Jockey Angel Castillo achieved a significant milestone on March 11 at Parx Racing, securing his 1,000th career victory. Castillo reached this mark aboard Hi Heeled Warrior in the first race of the day, guiding the horse to a dominant 3 ¾-length victory as the lukewarm 7-2 favorite for trainer Irving Rodriguez.

With this latest triumph, Castillo has now amassed 1,000 wins from approximately 6,200 starts. His mounts have collectively earned nearly $27 million.

Castillo began his riding career in 2000 and has since built an impressive resume. His best year came in 2015 when he won 107 races, accumulating a career-best total of over $3.1 million in earnings. Among his notable achievements, he captured his first graded stakes win in the United States in 2023, piloting Yo Yo Candy to victory in the Grade 3 Sanford Stakes for trainer Daniel Velazquez and Happy Tenth Stable.

Over the years, Castillo has ridden numerous talented horses, with Battier standing out as the highest earner among them. The horse collected $279,400 under Castillo’s guidance. Other top earners include A Fleet Attitude, Indian Jones, and the Venezuelan Group 1 winner Gran Abuelo.

Despite his success, Castillo’s career has not been without controversy. In 2015, he was involved in an unusual incident at Parx Racing when stewards removed him from all his scheduled rides for the day, alleging he possessed an illegal electrical device used to shock horses into running faster. However, after further investigation, the officials determined that Castillo had been mistakenly accused and reinstated him.

Entering today’s action, the native of Venezuela had won with eight of 74 mounts this season, amassing $241,560 in purse earnings.