Javier Castellano

The New York Gaming Commission issued a statement Friday regarding the controversial disqualification of Brick Ambush (Laoban) in the Dec. 16 Great White Way S. at Aqueduct that was meant to bolster the argument that the stewards made the right call, but it included a photo that could be construed as doing the exact opposite. The TDN and other news outlets received an email from New York Gaming Commission Director of Communications Brad Maione that included six screen shots from the race taken at the point where there was contact...

ARCADIA, CA - As Javier Castellano gets ready to ride three mounts on Breeders' Cup Saturday, the recently turned 46-year-old is amidst one of the best years of his career. And it almost never happened. A pair of Breeders' Cup wins at the 2019 Championships put an exclamation point on the Hall of Famer's eighth straight season with more than $20 million in earnings. But, the year 2020, like it was for so many, was more about overcoming adversity for the native of Venezuela. Castellano was the first jockey to...

It's not often one is surprised when a 1-2 favorite wins, but Liam's Map had such a tumultuous trip in the GI Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile after a history of front-running scores that he had every right to lose. "I like the way he did it," said Javier Castellano, who also had won the GI Woodward with the horse the month before. "He had missed the break. [Todd] Pletcher told me, 'Make sure he breaks good and get a good position,' but when the gate opened, he missed the break....

Horses aren't supposed to be able to do what Ghostzapper did. The Hall of Famer was so dazzling that the 128 Beyer Speed Figure he registered in the GIII Philip H. Iselin H.--still the highest figure in the history of American racing at a route--isn't even remembered as one of his top races. Some people might count his GI Vosburgh sprinting at three against older horses as one of his best, others might prefer his GI Woodward battle over eventual Horse of the Year Saint Liam, and still others might...

The trip might have been unusual, but rider Javier Castellano knew what he had under him as Fev Rover (Ire) (m, 5, Gutaifan {Ire}--Laurelita {Ire}, by High Chaparral {Ire}) captured Sunday's GI E.P. Taylor S. at Woodbine. The bay showed the way early from the rail, but was quickly under pressure as 50-1 Rocky Sky (Ire) (Rock of Gibraltar {Ire}) dogged her from the outside through fractions of :25.66 and :50.29. The rest of the field was strung out and just after the half-mile mark, Fev Rover yielded to let...

In Yiddish, a mensch is a person who personifies integrity, morality, dignity and a sense of what is right and responsible. But mensch is more than just an old Yiddish adage, it is a word that best describes the managing partner of In Front Racing Stables, Howie Heiberger. Heiberger was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York and that meant having Aqueduct as a beacon of fun and excitement just a few miles away. As a teenager in the late 70s, he and his friends would put forward the $1...

After getting brushed and shuffled in the early stages of Saturday's GI Travers S. while losing momentum and position, Javier Castellano decided to wing his trip aboard 2.7-1 second choice Arcangelo (Arrogate). He would later explain with a laugh--in the way that only winning jockeys can find humor when their riding tactics go off-kilter--that "it seemed to me that everybody had a plan, except myself." Sometimes no plan ends up being the best plan, as demonstrated by Arcangelo's artful dissection of a "loaded" Midsummer Derby that brought together not only...

In many ways, it was a 'good' problem to have. Having added a maiden success in the GI Kentucky Derby to his Hall of Fame resume at long last aboard Mage (Good Magic) in early May, jockey Javier Castellano continued a magical ride when teaming with Jena Antonucci to make history in the GI Belmont S. on the progressive Arcangelo (Arrogate), as the connections of Mage turned their collective attention to the second half of the season. Mage resumed with a very good runner-up effort when reportedly not fully fit...

It's a bit of Christmas in August Saturday at venerable Saratoga Race Course, which plays host to no fewer than five Grade I events for horses of all ages--on dirt and on turf--topped by the main event on the summer calendar, the $1.25-million GI Travers S. While the fields are short on numbers, they are long on quality, as three of the races have attracted reigning Eclipse Award winners, none of whom are anything close to a cinch in their respective heats. Champion and 'TDN Rising Star' Forte (Violence) has...

Jockey Luis Saez, who went down during the running of Wednesday's John's Call S. when his mount Burning Bright suffered a fatal cardiac event, was dignosed with a dislocated collarbone and slight fracture in his left wrist, according to a tweet from former trainer and current agent Kiaran McLaughlin, but was released from Albany Medical Center. He will be out of the saddle for an undetermined period of time. After Javier Castellano committed to GI Belmont S. winner Arcangelo (Arrogate) for Saturday's $1.25-million GI Travers S., Saez was named by...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - With the three winners of the Triple Crown races gathered for just the fourth time in the GI Travers S. Saturday, will history repeat itself? Will a horse that did not run in the GI Kentucky Derby, GI Preakness S. or the GI Belmont S. deliver an upset in the 154th Travers? That is how it played out in 1918 with Sun Briar, again in 1982 with Runaway Groom and six years ago when West Coast won the 2017 running of Saratoga's oldest stakes race. If...

Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher, along with his wife Tracy, received the Marylou Whitney Award from the New York Race Track Chaplaincy for their continuing devotion and support of the backstretch community at the organization's 16th annual fundraising brunch at the Saratoga National Golf Club, the organization said in a release Wednesday. "I can't say enough about what the New York Race Track Chaplaincy organization does for the backstretch community," Pletcher said. "It provides so much more than spiritual help. I look at it like the mayor's office where...