JOCKEYS

IN 2020 JOE BRAVO WINS:

• UNITED NATION (G1) (AQUAPHOBIA) MIKE MAKER
• MOLLY PITCHER (G3) (HOROLOGIST) BILL MOTT
• PEGASUS (PNEUMATIC) STEVE ASMUSSEN

JOE BRAVO 2015-2016:

• Won 11 Grade 1 Races
• Won 10 Grade 2 Races
• Won 10 Grade 3 Races
• Bravo Associated With Eclipse Champion Big Blue Kitten..Rode Him Exclusively During His Championship Season; Wins Include G1 $600,000 Turf Classic, G1 $500,000 United Nations..
• Bravo Associated With Eclipse Award Nominee Sheer Drama ..Rode Her Exclusively During Her Season; Wins Include G1 $750,000 Delaware Handicap, G1 $750,000 Personal Ensign, G1 $300,000 Madison..
• Bravo Associated With Eclipse Award Nominee A.P. Indian ..Rode Him Exclusively During That Season; Wins Include G1 $700,000 Forego, G1 $350,000 Vanderbilt, G2 $250,000 Phoenix, G3 $400,000 Belmont Sprint..
• Bravo Rode 5 Winners At Belmont Included All Three Stakes(G2 $200,000 Sheepshead Bay With Rosalind, G3 $150,000 Westchester With Champion Tonalist, G3 $150,000 Fort Marcy With Champion Big Blue Kitten)
• Bravo Wins 3 Stakes At 3 Tracks In 24 Hours ($100,000 Don Levine @Prx-With A.P. Indian The Flew To CD In G1 $500,000 Stephen Foster With Bradester Then Next Day @MTH In G3 Pegasus With Donegal Moon)
• Bravo Has 7 Breeders Cup Mounts In 2015
• Bravo’s Other Races Won In 2015 & 2016 Include The G2 $750,000 West Virginia Derby, G1 $700,000 Beverly D, G1 $500,000 Champagne, $500,000 Ohio Derby, G2 $400,000 Presque Isle Downs Masters, G3 $350,000 Razorback, G2 $250,000 Elkhorn, $200,000 Centaur, G2 $200,000 Futurity,G2 $200,000 Summer Stakes, G2 $200,000 Pan American, G2 $200,000 Shakertown, G2 $200,000 FT. Lauderdale,G2 $200,000 Monmouth Cup,G2 $150,000 Fort Marcy, $150,000 Governor’s Cup, G2 $200,000, G3 $150,000 Oceanport,G3 $100,000 Matchmaker,G3 $100,000 Red Bank,G3 $100,000 Boiling Springs, G3 $100,000 Cliff Hanger, $100,000 Tale Of The Cat, $100,000 Perryville, Majestic Light(Twice),Unbridled,Happy Ticket Among Some Other Graded And Non-Graded Stakes. [ Previous History with Cory]

Javier Castellano (born October 23, 1977) is a Venezuelan jockey in American Thoroughbred horse racing.

Castellano won the Eclipse Award for Outstanding Jockey four times in a row from 2013 to 2016. In 2023 he won two legs of the American Triple Crown–the Kentucky Derby and the Belmont Stakes–aboard different horses.

Castellano began his riding career in 1996 at Santa Rita and La Rinconada racecourses in Venezuela. In June 1997 he moved to the United States where he rode at race tracks in southern Florida until 2001, when he moved north to race on the New York State racing circuit.

He had his first major wins in 2004, on Frank Stronach’s colt Ghostzapper and won several major races including the 2004 Breeders’ Cup Classic, earning 2004 Eclipse Award for Horse of the Year and other honors. In 2006, Castellano rode Bernardini for Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum’s Darley Racing, winning the Preakness Stakes, the Travers Stakes, and the Jockey Club Gold Cup.

Castellano received the Eclipse Award for Outstanding Jockey in 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2016, each year having the highest purse winnings of any jockey in North America. In 2013, he finished the year with purse earnings of over $26.2 million, surpassing the single-season record previously held by Ramon Dominguez in 2012.  He passed 4,000 North American wins in February 2015, and by the end of the year had broken his own single-season winnings and earnings record.

In 2023 Castellano won two legs of the Triple Crown on two separate horses, winning aboard Mage in the Kentucky Derby and Arcangelo in the Belmont Stakes. It was Castellano’s first career victory in each race.

Castellano was inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in 2017.

Racing runs in Castellano’s family. His father, who died in 2000, his uncle, and a brother all have been jockeys. He considers his father to be the biggest influence on his career. 

He and his wife, Abby have three children. His father-in-law is Terry Meyocks, national director of the Jockeys’ Guild. His younger brother Abel Castellano, Jr. (born 1983) is also a jockey and rode his first winner on September 22, 1999, at Santa Rita Race Course in Venezuela. In 2000 he began riding in the United States at Gulfstream Park.