For now, jockey Isaac Castillo says he’s grateful any time he gets the chance to ride in a graded stakes races. But it is getting to the point where the 27-year-old Panamanian would like a realistic shot at winning one.

That has really happened only once in the 22 graded stakes he has ridden in since he starting his career in the United States in 2016, when Our Pretty Woman, sent off at 7-2, was fourth in the Houston Ladies Classic on Jan. 25.

Chances are it may be more of the same during the NYRA Bets Haskell card on July 19 at Monmouth Park, with Castillo listed to ride Jersey-bred Wildncrazynight in the Grade 1 Haskell Stakes and Majestic Oops, trying graded stakes company for the first time in her 29-race career, in the Grade 3 Molly Pitcher.

Both horses are trained by Dan Ward.

“I feel good that trainers are giving me the opportunities to ride in these types of races,” said Castillo, who is listed to ride in five of the eight races on Friday at Monmouth Park. “It’s all about getting experience in graded stakes so when I have a chance to ride a good one I have that experience.

“I am just trying to enjoy the rides and do the best I can. You have to be patient and wait for your moment.”

The Haskell – Ward said “we’re planning to enter Wildncrazynight and planning to run” – will mark Castillo’s third time in a Grade 1 race. He rode 75-1 Basso in the 2021 Haskell and 82-1 Oceans Map in the (then-Grade 1) United Nations on the same card. Basso finished sixth; Oceans Map was 10^th.

Of the 22 graded stakes Castillo has ridden in 15 have seen his mounts go off 19-1 or higher, with six of those going off at odds of 54-1 or longer.

His best finish in a graded stakes has been fourth.

“I’m trying my best in graded stakes with what I am riding,” he said. “I feel good that I will get that first one soon.”

Castillo, who rode his first career winner at Monmouth Park in 2017, has finished in the top 10 of the jockey standings at the meet in each of the previous four summers. He was second in the standings in 2021 and is currently fifth with 13 wins.

Ward is hoping both of his horses show enough in their respective graded stakes to give Castillo a chance at something good.

Wildncrazynight, second to Bracket Buster in the NYRA Bets Pegasus Stakes on June 14 at Monmouth Park, had sprinted in his first nine starts prior to that race.

“That was his first time around two turns,” said Ward. “I thought he ran a good race. I was proud of him. While he couldn’t catch the horse that won he held the rest of the field off and there were some good horses around him.”

The only Jersey-bred to win the Haskell was Thanks To Tony in 1980.

Wildncrazynight was 31-1 when he was second in the Pegasus.

Majestic Oops will carry a three-race winning streak into the Grade 3 Molly Pitcher, having won the Lady’s Secret Stakes at Monmouth and the Dig A Diamond Stakes at Oaklawn in her previous two starts.

“She has turned in two really good races in stakes when you consider she gave seven pounds to the favorite both times,” said Ward. “So those are legitimate wins. And she might be the only one in the race who is training here.

“I like her chances.”

He is rooting for that to be Castillo’s graded stakes breakthrough as well.

“He’s a hard worker,” said Ward, who also uses Castillo at Oaklawn. “He will work a horse any time. If I have one running at Will Rogers Downs, which is a long drive from Oaklawn, he will go there to ride the horse. He’s a hard worker who does a good job.”

For Ward, meanwhile, the Haskell would be his first Grade 1 starter since he started his own stable in 2023. During the 2019 Breeders’ Cup he was listed as the trainer of record for Danuska’s My Girl in the Filly & Mare Sprint (she was fifth) and for Vasilika, second in the Filly & Mare Turf. He was the assistant for Jerry Hollendorfer then, with Hollendorfer barred from running at Santa Anita at the time. So those two ran with Ward listed as the trainer.