Hall of Fame jockey

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 was a good week to have a Hall of Fame jockey on the TDN Writers' Room, presented by Keeneland, as the Green Group Guest of the Week and especially to have that jockey be Jerry Bailey, who knows a thing or two about analyzing a race for an audience. Bailey pulled no punches when asked about whether or not he felt Forte (Violence) should have been disqualified in the Jim Dandy Saturday at Saratoga. "I thought it was a bad call," said Bailey. "I thought he was the best...

Jockeys and Jeans is set to host its ninth annual fundraiser at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas on Saturday, June 24 at 7 p.m. Attendees will have the opportunity to mix and mingle with a host of Hall of Fame Jockeys, enjoy a seated dinner, and bid on unique racing memorabilia and other valuable prizes in both a silent and live auction. "This year's event represents an historic step in our evolution," said Jockeys and Jeans President Barry Pearl. "We hope to set a record for funds raised at a...

In less than five weeks, the King of Saratoga will head north to return to his kingdom in Upstate New York. But for now, Hall of Famer Angel Cordero, Jr. is busy at Belmont Park as the jockey agent for up-and-coming young rider Manny Franco. These days, it's not easy to make it to the top of the jockey ranks in New York, according to Cordero. "Fortunately, we have something happening here that didn't happen for a long time anywhere," he said. "We have the top nine or 10 riders...

Chris McCarron won his first of two Belmont Stakes in 1986 with Danzig Connection (Danzig) at odds of 8-1, unexpectedly defeating that year's Kentucky Derby winner and Preakness runner-up Ferdinand (Nijinsky II) and giving trainer Woody Stephens the last of five consecutive victories in the Test of the Champion. The next year, he found himself on the other side of the fence aboard Alysheba (Alydar). Alysheba and McCarron had won the first two legs of the Triple Crown and were on track to complete the series when, coming around the...