For jockey Javier Castellano, the third time turned out to be the charm.
Officials from Jamaica's Mouttet Mile asked the Hall of Fame rider to participate in the Caribbean's largest purse race in 2023 and 2024. But other obligations compelled Castellano to decline their overtures.
This year, he couldn't say no.
"They asked me to go for a third time, and definitely I decided to go because I feel like it is the right time to go," he told BloodHorse.
Castellano will be in the irons for the Kentucky-bred Rideallday, who is a 3-year-old son of Vekoma . Rideallday earned his spot in the $300,000 Mouttet Mile by winning the Port Royal Sprint Nov. 16 ahead of the Dec. 6 Mile.
Rideallday was owned by the track's operator, Supreme Ventures Racing and Entertainment Limited. Caymanas Park executive chairman Solomon Sharpe told local media that the gray or roan 3-year-old will have a new owner in time for the race.
The Venezuela-born Castellano said part of the appeal of racing in Jamaica is the opportunity to serve as an ambassador for the sport.
"It's promoting our game; we need to put our sport on the next level like any sport, like football, basketball, baseball," he said. "I always like to encourage people to see our sport; it's a beautiful sport. They need to have respect for us, for races, for horses. It's a beautiful sport—it's the best two minutes of your life."
The Mouttet Mile has been growing in stature over the last few years in part because of the exposure it receives via its partnership with the New York Racing Association and FOX Sports. NYRA added races from Caymanas Park to its betting menu on Mouttet Mile day and has at least explored having a race that grants automatic entry to the Mouttet Mile. The race can be watched in the United States as part of FOX Sports' "America's Day at the Races" broadcast.
Castellano hopes that exposure, as well as having a Hall of Fame jockey participating, will draw more big names to the island in the future.
"I've been blessed in my sport and my life. I would like to bless somebody else, too. ... I always like to help somebody else and promote the sport in different ways," he said. "Why not be there? I think that's the beauty for the sport, and we need to promote the game for the future, for the new generation."
Castellano, who is a four-time Eclipse-winning jockey with four classics and a dozen Breeders' Cup victories on his resume, said he would like to race in as many countries as possible before he retires.
While in Jamaica, he plans to ride in at least one other race on the card before heading back to Gulfstream Park, where he entered Nov. 30 as the No. 2 jockey in the standings of that track's recently started meet..
