The joy emanating from the left side of the press conference room following the historic running of the 155th Belmont Stakes (G1) at Belmont Park June 10 was palpable, with family, friends, and co-workers of the winning connections there to celebrate a glorious outcome that saw Arcangelo and jockey Javier Castellano snake their way up the rail entering the stretch of the 1 1/2-mile race and earn a gutsy victory in the third and final Jewel of the Triple Crown.
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On the podium, a beaming and excited Castellano sat in the center, flanked by winning trainer Jena Antonucci to his right, and Arcangelo's owner, Jon Ebbert, on his other side. For Antonucci, her name has been added to the history books as the first female trainer to condition a winner of a Triple Crown event. In the case of veteran rider Castellano, he can now claim victories in the Kentucky Derby (G1), Preakness Stakes (G1), and Belmont Stakes.
It's been a heady six weeks for Hall of Famer Castellano who was mired in both a Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes slump until this year. The 45-year-old finally was able to fling red roses in the air when he entered the winner's circle aboard Mage , who roared to victory in the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs May 6 (the pair finished third in the May 20 Preakness Stakes and Mage sat out the Belmont Stakes). The Derby was on Castellano's bucket list after being blanked in 15 prior rides in the world's most celebrated race.
Saturday at Belmont Park, Castellano, who won the Preakness twice before, in 2006 and 2017, could finally say he had landed a Belmont Stakes, a race that had eluded him in 14 prior mounts—although the native of Venezuela had come close on three prior occasions with runner-up finishes, including an agonizing defeat, by a nose, aboard Destin in 2016.
Winning the Belmont Stakes was extremely meaningful for the well-liked and personable Castellano because it took place in New York, his home for more than two decades and where many of his nearly 5,700 career wins, including 850 stakes, have been earned—trips to the winner's circle that played a major role in him landing in the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in 2017. Yet judging by the expression on his face early Saturday evening, he regards his triumph aboard Arcangelo, who he is undefeated aboard in three starts, as a next-level achievement, or at least as important as winning the Kentucky Derby.
As his family, including his mother Neila, wife Abby, and their three children, Kayla, Sienna, and Brady, looked on, with pride and love on their faces, Castellano excitedly spoke to the media about this latest feather in his cap.
"We did, we did it…we (broke) our maiden," Castellano exclaimed as he energetically high-fived and then clasped Antonucci's hand.
"Can I get it, can I get it, can I win the race, can I win the race?" Castellano said, sharing what he was thinking in the stretch, as he and Arcangelo engaged Preakness winner National Treasure from their position on the rail before going on to a 1 1/2-length score as the fifth choice in the nine-horse field. "Really happy about how things unfolded this year—the Kentucky Derby and now I win the Belmont Stakes. Those two biggest Triple Crown races had been missing in my career. Not anymore, thank God, thanks to Jena and (Ebbert).
"My family, they have been supportive of my career," he added as he proudly gestured toward them.
Castellano and his wife, the daughter of Terry Meyocks, a long-time racing executive who is the CEO and president of the Jockeys' Guild, were married in New York in 2004 and are longtime residents of the Long Island suburb of Garden City, which is located six miles from Belmont Park.
And perhaps Castellano was feeling some extra motivation when he entered the starting gate for the Belmont Stakes because the evening before, the mayor of Garden City presented Castellano with a citation on behalf of the town's board of trustees in recognition of his career.
"I'm truly happy and proud of myself and my family," Castellano said. "Now I can go to my house and shake hands with my neighbor and say, 'We did it!'"
