Racing Hall of Fame jockey Javier Castellano sustained an injury to his left foot and ankle Saturday during the third race at Saratoga and was taken to the Albany Medical Center for X-rays, Horse Racing Nation reports.
The 44-year-old rider was injured when his left foot struck the rail.
David Grening of Daily Racing Form said in a Twitter post that Castellano told him the impact happened when his mount, 3-year-old colt Seal Beach, trained by Mike Maker, lugged inward while in tight quarters, tearing his boot but not breaking the skin.
“I never seen anything like that, boot, socks and everything,” Grening quoted Castellano as saying. “Thank God I had no cuts.”
Three Diamond Farm's Seal Beach eventually finished last of seven in the one-mile allowance race.
Castellano has a 26-20-11 record at the current Saratoga meet, ranking seventh by number of winners and ninth by purse earnings with $1,934,640.
The Pennsylvania Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association (PTHA) is saddened to share news of the passing of Michael P. Ballezzi, who served as the organization's executive director for 25 years prior to his retirement last year. Ballezzi, age 76, passed away on Wednesday, August 31.
“We've lost not only a great horseman, but also a great friend and leader,” said Salvatore DeBunda, president of the PTHA board of directors. “Mike dedicated 25 years of his life to championing the well-being and care of equine athletes, as well as championing the interests of horsemen at Parx racetrack and across Pennsylvania. When he retired, Mike left behind an incredible legacy at the PTHA.”
“Mike Ballezzi's impact on Pennsylvania racing, horsemen, and our retired race horses will live on for many years to come,” said Jeffrey Matty, executive director of the PTHA. “But his impact extends far beyond the policies and programs he championed. He touched so many people on and off the track on a personal level, and that may be his greatest legacy.”
One of Ballezzi's most significant accomplishments, Turning for Home, was an outgrowth of his deep commitment to the health and well-being of our retired racehorses. Since Turning for Home's creation in May 2008, the non-profit has placed more than 3,200 former Parx racehorses in new homes and racing careers. The non-profit is now considered by many as the gold standard for track-based racehorse retirement programs.
Ballezzi served as executive director of the PTHA in February 1996 through December 2021 and served as an owner director on the PTHA's board of directors. During his tenure, Ballezzi played an integral role in shaping Pennsylvania's horse racing industry as a fierce advocate for passage of the Pennsylvania Race Horse Development and Gaming Act (Act 71 of 2004). The legislation legalized slot machines in the Commonwealth and set aside a percentage of the revenues to bolster racing purses and breeding incentives, as well as provide health and pension benefits to individuals in the racing industry. Mike was also instrumental in negotiations with Parx Racing management that led to significant capital investments in the backstretch, including dorm renovations and the construction of new barns.
At Parx, he also created the Horsemen's Purchasing Association which provides horsemen on the backstretch of the track with bedding, feed, supplements and equipment at supply-discounted prices. In 2000, he spearheaded the creation of The Granny Fund — named in honor of Catherine “Granny” Youmans, the mother of PTHA Oofice manager and long-time personal secretary to Ballezzi, Connie Youmans – which provides scholarships to Parx stable employees to continue their education in college and night classes.
A graduate of Widener Law School, Ballezzi was also an attorney and previously served as a District Justice in Delaware County, Pa., from 1983-1998. He has been a licensed Thoroughbred owner since 1973, is a former trainer, and currently races under the name of Balmora Farm. He was named 2008 PTHA Man of the Year and he was inducted into the Parx Racing Hall of Fame in 2014.
In addition to serving as executive director of the PTHA, Mike was elected nine times as owner/director of the PTHA board of directors. He also served as a member of the national THA board of directors and was recognized in 2020 by the national Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association for outstanding service to the racing industry. He was honored in 2019 by Parx when they named the M.P. Ballezzi Appreciation Mile in recognition of his service to all horsemen and women who are Parx racing.
Maitha Salem Mohammed Belobaida Alsuwaidi's Group 3-winning sprinter Meraas and his Group 1-winning rider Antonio Fresu will make their North American debuts on Saturday at Saratoga in Race 7, a six-furlong optional-claimer for 3-year-olds and upward.
“I'm really looking forward to riding for the first time in the U.S. Obviously, Saratoga has a lot of history and it's a beautiful track. I'm looking forward to seeing it,” said Fresu, who captured last year's Group 1 Dubai Golden Shaheen at Meydan Racecourse from the outermost post 13 aboard Zenden.
