Hall of Fame jockey Javier Castellano is expected to be out for about three weeks with a minor lower back injury sustained in a spill on July 3 at Saratoga. Castellano, currently on 5,992 career wins according to Equibase, hopes to return to riding races on July 29.
The Venezuelan was aboard Paris Carver (Bolt d'Oro) in the Wild Applause Stakes and was involved in a nasty chain-reaction incident which saw four horses fall to the turf and their riders thrown from their mounts. Castellano was ultimately taken to Saratoga Hospital for observation and had accepted rides for Thursday's program at Saratoga, but will now take time off to allow for full healing.
“I'm feeling much better, and I appreciate all of the people that reached out with well wishes,” Castellano said. “I'm disappointed to have to miss a few weeks at the start of the Saratoga meet, but my goal is to come back at the end of July and to continue to win races. I'm getting close to my 6,000th win and my other main goal is to win my eighth Travers.”
Added his agent Kevin Meyocks: “He's doing really good. We're going to give him three more weeks off. The doctors advised us not to rush it, so we'll start back on July 29. We visited his doctor in the city, who looked at the x-rays and told us no surgery is required and to just give it a couple weeks and he'll be good to go.”
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