Castellano 'seeing it right' on Preakness Stakes weekend

Catch Javier Castellano amidst the type of roll he was on to kick off Preakness Stakes weekend at Pimlico, and the Hall of Fame jockey will remain a man of few words.

“Well, I have to get ready for this next one, but thank you,” Castellano said after shattering Pimlico's track record for six furlongs in the Miss Preakness Stakes, with Covfefe going the distance in 1:07.70.

That was Castellano's third straight win on the afternoon. His next, the $100,000 Hilltop, turned into another winner, with Chad Brown trainee Dogtag fending off stablemate Nova Sol and nine other rivals on the turf.

That made four in a row.

“I’m feeling lucky today,” Castellano said after the Hilltop. “You prepare mentally and physically for this, and thank God everything rolled in the right direction for me, and it rolled in the right direction for these horses.”

The jockey just shy of 5,100 career wins sat out the next race, then hopped aboard Point of Honor in Friday’s main event: the Black-Eyed Susan (G2).

“I like my chances in this race,” Castellano said, as he made his way to the unique enclosed paddock of Pimlico to take his mount.

His fifth start of the day was his fifth win of the day, as Castellano took advantage of “the perfect trip,” riding Point of Honor no less than three-wide of the 1 1/8 dirt race before rallying the George Weaver trainee down the stretch, out-dueling Ulele in the final strides.

“Javier is one of the greatest riders in the country,” Weaver said after the race. “it was clear as I was watching the day go on that he was in the zone, so I was just hoping that I was in the zone and my filly was in the zone too. The way he was going, it was going to be hard to deny him.”

“Yeah, he’s definitely seeing it right today,” agreed jockey Ricardo Santana Jr., who grabbed a win aboard Tenfold in the Pimlico Special (G3), the race Castellano skipped. “He’s a good jockey though. None of it surprises anybody.”

“You could only hope that kind of momentum he’s riding carries over to (Saturday),” added trainer Brad Cox, who saddled Ulele, but also has Castellano aboard for Saturday's Preakness Stakes with Warrior's Charge.

“He’s seeing it right,” Weaver said. “You wouldn’t want to be against him this weekend.”

The famous horse and jockey-depicted weathervane atop the cupola in the Winner’s circle at Old Hilltop is always painted in the colors of the Preakness-winning jockey’s silks and the number of his horse. Castellano last saw a vibrant hue drip from his winning ride in 2017, when he took Klaravich Stables’ Cloud Computing, a 13-1 longshot, to glory.

“It’s a different preparation, you know, both mentally and physically for that race, for both (the jockey) and the horse," he said.

Castellano, who has won the Preakness twice in his career, will get a leg up on Warrior's Charge, a colt who has won two straight at Oaklawn Park but never competed in a graded stakes race.

“I’m looking forward to this Preakness,” he said. “I think that we have a good chance here. This is an open field and I think a lot of horses belong. A lot of them can win this race.”

Warrior’s Charge is a son of Munnings, who is by Speightstown — two horses that have never sired a Preakness winner — while Cox has never even entered a horse in a Triple Crown race.

“You just hope for the best trip out there, and you’re happy with the way the horse has looked, happy with the jockey and everybody involved," Castellano said. "Let’s see what we got.”