clement L. Hirsch at Del Mar, and discussed the top news stories. Those included Jason Servis's four-year prison sentence, Santa Anita's decisions on improvement expenditures in light of the closing of Golden Gate, and HISA's policy change on provisional suspensions.

To watch the Writers' Room, click here. To view the show as a podcast, click here.

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Jockeys and Jeans to Hold Fundraiser at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas

Jockeys and Jeans is set to host its ninth annual fundraiser at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas on Saturday, June 24 at 7 p.m. Attendees will have the opportunity to mix and mingle with a host of Hall of Fame Jockeys, enjoy a seated dinner, and bid on unique racing memorabilia and other valuable prizes in both a silent and live auction.

“This year's event represents an historic step in our evolution,” said Jockeys and Jeans President Barry Pearl. “We hope to set a record for funds raised at a horse racing related charity event. This will also be our first event not held at a thoroughbred track, but all the folks at Caesars Palace are experts at hosting events and are going full tilt boogie to make sure ours is a huge success.”

He continued, “We will also soon announce our a 'Man of the Year.' It will be a person known worldwide to bettors and horsemen alike and one whose speech will draw increased interest in the cause for safety in our sport as well as helping racing's fallen heroes.”

The inaugural event raised $23,000 and in the seven subsequent events and yearly stallion season sales, Jockeys and Jeans has raised a total of $2.6 million. All event proceeds go to the PDJF, a charity that pays a $1,000 monthly stipend to some 60 former jockeys who suffered career ending injuries.

For tickets, call 855-234-7469 or go online to www.ticketmaster.com.

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‘I Just Need The Opportunity’: Determined Castellano Making Gulfstream Winter Home Again

Five winters have passed since his reign as the Championship Meet's dominant rider came to an end, but Hall of Famer Javier Castellano still comes to South Florida with the same level of enthusiasm.

This year, he also comes with a message.

“I need to have the opportunity and that's what I'm looking for: building the relationship with the trainers and hoping they give me the opportunity and they support me a little bit,” Castellano said. “I know how to do this. I know how to win races. I know how to get it done. I just need the opportunity from the trainers and I'm not going to let them down.”

No one won more races at Gulfstream Park than Castellano during a five-year span between 2011-12 and 2015-16, when he led the jockey standings with an average of 114 wins and set a then-record 132 in 2013-14. The mark has been surpassed twice since, by Luis Saez (137) in 2017-18 and Irad Ortiz Jr. (140) last year.

Besides Castellano, only three other riders have led the jockey standings as many as three consecutive years – Ortiz (2018-19 to 2020-21), Jorge Chavez (1999-2001) and Jeff Fell (1977-79). Ortiz will be back this year looking to make it four straight.

“I'm very excited. I feel like Gulfstream is my home. I've had a lot of success at Gulfstream,” Castellano, 44, said. “Five titles in a row is a great achievement. I'm very lucky and fortunate to be in that spot.”

Castellano got off to a late start at last winter's Championship Meet after having arthroscopic surgery to clean up some debris in his right leg, near the hip, last November. He didn't ride between Nov. 15 at Aqueduct and his Feb. 17 return at Gulfstream, finishing with 15 wins and $599,560 in purses from just 66 mounts. Among his victories was the March 27 Ghostzapper (G3) aboard Eye of a Jedi, a race named for the Hall of Fame horse that helped launch Castellano's career to new heights.

“It took a while to recover. That's what they predicted. The doctor told me I had to be out for three or four months. I was out three months and a half and came back to ride late at Gulfstream,” Castellano said. “It's been a long year for myself. Thank God I still win a lot of races … and I had a couple of Grade 1 winners, but not competitive with past years for me. I think it's partly the momentum [after] the surgery, building up a little bit of my business again.”

Castellano gave brief consideration to staying in New York for the winter, but ultimately decided to follow the blueprint that has proven successful for many years.

“I feel like that's the best way to do it. Thinking about more in the future, building my business and my relationship with trainers and look toward the spring and the summer and those big races,” Castellano said. “The only way you can build a relationship [and] be loyal with them is to go with the flow with the horses. When the horses go to Florida, I want to follow the horses and hopefully those maiden races help get the momentum building [and] the relationship with those trainers.

“I think that's the best way to go. Why do I need to change something that's been working for many years for myself?” he added. “I thought about it and I made my mind up that that's the way to go, that it's supposed to be like that. Go to Florida and ride the good horses.”

South Florida is where Castellano first landed when he came to the U.S. in 1997 and rode his first domestic winner before moving to the New York circuit in 2001. In the midst of his Eclipse run he set single-season career highs of 362 wins in 2013 and a then-record $28.1 million in purse earnings in 2015.

One new wrinkle at the Championship Meet is the addition of all-weather Tapeta to the dirt and turf courses, making Gulfstream the only track in North America to race on three different surfaces.

“I'm excited because we have a new surface with the [all-weather] track. It's an opportunity for those horses to develop and I think I have more options,” Castellano said. “In New York, unfortunately, in the winter, we don't have turf racing and we don't have synthetic. We have only one dimension and it's racing on the dirt, and you don't know how the weather's going to be. They only race four days a week.

“Hopefully we can find a nice 3-year-old to have for the year,” he added. ““I'm looking forward big time for this winter at Gulfstream. Gulfstream is amazing because that's where I started riding horses when I first came to this country. It opened the door for me. It gave me the opportunity and look where I am now more than 20 years later.”

Castellano has won the Preakness (G1) twice, the Travers (G1) a record six times and 12 Breeders' Cup races. He (2013-16) and fellow Hall of Famer Jerry Bailey (2000-03) are the only jockeys to win four consecutive Eclipse Awards as champion rider. Castellano ranks second all-time with more than $364 million in purses earned and has won more than 5,400 races.

Inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2017, Castellano owns 463 career graded-stakes victories. Nine of them have come this year, including the Acorn (G1) and Joe Hirsch Turf Classic (G1).

“You always have to compete and you always have to work hard. I don't take anything for granted. Unfortunately I had a bump in the road in my career with the surgery but I've put it behind me. I feel 100 percent. The reason I did the surgery is because I want to extend my career. I want to ride more years ahead and the only way I can do that is to refresh my body and take care of my body. I'm looking ahead to another five, six, seven years, maybe 10. Who knows?” Castellano said. “I love this game and I love to keep doing what I'm doing. I love racing and I'm trying to enjoy it.”

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