Rider Javier Castellano, who was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2017, secured his 6,000th North American win Wednesday at Saratoga Race Course aboard Starship Lizzy (Central Banker) in Race 8, a New York-bred maiden claimer. The 3-year-old filly is trained by Michelle Nevin and owned by Starship Stables. After some bumping in the stretch, Castellano had to wait out a stewards' inquiry to find out if he'd reached win 6,000.“6,000 [wins] and I still have to sweat out my result! Nothing's easy in this game, for sure,” said Castellano with a laugh. “…I knew it wasn't my fault, and that's why I felt comfortable. But you never know, you have to see the 'official' first to count 6,000 races.”Castellano continued: “Thank God I've been blessed. Like I always say, thank you Lord, God, Jesus Christ for giving me the amazing skill of being a jockey and participating in the high level in my career with the best jockeys in the world. Especially doing it at Saratoga, the biggest stage in the world… so many great jockeys went through here, and to be my age competing with this generation to keep delivering and winning races and people supporting me is amazing. I'm very grateful and blessed to be around them.”Castellano, 48, began riding in his native Venezuela before his first mount in the U.S. in 1997 at Calder Race Course. He has since won Eclipse Awards for Outstanding Jockey four times, from 2013 to 2016. He captured the Kentucky Derby in 2023 aboard Mage (Good Magic) and has won all three Classics, as well as 12 Breeders' Cup races. He was the leading rider at Saratoga in 2013 and 2014, and received the 2019 Mike Venezia Memorial Award and the 2023 George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award. He's also won the GI Travers Stakes seven times, more than any other jockey. He'll ride The Puma (Essential Quality) in Saturday's edition.“Mentally, it's really, really tough. It looks easy, 6,000 races, but you've got to go through almost 40,000 races to win 6,000,” said Castellano. “Can you imagine how many losses you have to go through to win 6,000? There's a lot of disappointment, and I thought about it for a moment to quit being a jockey, because you go through those slumps and you don't think [it will get better]. Thank God I've been very lucky and fortunate to be strong, disciplined, dedicated, hard-working, and it paid off.”The post 6,000 Wins in North America for Hall of Famer Javier Castellano appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.