SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – His résumé includes four Eclipse Awards, more than 5,500 wins, $371 million in purse earnings – ranking him second all-time – and a Hall of Fame plaque. Still, Javier Castellano has spent the better part of the last two years trying to reinvent himself. The culmination of that process seems to be revealing itself this summer at Saratoga, where Castellano’s 15 wins have him tied for fourth in the jockey standings with Flavien Prat. The 15 wins are two more than he had all last summer here and, having ridden just 64 mounts this meet, his .234 winning percentage leads all riders among those with five or more mounts. :: DRF's Saratoga headquarters – Stakes schedule, previews, recaps, past performances, and more It might be a far cry from 2013, when Castellano’s 66 wins earned him the first of two Saratoga riding titles and the second most wins ever recorded at a meet here (Ramon Dominguez won 68 in 2012). That year also ended with the first of what would be four straight Eclipse Awards for Castellano. He and Jerry Bailey are the only two riders to pull off that feat. Over the last two years, however, Castellano has seen his business slip. In March 2020, he was the first rider to test positive for COVID-19. While he was mostly asymptomatic, it cost him about six weeks of riding. In November 2020, Castellano made the decision to undergo surgery to clean up some debris near his hip. He was sidelined for three months and watched some of his business go elsewhere. “I came back really strong, feel good, but still people had a question mark about me,” Castellano, 44, said recently. “When you come off the bench people ask what was wrong. Are you good, not good? I had less opportunity in 2021.” Coming off a Saratoga meet where he had won just 13 races, Castellano changed agents and hired P.J. Campo, the former racing executive who had helped Eric Cancel (whom Campo still represents) become leading rider at the 2020-21 Aqueduct winter meet. Castellano said it was Campo’s job to help him gain more opportunities and it was his job to make the most of them. “I had to prove myself; I had to show I still belonged in the game,” Castellano said. “The more opportunity I got, the more I show people I belong. I changed agents, and it worked for me. When they give me opportunity, we get it done and that opened the door.” Trainer Shug McGaughey gave Castellano the opportunity to ride Kathleen O., who won three stakes this winter en route to the Kentucky Oaks where she finished fifth. On Wednesday, McGaughey recalled a day last summer when Castellano told him he was changing agents in hopes of reviving his career. “That picked my eyes up a little bit to where I knew he was going to be riding hard,” McGaughey said. “I think his riding has improved all along. I think he’s having a really good meet here and had a really good meet at Belmont when he was not riding the best [horses]. I think he’s back going” good. Trainers Todd Pletcher and Mike Maker have used Castellano to ride stakes outside of New York. For Maker this year, Castellano has won 10 races from 33 mounts. “It was basically starting from scratch,” Campo said. “Him and I had to be on the same page about how we’re going to build the business back up, and we did. I felt like every meet we went to we gained a little momentum.” During his Eclipse Award-winning years of 2013-16, Castellano rode frequently for Chad Brown and Pletcher, the two winningest trainers on this circuit. This year, Castellano has gone 5 for 22 for Pletcher and 1 for 6 for Brown. :: Visit the Saratoga Handicapping Store for Past Performances, Clocker Reports, Picks, Betting Strategies and more. At Saratoga this summer, his 15 wins have come for 10 different trainers, four of them for Tom Morley. He’s won two stakes at this meet, including the opening-day Wilton aboard Tarabi and the Grade 3 Caress on Robin Sparkles. Saturday, Castellano rides Get Smokin’ in the Grade 1 Fourstardave Handicap here. Castellano, who received a three-day suspension (he’s appealing) for a winning ride on Dot’s Dollar on Aug. 3, hopes the second half of the summer goes as well as the first. He will miss Travers Day here to ride a promising 2-year-old, Lost Ark, for Pletcher in the Sapling at Monmouth Park that day. The previous night, Castellano will be at Charles Town to ride Officiating in the $1 million Charles Town Classic. It’s all part of the process Castellano hopes returns him to past glory. “It’s not what you did in the past,” Castellano said. “It’s what you’re doing right now.”