At age 45, jockey great Javier Castellano finally throws off his Kentucky Derby hex

Watching TV in the jockeys’ room before he was to ride in the Kentucky Derby for the 16th time, Javier Castellano saw his dismal Derby history presented for the world to see.

“NBC put up “0-of-15, Javier Castellano,” he said. “That moment gave me so much inspiration.”

It wasn’t just that Castellano had never won the Kentucky Derby. One of the great jockeys of the current generation had never even come close.

Before Saturday, the native of Maracaibo, Venezuela, had finished sixth or worse in 13 of the 15 Derbys he had ridden. In eight of those races, Castellano had finished 10th or worse. Only once, a third-place finish in 2019 on Audible, had he even been on the board in a Derby.

“Sometimes, you feel embarrassed a little bit,” Castellano said, “when you try so many times, and you don’t get the result. But one thing in my career, I try to be consistent. And I never give up.”

For Castellano, the 149th running of the Kentucky Derby proved to be his personal sweet 16.

Boosted by a patient, ground-saving ride from his Hall of Fame jockey, the lightly raced Mage surged past Two Phil’s mid-stretch and won the Kentucky Derby in a time of 2:01.57 before an announced Churchill Downs crowd of 150,355.

Mage did not race as a 2-year-old. Trainer Gustavo Delgado’s horse entered the Kentucky Derby having only run three races. So it was not especially shocking that when the gate opened to start the Run for the Roses, Mage appeared to miss the break.

Castellano did not panic. He veered Mage hard left and toward the rail to save ground. The veteran jockey then let his inexperienced mount settle and run his race.

“I took my time. I didn’t rush. I just let him go,” Castellano said. “I saved all the ground I could.”

Entering the backstretch, Mage was ahead of only three horses. For the second straight Kentucky Derby, however, withering early fractions (this year’s half-mile was run in a brisk :45.73) set the race up for a late drive.

Mage’s late push was not as dramatic as the one unleashed last year in the Derby by 80-1 long shot Rich Strike, but it ended in the same place.

Down the backstretch, Castellano began to guide Mage through traffic. At the top of the stretch, Castellano had Mage positioned six-wide but with a clear path to the front-running Two Phil’s.

The jockey appeared to only use his whip once as Mage surged to the lead mid-stretch — and won the race many felt Castellano was never going to get.

“I feel like I am on top of the world,” Castellano said.

Ramiro Restrepo, a member of Mage’s complex ownership structure, said Castellano’s ride reminded him of the one Jerry Bailey turned in while booting Sea Hero to Derby victory in 1993.

“Never did I ever think anything other than we were in good hands,” Restrepo said of Castellano’s ride.

Mage’s triumph came at the end of an unsettling and tragic run-up to the Kentucky Derby. Five Derby entrants, including morning-line favorite Forte, had to be scratched prior to the race for various reasons.

Seven horses have now died either at Churchill Downs or as a result of injuries suffered at the track since April 27, including two who competed on the Derby Day undercard.

The first of the horses that died, Wild On Ice, was training for the 149th Kentucky Derby when an injury ultimately led to the horse being euthanized.

There’s no way to make horse racing completely safe. To think otherwise is unrealistic. There is an obligation to do all that can be reasonably done to protect the competitors, equine and human, from harm. After such a troubling stretch, the soul searching at Churchill Downs over whether the latter standard is being met needs to be intense.

Castellano, who also won the American Turf on Saturday over the Churchill Downs turf course on Webslinger, defended the racing surfaces at the Louisville track.

“It seemed to me, both courses were in really good shape,” he said.

In a legendary riding career, Castellano had before Saturday done almost everything but win the one race a North American-based jockey most craves. He has won 12 Breeders’ Cup races, including the 2004 Classic on Ghostzapper. Two years later, he won the Preakness Stakes on Bernardini.

Four straight years, 2013 through 2016, Castellano won the Eclipse Award as the outstanding jockey. In 2017, he was elected to the Hall of Fame.

On Saturday, a Venezuelan jockey legend riding a horse trained by another Venezuelan racing luminary, at last claimed the victory he has wanted over all others.

When NBC’s pre-Derby coverage showed that “Javier Castellano 0-of-15” graphic, Castellano said he had a premonition his drought was soon to end:

“I thought, ‘This is the year. This is the year I am going to break (the losing streak), and I win the race,’” he said.

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