‘Riding Horses Is What I Know’: Jesus Castanon Named Tampa’s Jockey Of The Month

Entering Friday's action, the Tampa Bay Downs jockey standings looked as if they were recovered from a time capsule. Tied at the top, with six victories each, were 48-year-old Jesus Castanon and Jose Ferrer, 57.

Between them, they've won 7,266 races, been hurt too many times and taken the long walk back to the jockeys' room too often to mention. Yet each brings the same dedication, the same love for the sport and the horses and considerably more expertise than they first had as promising teenage riders.

Sometimes, they have to pinch themselves looking around at the new kids on the Oldsmar block who seek to knock them off their perches.

“Every year you have new riders coming in, and this place is very competitive,” Castanon said. “Jose and I were joking about it – you add our ages, and it makes about four of those younger guys.”

Castanon won back-to-back Tampa Bay Downs riding titles in 2004 and 2005, and he spent most of his winters over the next decade competing at Fair Grounds in New Orleans, Oaklawn Park in Arkansas or south Florida. When he returned here five years ago, the memories of those championship seasons came flooding back.

“When it gets close to Opening Day, I get excited to come here and enjoy the people and the weather and have a happy winter,” said Castanon, who edged Ferrer for the first Salt Rock Tavern Jockey of the Month Award of the meeting by virtue of win percentage (6-for-11 through Wednesday). “This place has been real good to me. I just have to thank all the trainers and owners and people on the backside for their support.”

Castanon also praised his new agent, Bob Jobson, for getting him on the right horses.

The fraternity of Thoroughbred race riders forms one of the strongest bonds in any sport. In October, Castanon had cause to reflect on the unwavering support of his own family when his father-in-law, Rolando Simpson, passed away unexpectedly.

Castanon dedicated the Jockey of the Month Award to the memory of Simpson and his own father, Jesus Castanon, Sr., who died of kidney disease in the fall of 2010, six months before the rider's victory aboard Shackleford in the Preakness at Pimlico.

A former trainer, the elder Castanon gave Jesus – the second-youngest of 10 children – and his brothers Antonio and Jose German the green light to ride races. Both siblings are still in the business, with Jose German working here as the assistant to trainer Jordan Blair and Antonio galloping horses for Godolphin in Lexington, Ky.

Castanon's wife, retired jockey Rolanda Simpson, is back home in Shepherdsville, Ky., with three of their four children and two grandchildren. Oldest son Micah is a law student.

Castanon turned to his family to shine a light in 2015 when he was injured twice in a period of two months, the second time incurring a broken tailbone and a concussion in an accident at Ellis Park in Kentucky.

“The second time made me think,” Castanon recounted later. “I looked at my children and thought, do I really want to keep doing it? But riding horses is what I know. My wife was basically with me the whole time I was recuperating, and she gave me a lot of encouragement and told me that whatever I wanted to do, she was going to be there for me.

“This is the main thing I have in life and I love doing it, so I knew I was doing the right thing.”

One of the main things his experience has taught Castanon is not to force the issue.

“I feel if I get too excited (during a race), I kind of lose the touch. So I just go with the motion and don't over-think things,” Castanon said. “I do what I know to do on a horse, and the results have been working out really well.”

Castanon clinched the Jockey of the Month honor with his winning ride on 3-year-old gelding Styner for owner-trainer Juan Arriagada in the eighth race on Wednesday. Content to trail all but one horse early, Castanon shook up his mount approaching the 3/8-mile pole of the 1-mile turf event. Riding in perfect harmony with Styner's instinctual desire, he reached the front a couple of jumps from the wire to win by a half-length at odds of 11-1.

“It was (Styner's) first time racing on the grass, and after I worked him I knew he was going to be able to run. I knew he would be a little sharp from the gate, so I wanted to kind of take that away from him,” Castanon said.

“He was able to settle down behind horses and when I got him to pick it up and swing to the outside and get in the clear, he came running,” said Castanon, who won three races on the card.

Trainer Jordan Blair, who counts Castanon as his “go-to” rider at Tampa Bay Downs, said: “He has been a gifted rider his whole career. His racing IQ is very high and we usually don't have to discuss much before a race because we're on the same page.

“He puts horses in good spots during a race and can come back with good information about the race and the horse. He's just a talented rider and I don't think there is anyone better at Tampa Bay.”

Long-time Tampa Bay Downs race-goers know how fortunate they are to watch and wager on such dedicated veterans as Castanon, Ferrer and Daniel Centeno, but the street runs both ways. Those guys love coming to Tampa Bay Downs each winter to win races and school youngsters.

The relationships feel just like family.

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Tamahere Finds Winner’s Circle In Violet Stakes At Monmouth

Tamahere found non-graded stakes company to be exactly what she needed to return to the winner's circle.

