Saratoga: Castellano is confident as he seeks 7th Travers win

Saratoga Springs, N.Y.

Javier Castellano is widely regarded as one of the very good people in racing, so much so that his fellow jockeys saluted his Hall of Fame career and good character by voting for him to receive the George Woolf Memorial Award earlier this season.

The highly competitive nature of the game can lead the best people to have conflicting loyalties and to be swept up in extremely difficult business decisions. That is what happened when Castellano had to choose whether to ride Mage, his first Kentucky Derby winner, or Arcangelo, his first Belmont Stakes winner, in the Grade 1 Travers on Saturday.

“It was not easy because I really like both horses. You don’t want to be in that position,” Castellano said Tuesday before the draw for Travers post positions. He and Arcangelo received post 2 in a field of seven and were established as the second choice in the morning line at 5-2 behind 7-5 favorite Forte.

The situation had been made even thornier because of the ties the Castellano family has with Gustavo Delgado, Mage’s trainer, dating to their days in the same hometown in their native Venezuela. Javier’s late father, Abel, used to ride for Delgado.

“I’ve known Gustavo for a long time. He’s been a friend of mine since I was a little kid,” Castellano said. “We have a good relationship. We still have a good relationship. I wish him all the best with the horse.”

The sincerity of those good wishes was backed up Wednesday morning when Castellano, 45, visited the Delgados' at Barn 72, spending time with the father-and-son training team.

“Javier is still family,” Gustavo Delgado Jr. said minutes after Castellano left. “We’re fine. We’re good.”

According to both parties, the Delgados had pressed Castellano for a decision two weeks out from the Travers. The mid-summer derby is expected to be pivotal in the race for 3-year-old honors.

Castellano, concerned about possibly committing too soon, asked for another week. “Anything can happen in two weeks,” he said.

Meanwhile, Luis Saez, who had ridden Mage to an impressive runner-up finish to Forte in the Florida Derby (G1), had been steadily expressing interest in the mount through his agent, Kiaran McLaughlin.

Rather than wait, Mage’s ownership group opted for Saez. “He’s used to the horse and that kind of thing, but we understand it was not an easy decision for him,” Delgado said of Castellano. “We didn’t want to wait until the last minute when everybody was committed.”

The assistant trainer added about Mage, who skipped the Belmont after finishing third in a Preakness that lacked pace, “We think the horse is pretty easy to ride. He’s a push-button horse. He’s not a horse that needs one specific rider.”

That will be put to the test, of course, after Saez suffered injuries Wednesday afternoon that will sideline him indefinitely. He dislocated his collarbone and fractured his wrist when Burning Bright had an apparent sudden cardiac event during the John’s Call Stakes at Saratoga and died. Flavien Prat will ride the Kentucky Derby winner.

Whatever adversity strikes, those who succeed in racing are able to put their heads down and constantly move forward. Castellano did that not long ago after a combination of Covid and surgery to repair the labrum in his right hip slowed his business and prompted him to redouble his efforts.

“When you’re in the game, you always want to be hungry,” he said. “You always want to win a lot of races.”

No one is more skillful at winning the Travers than Castellano. He is aiming for his record seventh victory in the prestigious 1 1/4-mile contest and is happy he landed on Arcangelo, his Peter Pan (G3) and Belmont winner.

“I really like the horse. I worked him the first time before the Peter Pan. I really liked the way he did it,” Castellano said. “I liked the way he ran in the Peter Pan and the Belmont Stakes. I have a lot of confidence in myself and my horse. I know he’s going to perform really good.”

The veteran rider said Mage’s ability to give him his first Derby triumph in 16 tries and his Belmont breakthrough after an 0-for-14 record there deepened his desire for more success in major races.

“When it goes away,” he said of his competitive edge, “it’s time to retire.”