Castellano gives Jules N Rome great ride in Saratoga Dew
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. -- What do you get when you add a perfect ride to an astute claim? Jules N Rome’s 1 3/4-length victory over Isabelle in Monday’s $100,000 Saratoga Dew for New York-bred fillies and mares.
Jockey Javier Castellano provided the ride while trainer Rudy Rodriguez and owner Michael Dubb were the ones who teamed-up to claim Jules N Rome for $62,500 out of a third-place finish against open company here less than three weeks earlier.
Breaking from the extreme outside in post position 10, Castellano was able to angle Jules N Rome down near the rail entering the first turn of the 1 1/8-mile Saratoga Dew. Jules N Rome raced within easy striking distance to the stretch, angled five wide commencing her bid leaving the final turn, overtook the tiring Isabelle at mid-stretch and won going away.
Isabelle set a pressured pace and held well to easily be second best despite switching back to her left lead inside the sixteenth pole. Jc’s Shooting Star steadied briefly behind the winner awaiting clearance entering the stretch, angled outside and rallied mildly to finish third. Flipcup had no rally after looming boldly near the quarter-pole, ultimately checking home a tiring fourth as the 9-5 favorite.
Jules N Rome completed the distance over a fast track in 1:50.98 and paid $8.70.
“We’ve watched her for a while,” said Rodriguez, when asked why he and Dubb decided to claim Jules N Rome. “We wanted to claim her when she was in for $40,000, but a couple of owners said she didn’t have the numbers. When they put her back in for claiming again, I talked to Michael Dubb and he said claim her. That’s why he’s one of the best owners in the game. He likes the action and he doesn’t regret. We’ve been very lucky together, and everything worked out good for him today.”
Rodriguez said he didn’t really give Castellano any instructions prior to the race.
“Javier knows what to do, he’s a pretty smart jockey,” Rodriguez said. “I just try to bring the horses into the race as best as I can and I leave the rest up to them.”