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Pennsylvania Racing Commission: Castillo Found With Machine
Jockey Angel Castillo, second leading jockey at Parx Racing in Pennsylvania, was abruptly taken off his mounts after finishing second in Tuesdays fourth race when officials with the Pennsylvania Horse Racing Commission said they discovered a prohibited electrical device in his possession.
There was a shakedown of the jocks room, Walter Remmert, acting executive secretary of the racing commission, told the Paulick Report. We are in the process of having a hearing in the next couple of days concerning Angel Castillo and us find finding a machine in his possession.
A machine is one of several terms used to describe the illegal device used by some jockeys to send an electrical charge into a horse to make them run faster. The devices are also known as buzzers, batteries or short-sticks.
Remmert said the hearing could be as early as Wednesday.
According to multiple sources, the security officers used a metal-detector wand as part of the search. No other jockeys were found to be in possession of prohibited devices. Castillo was taken off his remaining three mounts in the days fifth, sixth and eighth races.
Castillos agent, Jim Marini, did not answer calls or respond to a voice message.
Castillo, a native of Venezuela with 502 victories in 3,007 career mounts since 2000 and mount earnings of $12.1 million, is coming off his best year. In 2014, he won 112 races from 512 mounts for earnings of $2.7 million. He ranked fourth in the 2014 Parx Racing jockey standings behind Frankie Pennington. He is second in the current Parx standings with 38 wins from 193 mounts.
Castillo had just finished second aboard Maxwells Hammer for owner Barbara Hopkins and trainer Ramon Preciado in the fourth race at Parx. After a 10-minute delay to the fifth race, Pennington won aboard the horse Castillo had been scheduled to ride, the 5-1 shot Ring It Up, owned by Dawghouse Stable and trained by Philip Aristone. Castillos other two scheduled mounts, Jet Alley in the sixth and Reflected Way in the eighth, both finished last.
Castillo is the second jockey alleged to be in possession of an illegal device this year. On Jan. 17 at Sam Houston Race Park in Texas, Roman Chapa was photographed with a device in his hand at the finish of a race and subsequently suspended five years. Chapa, suspended on two previous occasions for carrying an illegal device in a race, has also been charged with a felony. The criminal case is pending.
Last year at Prairie Meadows in Iowa, jockey Roberto Morales was charged with possession of five illegal electrical devices when a search of his car was conducted in the track/casinos parking lot. The case was thrown out, however, when an Iowa judge ruled the search was unconstitutional. Morales is currently riding in Louisiana.
Jockey Angel Castillo, second leading jockey at Parx Racing in Pennsylvania, was abruptly taken off his mounts after finishing second in Tuesdays fourth race when officials with the Pennsylvania Horse Racing Commission said they discovered a prohibited electrical device in his possession.
There was a shakedown of the jocks room, Walter Remmert, acting executive secretary of the racing commission, told the Paulick Report. We are in the process of having a hearing in the next couple of days concerning Angel Castillo and us find finding a machine in his possession.
A machine is one of several terms used to describe the illegal device used by some jockeys to send an electrical charge into a horse to make them run faster. The devices are also known as buzzers, batteries or short-sticks.
Remmert said the hearing could be as early as Wednesday.
According to multiple sources, the security officers used a metal-detector wand as part of the search. No other jockeys were found to be in possession of prohibited devices. Castillo was taken off his remaining three mounts in the days fifth, sixth and eighth races.
Castillos agent, Jim Marini, did not answer calls or respond to a voice message.
Castillo, a native of Venezuela with 502 victories in 3,007 career mounts since 2000 and mount earnings of $12.1 million, is coming off his best year. In 2014, he won 112 races from 512 mounts for earnings of $2.7 million. He ranked fourth in the 2014 Parx Racing jockey standings behind Frankie Pennington. He is second in the current Parx standings with 38 wins from 193 mounts.
Castillo had just finished second aboard Maxwells Hammer for owner Barbara Hopkins and trainer Ramon Preciado in the fourth race at Parx. After a 10-minute delay to the fifth race, Pennington won aboard the horse Castillo had been scheduled to ride, the 5-1 shot Ring It Up, owned by Dawghouse Stable and trained by Philip Aristone. Castillos other two scheduled mounts, Jet Alley in the sixth and Reflected Way in the eighth, both finished last.
Castillo is the second jockey alleged to be in possession of an illegal device this year. On Jan. 17 at Sam Houston Race Park in Texas, Roman Chapa was photographed with a device in his hand at the finish of a race and subsequently suspended five years. Chapa, suspended on two previous occasions for carrying an illegal device in a race, has also been charged with a felony. The criminal case is pending.
Last year at Prairie Meadows in Iowa, jockey Roberto Morales was charged with possession of five illegal electrical devices when a search of his car was conducted in the track/casinos parking lot. The case was thrown out, however, when an Iowa judge ruled the search was unconstitutional. Morales is currently riding in Louisiana.