Javier Castellano | Horse Racing Free Tips

Therideofalifetime, Pico D’Oro Chasing Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Berth In Saturday’s Iroquois

The Road to the 2021 Kentucky Derby will begin Saturday afternoon when 10 2-year-olds go to the post for the Grade 3 Iroquois Stakes at Churchill Downs.

The Iroquois offers 17 points toward the 2021 Run for the Roses on a 10-4-2-1 scale to the top four finishers, as well as an expenses-paid berth to the Breeders' Cup Juvenile at Keeneland in early November.

Topping the entries is Stephen Fidel's Therideofalifetime, runner-up in the Saratoga Special (GII) in his most recent start. Trained by Ignacio Correas IV, Therideofalifetime will be ridden by Florent Geroux and break from post position 10.

Also figuring to draw support is Sandin Syndicate Stable's Pico d'Oro.

Trained by Bill Morey, Pico d'Oro won the Ellis Park Juvenile last month in his most recent start that served as his maiden-breaking score. Javier Castellano has the mount and will break from post position seven.

The field for the Iroquois, with riders and weights from the rail out, is: Drop Anchor (Brian Hernandez Jr., 118 pounds), Sittin On Go (Corey Lanerie, 118), Super Stock (Ricardo Santana Jr., 120), Ultimate Badger (Joe Talamo, 118), Dreamer's Disease (Miguel Mena, 118), Belafonte (Declan Cannon, 118), Pico d'Oro (Castellano, 120), Midnight Bourbon (Gerardo Corrales, 118), Crazy Shot (Edgar Morales, 118) and Therideofalifetime (Geroux, 118).

The Iroquois will go as Race 10 with a post of 4:07 p.m.

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Win Win Win Strikes Gold In Forego With Last-To-First Rally

Despite a heavy downpour of rain just minutes before post time, Win Win Win did just that, coming from well off the pace and passing five rivals through an assertive stretch run to take the 41st running of the seven-furlong Grade 1, $300,000 Forego presented by America's Best Racing at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, N.Y.

Owned by Charlotte Weber's Live Oak Plantation and trained by Mike Trombetta, Win Win Win, a 4-year-old son of Hat Trick, arrived off a runner-up finish to fellow Forego contender Complexity in a one mile allowance optional claiming tilt on July 2 at Belmont Park.

Breaking from post 7, Win Win Win was initially last in the 11-horse field, 16 1/4 lengths off the pace as Complexity dueled up front alongside True Timber through an opening quarter-mile in 22.28 seconds and a half in 44.63 over the sloppy and sealed main track.

Around the far turn, Hall of Fame jockey Javier Castellano engaged his charge at the three-eighths pole while Complexity and True Timber continued their upfront battle. At the top of the stretch, Castellano angled Win Win Win, still last, nine wide and in pursuit as Complexity established a one-length lead with True Timber still fighting to the inside and Funny Guy putting in a bid to the outside. In the final strides to the wire, Win Win Win found a new gear and powered home a half-length winner in a final time of 1:21.71.

Win Win Win at the wire in the Forego

Castellano, who scored his first Forego victory since piloting Mass Media to victory in 2005, picked up the mount aboard Win Win Win in his last out runner-up effort and said that his first time aboard the son of Hat Trick was a learning experience.

“What an amazing horse. I'm truly honored to ride the horse and very blessed with the way everything went,” Castellano said. “He was very far back and made a huge run to win the race. Not too many horses can do that. He did it and in a nice way. He's a really nice horse. I rode him last time at Belmont and he didn't break out of the gate. I rushed to get the spot I was looking for and didn't have the best result. I think I learned through that experience and today it paid off with a Grade 1 win in the Forego.”

Complexity finished another three-quarters of a length to True Timber, who garnered graded stakes black type for the eighth time in his career.

Rounding out the order of finish were Funny Guy, Lexitonian, Everfast, 2018 Forego winner Whitmore, Mind Control, Majestic Dunhill, Fortin Hill and Firenze Fire.

The victory was a first graded stakes triumph for Win Win Win, who was a stakes winner on dirt and turf. Last January, he won the Pasco at Tampa Bay Downs and broke the track record for seven-furlongs finishing the race in 1:20.89 and capped off his 3-year-old campaign with a victory in his turf debut in the Manila over the Widener turf last July at Belmont Park.

Trombetta had been anxious to get his horse back to the seven-furlong distance over the main track and was thrilled to see him display such an effort.

“It's a distance he likes, but he doesn't have the best gate speed,” Trombetta said. “The way this track has been playing, it's very hard to close. Well, what he did, I haven't seen the whole meet.”

Trombetta said he was a bit concerned when Win Win Win was so far back.

“I honestly don't know what to say; he dropped so far back, and his chicklet and number actually went off the screen and I couldn't even see across the track,” Trombetta said. “I thought he was absolutely out of the race and might not have had a chance to even finish. But then turning for home, he came back on the screen. It's just unbelievable.”