The Chad Brown-trainee, who had raced against Grade 1 or Grade 2 in five of her six starts since coming to the United States last fall, went to the front and was never threatened in romping to a 7¼-length victory in Saturday's $100,000 Violet Stakes at Monmouth Park in Oceanport, N.J.

The 4-year-old filly was unbothered by a yielding turf course, a gate scratch that caused a delay, and a last-minute rider switch in returning to the winner's circle for the first time since winning the Grade 2 Sands Point at Belmont Park on Oct. 10, 2020.

The winning time for the mile and a sixteenth was 1:45.74.

“This is a good filly, a really good filly,” said Luis Cabrera, who oversees Brown's division at Monmouth Park. “Chad was trying to give her an easier spot so she could get her confidence back.

“We weren't worried about the yielding turf. She's a French horse. She's used to it. She can handle a yielding turf. This was pretty much the way she ran in her last race (the Grade 2 Ballston Spa at Saratoga, where she was caught late) but it was an easier group.”

Vigilantes Way, a two-time stakes winner at the Monmouth Park meet, was second. It was another 1¾ lengths back to the Brown-trained Counterparty Risk in third.

Malborough Road was a gate scratch, reducing the field to five fillies and mares three and up.

Ferrer wound up filling in as a replacement for scheduled rider Hector Diaz, Jr., who went down a race earlier when his horse clipped heels. Diaz, excused from his remaining mounts, suffered facial cuts and was complaining of dizziness.

“I was taking a shower because I was off and I got out of the shower and Luis asked if I would ride his horse,” said Ferrer. “Of course I'll ride a Chad Brown horse – any time. This really doesn't happen that much where you pick up a mount this late and win a stakes race. I've been riding 37 years and it's the first time I ever picked up a stakes-winning mount like this at the last minute.”

Ferrer said the paddock instructions from Cabrera were simple: get to the front and get the daughter of Wootton Bassett to relax.

“I came out to the paddock and talked to Luis about her. He said she likes being on the front and you can get her to relax there,” Ferrer said. “I got to the lead, she relaxed real nice on the backside, and after that, it was game over. She handled the turf real nice. She was really comfortable out there.”

Tamahere returned $5.40 to win in posting her fourth victory in 13 career starts.

Monmouth Park's 55-day meet concludes with a 14-race card on Sunday, highlighted by the $500,000 Nownownow Stakes for 2-year-olds at a mile on the grass.

First race post time is 12:15 p.m.

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‘Old-School Guy’ Jose Ferrer Enjoying The Hot Hand At Monmouth Park

Jockey Jose Ferrer will often dust off one of his favorite expressions to make sense of having booted home an improbable longshot, as was the case in last Saturday's Grade 3 Salvator Mile at Monmouth Park, when he won with Informative at odds of 79-1.

One is that the horses can't read the tote board.

The other is that you can't win by staying in the jockeys' room.

These days, he may want to add one more to his list: Age is just a number.

The 57-year-old Ferrer heads into Monmouth Park's Friday twilight card as the track's leading rider after 10 days of the 53-day meet, with 16 winners from 56 mounts (a 29 percent clip). He combined for seven winners last Saturday and Sunday at Monmouth.

“It's been fantastic lately. It's an unbelievable feeling,” said Ferrer, who has ridden 4,575 winners in a career that began in 1982. “You get those times where everything goes right for you, when everything seems to click.

“That's where I feel I am now.”

Ferrer, who won his only Monmouth Park riding title in 2018, sees no reason his early success can't continue through the end of the meet. Overall, he has hit the board with 32 of his 56 mounts.

It's not as if he is riding a majority of favorites either. Nearly half (seven) of his winners so far have paid $12 or more and three have returned $30 or more, topped by the $161.60 win price that Informative produced.

Informative's victory skews the numbers a bit, of course, but Ferrer's average win price at the Monmouth meet is $20.60.

“I've had good stretches where I've won three or four in a day and then came back and won three or four the next day,” he said. “But to win the Salvator Mile, a Grade 3, with such a long shot and to win three other races on the card, two with longshots, and then three the next day … that's a pretty good stretch.”

Ferrer is able to excel at an age when most jockeys are nearing the end of their careers in large part because of his fitness regimen.

It's almost at the point where he is obsessed with working out. He says he is in the best shape of his life.

“I lift a lot of weights. I try to work out and lift twice a day,” he said. “I'll lift before I go to the track and on off days. I ride a bike whenever I can, too. Monday through Thursday I ride a couple of miles with my wife and (two) kids. I know I have to work twice as hard as the younger guys do. You have to put in the work.

