By Duane Fonseca -
If Johnnatan Castano Mateus’ life were to be turned into a film, the production would revolve around a protagonist journeyman desperate to carve out a niche for himself in one of sport’s toughest careers.
The first thing Johhnatan Castano Mateus did after claiming his first UAE winner at Jebel Ali last week was cry. Thirty minutes later, he cried again. From not having won a race in 12 years, Mateus realised he was suddenly two-in-two. The Colombian could hardly believe it. Could he have been dreaming? He had, perhaps, dreamt of winning numerous times in the past only to wake up and realise the play of his subconscious acting out the deepest desires of his heart. There were to be no tricks. There would be no telling his wife the next morning of how he had once again dreamed he had won. This time he it was real. After what seemed like an eternity, it had finally happened!
“Twelve years is a long time. I hadn’t won in 12 years, that is a very, very long time,” Mateus told Adiyat Racing Plus after returning from the podium having collected his second prize of the afternoon following Mojeyrr’s dominant four-and-a-quarter length gate-to-wire success in the ESS Sprint Stakes sponsored by the Emirates Sprint Series.
The bright yellow silks of Sheikh Ahmed bin Rashid Al Maktoum have been fluttering gloriously at racing centres across the Emirates this season, particularly at Jebel Ali, and Mateus is happy to have contributed a couple to the Jebel Ali Racecourse founder and patron’s tally of 22 winners so far.
It helped Mateus repay the faith shown in him by Sheikh Ahmed’s resident trainer Michael Costa and Mohammed Ahmed, the Manager of Jebel Ali Racecourse, who helped him get the blessings of their boss and give him a second chance of getting back in the saddle. It didn’t matter that Mojeyrr and Ajdayet, winner of the Al Shafar Investment Cup maiden, were second-string. Driven by success and the determination to prove himself, Mateus showed great riding acumen aboard both his mounts on Saturday afternoon. He let Mojeyrr cruise along the standside rail and then put him under a strong ride which saw him kick clear for a big win, while reigniting Ajdayet’s fuse after it seemed as if his mere reason for racing Saturday was to play pacemaker to the highly-fancied Ghaaleb, the pick of Costa’s first choice rider Ben Coen.
Mateus knew exactly what he was doing. He might have been under pressure to get it right after a pair of near misses earlier in the season, when finishing second aboard Meshtri and
Laa Baas at the same venue. He had fallen prey to the impatience of trainers in Saudi Arabia and did not want history repeating itself.
“Sheikh Ahmed thank you very much for the opportunity, Mr. Mohammed and Michael Costa, thank you, thank you, thank you, so much. Today was my day. Before today I had a couple of seconds, but today was clearly my day. I knew I was going to win today somehow. And it’s happened. This is like a dream come true for me,” Mateus said.
Spiel delivered by an Oscar winner for sure.
If Mateus’ life were to be turned into a film, the production would revolve around a protagonist journeyman desperate to carve out a niche for himself in a career that had seemingly passed him by.
Raised by parents in a family of racing fanatics, Mateus had always dreamed of becoming a jockey. His father Jose Castano rode all across Latin America. And as the maxim goes, the apple did not end up falling far from the tree, with Mateus dedicating his life to the pursuit of success in the saddle.
“After earning my jockey’s licence I rode for a long time in Colombia and then Chile and then in Saudi Arabia for King Abdulaziz and then in Spain before I went back to Saudi. I rode 347 winners in Colombia, 18 in Chile, one in Saudi, now I have two wins in the UAE. My last winner was in Saudi in 2011, it was the last time I won a race,” Mateus explains.
“My father was a good jockey in Latin America and my mother is a racing fanatic and my uncles are all into the sport. After 10 years in Colombia I went to the United States as a work rider for a year, but it was difficult to get a work permit there.”
The last time Mateus rode competitively before donning the silks of Sheikh Ahmed was in 2018 in Saudi Arabia. “Since then I’ve never had a competitive ride,” he added.
“But I did not give up hope and I continued to work as a work rider there and then here. I came here in 2018 to ride work and have been patiently doing that for all this while and now it’s all fallen together so well.
“I was unable to get a ride so I mustered up the courage to ask Mr. Costa if he would give me a ride. I told him I’m not just a work rider, but a jockey. And he gave me the opportunity and I really thank him from the bottom of my heart. I thank all the people at Jebel Ali, the management and the stable staff. They have worked hard and keep working behind the scenes.”
At 39, Mateus is not a spring chicken. But looking at his fitness, he still seems to have plenty of years left in him. And with renewed vigour, he wants to grab life by the horns.
“I like it here. Life is different here and there are more opportunities. It was good in Saudi, but there weren’t many chances for me there.”
Reigniting Ajdayet, who brought him a first success on just his fourth UAE ride, has helped rekindle Mateus’ own ambitions. These are early days but he surely must know he might be close to getting back to where he rightfully belongs. Among jockeys and not those exclusively here to ride work.
“I cried when I crossed the finish line with my first winner. It’s my life; racing. I have waited for a very long time to get back to racing competitively,” Mateus said.
“My dream is to ride at Meydan and it would be nice to win some big race, but I’m happy to take small steps and make progress.
“It’s been my dream to win and this was the first time my family came here to watch me race and they’ve brought me luck. It’s just great to be celebrating a success once again.”
The Mateus family is likely to take attending racing very seriously in the future.