Trained by Chad Summers, Meraas, who sports a ledger of 14-5-1-1, was last seen taking the Group 3 Al Shindagha Sprint in rein to Fresu in February at Meydan for former conditioner Musabbeh Al Mheiri.
The 5-year-old Oasis Dream gelding was a vet scratch the week of the Group 1 Dubai Golden Shaheen in March and subsequently shipped stateside. Summers, who won the Dubai Golden Shaheen in successive years in 2017-18 with New York-bred multi-millionaire Mind Your Biscuits, said Meraas was freshened before returning to training.
“He came in the end of March and we wanted to give him some time, so he was at Paragon Farm in Kentucky for a few months,” Summers said. “He came up to Belmont and our plan was always to bring him back in an allowance race and go on from there to see what path he'll take us on.”
Meraas made his first 12 starts on either grass [10] or synthetic [2] for conditioner Mark Johnston, but found rejuvenated form when trying the Meydan dirt, besting a field of 11 by 4 3/4-lengths in December while under top weight ahead of his Group 3 score.
Meraas has breezed five times this summer over the Saratoga main track with a trio of bullet breezes under exercise rider Alfonso Camacho, including a three-eighths effort in 35.20 on July 15; a half-mile in 46.07 on August 5; and five-eighths in 1:00.69 on August 14.
“Antonio is a great rider and not only did he ride him both races in Dubai, but he was the regular rider of him in the morning. He told us when we worked him to not ask him. He said, 'he'll do everything on his own, just drop your hands,'” Summers said. “The first time he breezed it didn't look like he was going very fast and then you look at your watch and it was 35 and change. It's continued from there. He went 46 flat and it doesn't look like he's moving. He has this long stride and just motors. We've never really ridden him. We haven't gone in company or had a jockey work him because I was afraid he'd go too fast. That's all just him.”
Summers said Meraas demonstrated encouraging dirt form in his two starts in Dubai.
“When he ran first time out in the Handicap in December, he was carrying 137 pounds. He broke and went about his business and won so impressively,” Summers said. “He came back in the Group 3 and it was the same thing – he kept finding more and beat a nice field. It gives you some excitement to what he could be over here.”
Meraas, listed at 6-1 on the morning line, will exit the outermost post 10 Saturday in a field led by Juddmonte's impressive allowance winner Elite Power [post 6, Joel Rosario, 5-2 ML], a 4-year-old Curlin colt, for Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott.
“There are a lot of nice horses in there. Bill Mott's horse is really nice,” Summers said. “It's a deep, quality field and we haven't been out since February. This is Saratoga. It's a very deep field. We'll look to get through this race and see where we're at and weigh our options. But Saturday will go a long way to showing us who he is and what he is at and where we need to point to next. All the credit to the family for gifting us this horse and the opportunity to run in America.”
In addition to Elite Power, a $900,000 Keeneland September Yearling Sale purchase out of the multiple graded-stakes winning Vindication mare Broadway's Alibi, a strong field competing for the $120,000 purse includes graded stakes-placed Greeley and Ben [post 1, Junior Alvarado] and stakes winners Amundson [post 3, Jose Ortiz] and Foolish Ghost [post 4, Kendrick Carmouche]. Also entered is the stakes-placed Hoist the Gold [post 8, Jose Gomez], who graduated via disqualification last September at Churchill Downs when eventual dual Grade 1-winner Cyberknife was demoted.
But despite the strong field, Summers is buoyed by the strong morning efforts from Meraas and the presence of his familiar rider.
“It gives you confidence to know he's handled this dirt,” Summers said. “Antonio knows the horse and I don't want to have any excuses going into this race. I want to give this horse his best chance to win and Antonio is a Group 1-winning jockey making his American debut, so hopefully he can provide that.”
Fresu, a 30-year-old native of Sardinia, Italy, said he welcomes the opportunity.
“I'm really happy to be joining with Meraas again. I had a good feeling with him in Dubai during the winter,” said Fresu, who is represented in Dubai by Michael Adolphson. “I thought he would have a very good chance in the Golden Shaheen, but unfortunately he didn't run. I've seen his workouts in the U.S. and he's been doing well. I know he hasn't run in a long time, but I think he'll be pretty fit for Saturday. I think he will have a chance.”
Bill and Riley Mott sure hope so as Riley takes initial steps toward launching his training career this winter at Oaklawn Park.
Riley has applied for 20 stalls at Oaklawn and is confident he will come close to filling them. He already has secured horses from some clients of his Hall of Fame father while recruiting new owners willing to gamble on a young talent who appears to have every ingredient necessary for success.
