A four-time Eclipse Award winner and a member of racing's Hall of Fame since 2017, Venezuelan native Javier Castellano has won the 2023 George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award via a nationwide vote of his fellow riders.
Castellano, 45, will be honored in a Runhappy Winner's Circle ceremony at Santa Anita this spring. Married to his wife, Abby, Castellano, who immigrated to the United States in June of 1997, has three children, Kayla, Sienna and Brady and is the son-in-law of Terry Meyocks, National Director of the Jockeys' Guild.
Presented annually by Santa Anita since 1950 and one of the most coveted awards in racing, the Woolf Award, which recognizes those riders whose careers and personal character garner esteem for the individual and the sport of Thoroughbred racing, can only be won once.
“I am proud to have been honored and selected to win this incredible award,” said Castellano. “It is one that is obviously prestigious, but to be voted by my fellow riders truly makes this so special. I admire my fellow nominees as well as the other incredible riders that have won this award in years past.
“The significance of this award definitely does not go unnoticed. I have so many people to thank and I look forward to having my family with me to accept this award at Santa Anita.”
Named for the late Hall of Fame jockey who gained national acclaim by winning the inaugural Santa Anita H. on Feb. 23, 1935 aboard Azucar and later by piloting the immortal Seabiscuit to victory over Triple Crown Champion War Admiral in match race at Pimlico Race Course on Nov. 1, 1938, the George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award has been won by most of the greatest names in the history of the sport.
Second all-time only to fellow Hall of Famer John Velazquez, Castellano now has career purse earnings of more than $377 million and through Dec. 31, 2022, had recorded 5,595 career wins.
Red Oak Stable (Stephen P. Brunetti) and Madaket Stable's (Sol Kumin) Mind Control (Stay Thirsty–Feel That Fire, by Lightnin N Thunder) winner of the GI $750,000 Cigar Mile at Aqueduct on Dec. 3 in the final start of his career, will stand at Rockridge Stud in New York under the management of Irish Hill Farm, Dutchess Views Stallions, Hidden Lake Farm and Rockridge Stud. The five-year-old is out of a stakes-winning mare and is priced at $8,500 LFSN.
Mind Control won the GI Hopeful S. as a 2-year-old and the GI H. Allen Jerkens S. as a 3-year-old at Saratoga. “We are excited and looking forward to standing Mind Control at Rockridge Stud,” said Red Oak Stable racing manager Rick Sacco. “There was considerable interest from stud farms in the U.S., Japan and the Middle East, but given that his three Grade I victories were on the NYRA circuit, we believe Rockridge Stud in the state of New York is the perfect place for Mind Control to begin his stallion career.”
“Ultimately, Stephen Brunetti wanted the horse to stand in the U.S. Sol Kumin agreed, a deal was struck with Rockridge Stud, Irish Hill Farm, and Dutchess Views Stallions, and a partnership was formed,” said Sacco.
Mind Control will serve stallion duty as the property of Rockridge Stud, Irish Hill Farm, Dutchess Views Stallions, and Waldorf Farm as well as Red Oak Stable and Madaket Stable.
“This is a significant development for Rockridge Stud, Irish Hill Farm, Dutchess Views Stallions, and for the breeding industry in New York,” added owner/operator Lere Visagie. “Getting this group of partners together to support Mind Control gives us a phenomenal opportunity to make him the most successful stallion to ever stand in the state.”
“I'm extremely proud of everything Mind Control accomplished on the race track,” said Brunetti. “I've been breeding horses for 25 years and he's the best one I've ever bred. From a breeding perspective, Mind Control has excellent conformation and size. He displayed fierce courage, he hails from a strong and active female family, and he won Grade I races from seven furlongs to one mile.”
Mind Control recorded victories in five of his final nine career starts beginning with his win at Belmont Park's $250,000 John A. Nerud Stakes (G2) going seven furlongs July 4, 2021. After his win in the Cigar Mile, Todd Pletcher told NYRA, “It was not only great for him to go out on a win, but for him to do it in the style that defines his character in fighting off challenges from the Florida Derby winner on the inside and the American Pharoah winner on the outside.” “It was three Grade I winners battling it out across the track. Mind Control showed that signature move of his where he puts his head in front and won't be denied.”
Sacco described Mind Control's final career start as almost like a movie ending. “It was a fitting end to his impressive racing career and it was awesome that Johnny V came in from California to ride Mind Control in his final race. We're very proud of the horse, our breeding program, and the Red Oak Farm operation led by Barry Dolan. I just want to congratulate Todd and his entire team and to remember the excellent job my brother Gregg did with Mind Control earlier in his career winning two Grade I races,” concluded Sacco.
Hall of Fame jockey John Velazquez won a pair of races on the opening day of the Bing Crosby meet at Del Mar and his presence is something that Southern California is about to get more used to. The 50-year-old is using his time at Del Mar as a steppingstone to the winter stand at Santa Anita Park, where he plans to ride full time.
