Castellano sets Keeneland earnings record
LEXINGTON, Ky. – With a monstrous couple of weeks that included six stakes wins, Javier Castellano has set a record for a non-Breeders’ Cup meet at Keeneland with $1,905,914 in mount earnings. The 41-year-old Venezuela native will fall one shy of the most stakes wins at a meet (seven, Pat Day, 1998 fall) because he will miss the last seven cards to ride primarily at Belmont Park prior to returning to Kentucky for Derby weekend.
With 14 wins from 33 mounts, Castellano leads the jockey standings, but surely he’ll be overtaken by the time the meet ends April 26. Florent Geroux and Joel Rosario start this week tied for second with 9 wins each, and both will continue to ride here regularly.
SoCal well represented
Southern California has had greater representation at this meet than in the past. Here are the records at this meet for trainers who are closely identified with the Southern California circuit and have won at least one race: John Sadler, 3 for 3; Richard Baltas, 2 for 3; Ron Ellis, 1 for 1; Paulo Lobo, 1 for 3; Jeff Mullins, 1 for 3; Shelbe Ruis, 1 for 5; Peter Miller, 1 for 8.
◗ Honey Bunny will try to become the first two-time winner at the meet when she is heavily favored for trainer John Ortiz in the Wednesday opener, a filly-mare starter-allowance.
◗ Betting favorites continue to absolutely rule at the meet, having won 42 of 85 races (49 percent) during the first nine days.
◗ The nine-race Sunday card was ravaged by 47 scratches when the turf course was deemed unusable because of heavy overnight rain.