“It's something I've been looking forward to since I was a little kid,” said Riley, 30. “I have a lot of feelings about it – excited, anxious, confident, ready.”
Riley has worked closely with his father as his assistant since 2014. He will remain with the operation beyond the Saratoga meet, until the horses he oversees at the upstate New York track are ready to ship to Florida in early November.
Then Riley, his wife, Megan, their toddler, Margot, and their golden retriever, Henry, will pile into their car and head for the house they rented in Hot Springs, Ark., and a venture that holds great promise but no guarantees.
“Some people may think I have a silver spoon or whatever,” Riley said. “But the way I see it is I've had a great opportunity to learn and I'm going to try to capitalize on my opportunity.”
Bill, at 45, became the youngest trainer inducted into the National Museum of Racing's Hall of Fame in 1998. Riley, while understanding the tremendous challenges ahead, is thinking big.
“I want to be as successful as my dad. I walk through his office at home and he's got a trophy case on every wall,” Riley noted. “I want that for myself and for my family. It's motivation for me to hold to the standard that he's held throughout his career.
“While I'm not sitting here saying I'm going to be in the Hall of Fame, I certainly aspire to be. Why wouldn't you shoot for that?”
Riley Mott at Saratoga
Riley's mother, Tina, began taking him to his father's barn at a young age as a way of letting him burn off seemingly boundless energy. Before long, he was insistent on going. When he was a teenager, he would sit in his father's office for hours, listening to Bill preach patience to restless owners, noting how his father dealt with staff, veterinarians, blacksmiths, jockey agents and jockeys, among others.
“I was just a fly on the wall,” he said of an education at least as important as the knowledge he gained as an economics major at the University of Kentucky.
Some race trackers urge their children to pursue other careers because of the difficult lifestyle involved. There were hockey games when Riley searched in vain to find his father in the stands. Riley regularly changed schools as his father moved from one racing circuit to another.
Bill and Tina never discouraged Riley from following what clearly became his passion at a tender age. “I've never, ever stood in his way. I wouldn't have any reason to stand in his way,” said Bill, 69. “I mean, the business has been good to me.”
Riley Mott, shown aboard his pony at Saratoga
According to Equibase, Mott has won more than 5,200 races while his horses have earned in excess of $314 million. He ranks sixth all-time with $19,936,900 in Breeders' Cup earnings. He is tied for sixth with fellow Hall of Famers Shug McGaughey and Richard Mandella with nine wins at the season-culminating championships.
Bill is highly respected throughout the industry. He has done everything possible to impart his philosophy to his son.
“We believe, and he believes, that the basic well-being and health of the horse are primary. They supersede everything else,” the father said. “That's what we do. We're the caregivers and we're the ones responsible for the well-being of these horses.”
Riley sounded very much like his father when he said, “There are different styles of training. We kind of let the horses tell us what they are ready for. If the horse needs time, you give it time. Sometimes it's tough to have patience. But, in the long run, it's really paid off. I've been able to see that over the years.”
Riley admits he was once a young man in a hurry for success before certain horses were.
“I think with age that is something I've become better at, having a certain amount of patience and realizing that they're not machines,” he said. “I've been able to work with horses that needed time and needed a little extra attention and I've seen the payoff of that. That is something I'm glad I improved on.”
Can Riley stay patient if he should struggle early and bills begin to mount? Can he produce enough early results to meet his goal of building his stable to 30 by the time he heads to Kentucky for next season? Can he fulfill his desire to eventually expand well beyond that?
Even as Riley assembles his staff, he knows his horsemanship and other skills will be tested as never before.
“I'm nervous because you want to do well. You don't want to fail. Failure is my biggest fear,” he said. “I think that kinds of motivates me.”
Bill feels sure that his son is ready for whatever the future brings.
“His mother, Tina, and I are very proud of him,” he said. “He's got a great work ethic and he's very responsible. If he continues to work at it as hard as he has to this point, I think he'll do fine.”
Riley will follow his father's business model as closely as possible. Just as Tina oversees the business side for Bill, Megan will fill that role for her husband of almost two years even though she lacks experience. She expects to lean heavily on her mother-in-law.
“I've got a lot to learn,” she said. “I'm looking forward to being part of the team.”
The months ahead will be charged with emotion for everyone involved. Megan said of Riley, “I don't think he is going to have any trouble with the training part. It's going to be mostly leaving his dad.”
Tom Pedulla wrote for USA Today from 1995-2012 and has been a contributor to the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Blood-Horse, America's Best Racing and other publications.
