Hall of Fame jockey Javier Castellano notched his 6,000th career victory in North America on Wednesday at Saratoga Race Course, guiding the Michelle Nevin-trained Starship Lizzy to a half-length victory in the Race 8 finale, a seven-furlong maiden claimer for New York-bred fillies and mares.
“Thank God I’ve been blessed – like I always say, thank you Lord, God, Jesus Christ for giving me the amazing skill of being a jockey and participating in the high level in my career with the best jockeys in the world,” Castellano said. “Especially doing it at Saratoga, the biggest stage in the world… so many great jockeys went through here, and to be my age competing with this generation to keep delivering and winning races and people supporting me is amazing. I’m very grateful and blessed to be around them.”
Starship Lizzy saved ground along the rail in third position behind Forever to Go and Hanna’s Hideaway through an opening quarter-mile in 22.90 seconds and a half-mile in 46.07 over the fast dirt.
Once straightened for home, Castellano angled Starship Lizzy out and bumped with the closing All Bright near the eighth pole. The pair continued to make contact before Starship Lizzy edged past and then inched clear of Hanna’s Hideaway to post the narrow score in a final time of 1:26.08.
A stewards’ inquiry involving Starship Lizzy and third-place finisher All Bright resulted in no change to the order of finish.
“6,000 [wins] and I still have to sweat out my result! Nothing’s easy in this game, for sure,” Castellano said, with a laugh. “I believe I was straight and my horse drifted a little bit, but I corrected her and kept my course. The outside horse hit right behind my horse, and she kept me sideways. I knew it wasn’t my fault, and that’s why I felt comfortable. But you never know, you have to see the ‘official’ first to count 6,000 races.”