“I wanted to get it started here so the trainers and owners know I'm going to be here for the winter,” Velazquez told the Del Mar press office. “Hopefully I'll get the opportunities to ride some real nice horses here and keep me going for the winter.”
Velazquez has ridden with success on the West Coast previously and just last winter, partnered with Bob Baffert to win the GII Sham S. with Newgrange (Violence), the GIII Robert B. Lewis S. with Messier (Empire Maker) and the GIII Las Virgenes S. with Adare Manor (Uncle Mo).
“It's like everything, you have to adjust to wherever you go,” Velazquez says. “Every racetrack has different turns and where the poles are. You have to get used to it and do your homework and hopefully you get some nice horses and they respond to what you like to do. I got lucky [on opening day]; the horses ran really well.”
Velazquez will be aboard Newgate for Baffert in Sunday's GIII Bob Hope S.
John Velazquez wouldn't give a definitive answer on where Gamine (Into Mischief – Peggy Jane, Kafwain) ranks on the list of all-stars the Hall of Fame jockey has been associated with over the years, but he came pretty close.
Asked how the champion sprinter stacks up against a long line of high-class fillies he has ridden to Grade I success, he responded, “She's definitely one of the top ones. Like definitely one or two, I would say.”
That answer is high praise coming from the two-time Eclipse Award-winning jockey, who said that he will never forget Gamine's authoritative way of going or how she could effortlessly switch gears coming down the stretch.
“What I will always remember about Gamine is how powerful she was,” Velazquez reflected. “Her stride and everything she did was so easy. For a horse as fast as she was, she was also really kind. She had a great mind on her and she had a big heart. She would give you everything she could at any time. That's what made her Gamine.”
Together, Gamine and Velazquez raced to five Grade I victories highlighted by a record-setting win in the GI Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Sprint at Keeneland.
Now approaching exactly two years since that day, Gamine is carrying her first foal by Quality Road and in a few weeks, she will sell at the Fasig-Tipton 'Night of the Stars' Sale. There, she will be consigned by Hill 'n' Dale at Xalapa as Hip 289.
Gamine is no stranger to the Fasig-Tipton sales ring. The flashy bay made her first of many headlines there when she topped the 2019 Fasig-Tipton Midlantic 2-Year-Old Sale, selling to Michael Lund.
“Gamine has always been special to us at Fasig-Tipton ever since her breeze at the Timonium Sale,” said Fasig-Tipton's Boyd Browning. “She had one of the co-fastest breezes, working an eighth of a mile in :10 flat, but she looked like she was just galloping. She had a beautiful stride on her and beautiful mechanics. When you went back to the barn to see her, she never turned a hair. She had the class. She had the elegance. I think we all knew that she was poised to do something special in that sales ring.”
Bob Baffert can quickly recall his first encounter with Gamine at that sale. Standing alongside agent Donato Lanni, it took the trainer less than 10 seconds to know he wanted the filly in his barn.
“It's very rare that I have horses that I just look at and see something magic in them,” Baffert said. “Gamine had me at hello. I walked away and told Donato that we needed to call Michael Lund, who was just getting in the business, and tell him he needs to buy this filly. Michael said, 'Well Bob, how far should I go?' And I said these fillies are hard to find. You stop when you own her. He stepped up and she went for $1.8 million. It was incredible.”
Gamine made quick work of justifying her sales price the following year as she completed a near-perfect, Eclipse Award-worthy sophomore campaign. A 'TDN Rising Star' on debut, the brilliant filly took the GI Acorn S. by almost 19 lengths and the GI Test S. by seven before her spectacular Breeders' Cup victory.
“I think history will reflect the fact that Gamine's 2020 racing campaign was one for the ages when you take into consideration not only that she won, but the dominant, brilliant way in which she won,” Browning explained. “She was a horse that when you watched her on the racetrack, she gave you goose bumps. You knew you were watching something special when Gamine broke from the starting gate and got into that poetic motion that she ran with.”
Just as much of a force to be reckoned with at four, Gamine added four more graded victories to her resume including the GI Derby City Distaff S. and the GI Ballerina H. She retired with only two losses in her 11 career starts.
“Gamine was probably the grandest, smartest, kindest and most beautiful filly I ever trained,” her conditioner said. “I would always look forward to watching her run because I knew she was going to 'wow' us and that's what she did.”
Browning said that he believes one of the most remarkable aspects of Gamine's career was that she fulfilled expectations every step of the way.
“The bar has always been set very high to begin with for her and she has always exceeded those expectations, so I think she'll likely do that as a broodmare as well,” he said. “She certainly has the opportunity to be a once-in-a-multigenerational type of opportunity. Gamine has been part of the Fasig-Tipton team since she walked through the sales ring for the first time and we're delighted and honored to have the opportunity to sell her in foal on behalf of Michael Lund this November.”
“She's the whole package,” Baffert said. “She is a generational talent. That's what you need in this business. That's why we always refer to her as Queen Gamine.”