Win Win Win was off the board in last year's Grade 1 Kentucky Derby and Grade 1 Preakness Stakes and Trombetta said that he had shorter races in the back of his mind for a while.

“It's been on my mind for a long time,” Trombetta said. “We got caught up in the Triple Crown, for which he made a good run at it. We tried him on the grass, and he won there. He's just a good horse. These races are a little hard to find, but he certainly deserves it.”

Returning $16.20 for a $2 win bet, Win Win Win enhanced his consistent lifetime record to 12-5-3-1 and his earnings past the half-million dollar mark to $601,600.

Live racing resumes on Sunday at Saratoga with an 11-race card which features the Grade 3, $125,000 Shuvee going 1 1/8 miles for older fillies and mares on the main track. First post is 1:10 p.m.

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Caracaro Continues Kentucky Derby Preparations

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – With a mix of optimism and respect, trainer Gustavo Delgado and his son and assistant, Gustavo Delgado Jr., have gone about their primary task of the summer: preparing Caracaro (Uncle Mo) of the GI Kentucky Derby.

The Delgados are based in South Florida at Gulfstream Park West, but brought Caracaro to Saratoga Race Course in July with the goal of earning enough qualifying points to make the 20-horse Derby. Following second-place finishes in the GIII Peter Pan S. July 16 and the Aug. 8 GI Travers S., a colt who was injured in the winter and away from the races for about six months, is 10th on the Derby leaderboard at 60 points.

With the mission accomplished of just getting a position in the Derby field, the Delgados face the challenge of tangling once again with Tiz the Law (Constitution), the GI Belmont S. winner and likely Derby favorite. At the very least, they know Tiz the Law rather well. Caracaro was second to him in the Travers–5 1/2 lengths behind the New York-bred who was throttled-down in the stretch–and they have seen him in training over Saratoga’s main track. Without question, Tiz the Law’s Travers left them realistic about the test facing them at Churchill Down Sept. 5.

“The last race showed who the real horse was,” said Delgado, Jr., who often serves as the barn’s spokesman. “The races before he was just winning, but the last one was impressive.”

Delgado said that jockey Manny Franco had Tiz the Law “cantering to the line” in the Travers, which turned out to be the fifth-fastest time in the history of the race.

“Before, we all thought he’s a good horse,” Delgado Jr. said. “Now we’re talking about something else, like a real good one, in my opinion.”

A moment later, he agreed with the suggestion that Tiz the Law might even be a great horse.

Delgado Jr. said that Caracaro, co-owned by Global Thoroughbred and Top Racing, belongs in the Derby and that his connections see him as a contender. The colt ran second in his debut at Gulfstream Park Dec. 8 then broke his maiden by six lengths Jan. 11. There were offers to buy him as a Derby prospect after the victory, but he had to be taken out of training when a vet exam revealed an issue in his rear end. The Peter Pan was his return to competition and he was quite game despite the lengthy layoff, battling with Country Grammer (Tonalist) in the stretch before finishing second by a neck. While never a threat to win the Travers, he finished well after a wide trip. Delgado Jr. said a top-four finish in the Derby with jockey Javier Castellano is realistic and that from what he and his father can see the colt is still developing.

“This is the third time off the layoff and they usually run well the third, the fourth time. If he keeps improving he’s going to be tough,” he said. “Obviously, Tiz the Law is the main guy. If he doesn’t show up for any reason, we might be ready.”

In Delgado Jr.’s assessment, Caracaro sits in a group of five or six capable Derby horses behind Tiz the Law. Caracaro worked five furlongs in 1:01.02 Saturday over the wet main track at Saratoga and will have his final breeze this weekend before shipping to Kentucky.

“He is a good horse. Just the other one is better than him now,” Delgado Jr. said. “You pull out Tiz the Law, I tell you, I am not afraid of any of the others. It’s the Derby. Twenty horses. We’ve seen it before.”

Caracaro has thrived with his training and racing in Saratoga, Delgado Jr. said, providing some perspective.

“He’s getting fitter, lighter. He had too much weight that he is losing progressively in a good way. He’s more fit. He’s more tight. Before the Peter Pan, you could tell in the paddock he was like this,” Delgado said, spreading his arms to illustrate width. “He looked way fatter than the other horses. He didn’t look fit in the Peter Pan.

He continued, “You realize that once you are in the paddock and you can turn to the other horses. Sometimes when you see them train, you see them every day, you don’t notice the difference. But once you are in the paddock and you look and compare them to the other ones, you are like, ‘Oh, he’s a little chubby.'”

Though Delgado Jr. was clear that Tiz the Law is the horse to beat in the Derby, he pointed to the reality that there are no guarantees in the sport.

“There is still a lot of time. They have a plane to catch,” he said. “Trust me, the pressure is on them. They have the best horse in the race. The pressure is on them.”

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Mike Smith, Irad Ortiz To Ride At Kentucky Downs For The First Time In 2020

Kentucky Downs' deep jockey colony is getting even deeper for the six-date run of all-grass racing that offers among the richest purses in the world.

