.Eddie Castro’s win aboard Gone Astray in the $1-million Pennsylvania Derby (G2) on September 7 at Philadelphia Park was enough to pace the relatively young journeyman rider as the leading jockey by earnings for the week ended September 8.
Castro, 34, won on eight of 33 mounts that earned $861,795 to surpass Racing Hall of
Fame rider Mike Smith. Castro began riding in North America in 2003 after learning to ride in his native Panama. He was the Eclipse Award-winning apprentice jockey that year and has since gone on to win 1,656 races from 9,403 mounts who have earned $52,035,479 through Wednesday. Gone Astray is one of two seven-figure scores for Castro, his first coming when he guided Miesque’s Approval to an upset victory in the
$2-million NetJets Breeders’ Cup Mile (G1) in 2006 at Churchill Downs. Castro rides summers at Monmouth Park and before last year was a regular in South Florida during the winter, but he rode at Aqueduct during the 2008-’09 winter meet. He currently ranks second in the Monmouth jockey standings and is one of only seven riders this year
with 160 or more wins and more than $6-million in purse earnings.
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