“A lot of younger guys spend their time on social media. I'm old school. I don't have time for that. I need to work out and stay fit to stay competitive every day I go out there to ride. I have learned you have to work if you want good things to happen. They don't just happen because you want them to.”

Ferrer also enjoys the role of elder statesman that he has in the jockeys' room at Monmouth, always willing to pass along his accrued knowledge with an inquisitive young rider. In 2018 he won the prestigious George Woolf Award, which has been presented annually since 1950 to a jockey who demonstrates high standards of personal and professional conduct on and off the racetrack.

“It's a blessing to keep riding this long and at my age,” said Ferrer. “I like that some of the younger guys come to me for my knowledge. I am always there to help if I can. Older riders helped me when I was coming up. So I feel like I should share my knowledge and experience.”

Ferrer, who hails from Santruce, Puerto Rico, has also made a seamless transition to New Jersey's strict no crop rule – an adjustment that would seem to be easier for younger riders not as set in their ways.

But the opposite is true, says Ferrer.

“It goes back to being an old-school guy when you would mostly hand ride in the 1980s and 1990s,” he said. “That's when you depended more on pushing a horse with the reins. So it's almost back to the 1980s for me and how I was brought up riding. The stick back then was the weakest link in your riding. I was always hand riding. You didn't use the whip until you absolutely had to use it.

“So this is my foundation. I came up hand riding.”

He also came up winning – something he is still doing, all these years later.

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Longshot Informative Shocks In Salvator Mile at Monmouth Park

At 79-1, not many had given Informative a chance to win in Saturday's Grade 3 Salvator Mile at Monmouth Park in Oceanport, N.J. Last after the first quarter, this son of Bodemeister seemed to have too much ground to make up on Green Light Go and Ny Traffic, but he found room on the rail to sneak through and pass Ny Traffic in the stretch to win the $150,000 G3 stakes race for 3-year-olds and older.

After a clean break, Green Light Go took a short lead on the rail, with Ny Traffic a half-length behind for the first five furlongs. On the final turn, Paco Lopez sent Ny Traffic to the lead, powering past a slowing Green Light Go. In the stretch, Ny Traffic dug in and tried to hold on to a length and half lead, but it was not enough. Jockey Jose Ferrer and Informative snuck through on the rail, flashing under the wire a length in front of Ny Traffic. Galerio and West Will Power were third and fourth, with War Stopper, Pirate's Punch, Basin, Bal Harbour, Green Light Go, and Croatian rounding out the field.

Find this race's chart here.

Fractions for the Salvator Mile were :23.98 for the first quarter, :47.27 for the half-mile, 1:11.55 for six furlongs, and 1:37.01 for the mile. Informative (79-1) paid $161.60, $37.80, and $15.60. Ny Traffic (4-5) paid $3.00 and $2.60. Galerio (7-1) paid $4.60 to show.

After the race, trainer Uriah St. Lewis was thrilled about Informative's longshot victory in the Salvator Mile.

“I expected this because this horse has been training so good. The last race he ran at Pimlico (second in a $35,000 optional claimer on May 15) he got blocked, checked and stopped and ran a huge number.” St. Lewis said to the Monmouth Press Office.  “I said to myself 'if he can run that number again he can win – and he did.' We were not intimidated by this field. That's why we entered him. We thought he could win it. He has been close in a lot of his races and a mile (the horse was 0-for-19 at the distance) is right up his alley.

“When they went down the backside I thought I had no chance. But when we got to the top of the stretch and everything opened for him I said `our lucky day is coming.' All he had to do was finish strong and he finished strong. This feels good. I like that price $161.60 to win. Everyone is happy.”

Jockey Jose Ferrer knew what kind of horse he had under him today.

“We were in last place in the backside yes, but I saw everything happening in front of me. I had a lot of horse underneath. I've ridden horses like this before that looked like they were hopeless and they just pick it up for you.” Ferrer remarked after the race. “Everything opened up for me in the stretch. It was wide open to come through. I knew I had saved ground coming into the lane and I was thinking let's see what this horse has now. Then I saw Paco Lopez (aboard odds-on favorite Ny Traffic) drifting out and I said `man. I'm going to get him. I'm going to win this race.' The horse can't read the board so he didn't know (his odds). I've always said you don't have a chance if you stay in the jockeys' room and this is proof of that.”

Owned by Trin-Brook Stables, Informative is a 4-year-old colt by Bodemeister out of the Hard Spun mare Lucky Black. He was bred in Kentucky by Rose Hill Farm and John Trumbulovic and sold to Trin-Brook Stables by Brick City Thoroughbreds for $25,000 at the 2019 Fasig-Trip Two-Year-Olds In Training Sale. The G3 Salvator Mile is Informative's first stakes win and third win of his career in 25 starts with career winnings of $240,290.

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