The RUNHAPPY Meet at Kentucky Downs kicks off on Labor Day, Sept. 7 and continues on Sept. 9, 10, 12, 13 and 16.

Kentucky Downs leads North America in average field size, and this meet figures to lead 2020 in the number of world-class jockeys riding those horses. The track will be the laser focus of American racing after Saratoga and Del Mar close on Labor Day, with New York's Belmont Park not opening until Sept. 18 and California's Santa Anita Park opening Sept. 19. Averaging $2 million a day in purses, Kentucky Downs is luring the most accomplished riders from New York and California along with the already deep Kentucky colony.

Nine of America's top 10 riders by 2020 purse earnings will be at Kentucky Downs (in order of purse ranking): Irad Ortiz, Joel Rosario, Tyler Gaffalione, Luis Saez, Ricardo Santana, Flavien Prat, Jose Ortiz, Javier Castellano and Florent Geroux. The top seven riders in victories at Saratoga heading into Thursday's racing are all confirmed for at least part of the meet.

“We already had one of the most talented riding colonies in the world, but this year it's going to be absolutely incredible,” said Ted Nicholson, Kentucky Downs' senior vice president and general manager. “It's not only our lucrative purses, but because we have averaged about 11 horses a race in recent years, there are lots of opportunities for riders instead of just a handful of jockeys dominating. At $2 million in average daily purses, you don't even have to win for coming here to be a profitable venture. Plus, jockeys tell me just how much fun it is to ride this course as a change of pace from always turning left around an oval.”

Among the top riders participating at Kentucky Downs for the first time will be Hall of Famer Mike Smith, two-time defending Eclipse Award-winning jockey Irad Ortiz, rising California star Umberto Rispoli and Joe Talamo, who relocated from California to Kentucky this year. In addition, Hall of Famers John Velazquez and Castellano, who between them have ridden only a handful of races at Kentucky Downs, will ride the entire meet after coming to Kentucky for Churchill Downs' rescheduled Derby Week.

After Saratoga's summer meet ends Labor Day, Irad Ortiz, two-time Kentucky Downs defending riding champion Jose Ortiz and Rosario will ride the remaining five days. Jose Ortiz, who will be riding for the fourth year at Kentucky Downs, said during last year's meet that he's been urging his brother Irad to fit Kentucky Downs into his annual circuit.

“He really wants to go,” said Jose Ortiz, who said Irad missed last year's meet because of a suspension for a riding infraction. “He said he'd like to ride the track. I was telling him how it is: Uphill, downhill, long stretch.”

Smith, who will ride at Kentucky Downs for the first time in his Hall of Fame career, is coming in for the Sept. 12 showcase Calumet Farm Day card to ride turf sprint standout Jolie Olimpica in the $500,000, Grade 3 Real Solution Ladies Sprint for trainer Richard Mandella, who likewise is running horses at America's most unique race meet for the first time.

Smith could ride additional days as his business dictates. Nominations to all Kentucky Downs' stakes closed Wednesday, Aug. 26.

“I'm excited about getting the opportunity to ride there,” said Smith, whose only prior visit to Kentucky Downs came in 2018 to sign posters commemorating his Triple Crown victory aboard Justify. “I've never ridden there. I love going over to Europe to ride, and the course at Kentucky Downs is so much of a European racetrack. I thought it was a beautiful track. It was my first time to see it in person and not just on TV. I thought I was back in Ireland or something.”

Rispoli, a two-time champion in his native Italy, started riding full-time in California this year after being based in Hong Kong. He's battling Flavien Prat for leading rider at this Del Mar meet. Prat, Del Mar's reigning summer titlist along with earning Santa Anita's winter-spring crown, will start riding at Kentucky Downs Sept. 9, with Rispoli at the track at least Sept. 12 and 13, their agents said.

Velazquez' only prior experience at Kentucky Downs was a pair of off-the-board finishes in 2018. His new agent, Ron Anderson, plans to change that.

“I'm anticipating winning some races with him — and Joel,” said Anderson, also the agent for Rosario, who rode three of five days at Kentucky Downs last year. “They've got to be on the right horse. If they're not, it's my fault.

“I think I've got action for both riders.”

Castellano rode at Kentucky Downs for the first time last year to great effect, with two wins and two seconds in five starts. “I'm looking forward to it,” he said of riding all six days this year.

As soon as the New York Racing Association announced the delayed start to Belmont's fall meet, Kiaran McLaughlin got to work securing business for Kentucky Downs. McLaughlin left his long-time training career in April to become the agent for Saez. The jockey rode two days at Kentucky Downs in 2018, including winning Dueling Ground Derby with Channel Cat, and one day last year. He'll be riding the final five days this year.

“It just made too much sense to go,” McLaughlin said. “It's an opportunity to ride for some very nice purses, and we're not missing anything at Belmont.”

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