Jockey Flavien Prat secured his 2,000th career victory in North America aboard Iron Max as part of a memorable five-win Friday at Belmont at the Big A.<\/p>\n
\u201cHonestly, when I started riding, I never thought in my wildest dreams that I would be here in New York and celebrating 2,000 wins, so I\u2019m very grateful,\u201d Prat said. \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of people along that way that believed in me and gave me an opportunity, so I\u2019m very thankful. The trainers, owners, and my agent has done a great job, and my family have supported me as well.\u201d<\/p>\n
Prat\u2019s agent, Brad Pegram, said the veteran rider\u2019s professionalism shines through on a day-to-day basis.<\/p>\n
“He’s very disciplined,” Pegram said. “He’s very even-keeled. He’s never too high and never too low, just steady – one race at a time. He’s very dedicated and extremely competitive. He loves what he does, loves the sport and is always moving forward.”<\/p>\n
The milestone victory was secured in dramatic fashion in Race 7, a nine-furlong New York-bred maiden claimer over the inner turf, as the Brad Cox-trained Iron Max [No. 4, $2.70*] overcame a troubled start to graduate. Under a typically sharp ride by Prat, Iron Max advanced into contention down the backstretch and loomed large through the final turn, overtaking the pacesetting Makeyourmoment and drawing off to win by 3 3\/4-lengths as the mutuel favorite.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s a bit difficult in the sense that he blows the start all the time, but he has a ton of stamina, and I thought down the backside I would get myself clear and get myself closer, and after that, he got the job done,\u201d Prat said of the milestone win.<\/p>\n
Prat, who started the day with 1,996 wins, swept the early double with a pair of talented horses in allowance optional-claiming events as graded stakes-winner La Mehana [No. 1, $6.20] took an 11-furlong inner turf test in Race 1 before last year\u2019s Grade 1 Jockey Club Gold Cup winner Highland Falls [No. 1, $2.40*] returned from a layoff to score traveling a one-turn mile in Race 2. The talented rider picked up his third win on the card in Race 5 when Shesalittle Edgy [No. 1A, $7] wired a 6 1\/2-furlong claiming sprint; and closed out a memorable afternoon in Race 9 with a win aboard Global Prosperity [No. 11, $14.40] in a maiden claiming outer turf sprint to notch career win 2,001.<\/p>\n
Prat, a 32-year-old native of Melun, Siene-et-Marne, France, led the nation last year with over $37 million in purse earnings to capture the Eclipse Award for Outstanding Jockey for the first time as part of an incredible campaign that saw him set the record for stakes [82] and graded stakes victories [56] in a single season.<\/p>\n
The dual Classic winner was elevated to victory in the 2019 Grade 1 Kentucky Derby aboard Country House and added the Grade 1 Preakness to his ledger in 2021 with Rombauer.<\/p>\n
A seven-time Breeders\u2019 Cup-winner, he has smiled for the camera at the year-end championship event with Obviously [2016, Turf Sprint], Battle of Midway [2017, Dirt Mile], Storm the Court [2019, Juvenile], Flightline [2022, Classic], Hard to Justify [2023, Juvenile Fillies Turf], Moira [2024, Filly and Mare Turf] and Sierra Leone [2024, Classic].<\/p>\n
Prat, who was his native country\u2019s Champion Apprentice Jockey in 2009 before moving to the United States full time in 2015, has reached the 2,000 win milestone in quick fashion.<\/p>\n
Among the top horses he has piloted are 2022 Champion Older Dirt Male and Horse of the Year Flightline, who romped to victory in that year\u2019s Grade 1 Hill \u2018n\u2019 Dale Metropolitan Handicap at Belmont Park; the 2024 Grade 1 Met Mile-winner National Treasure, who earned that year\u2019s Eclipse Award for Champion Older Dirt Male; and the aforementioned Sierra Leone, who secured Champion 3 Year Old Colt honors with his Breeders\u2019 Cup Classic score last year.<\/p>\n
Prat said he\u2019s still in disbelief at how far his career has come in such a short period of time.<\/p>\n
\u201cBeing on Flightline, the whole journey was just amazing,\u201d Prat said. \u201cWins in the Preakness, Kentucky Derby, obviously Sierra Leone last year was a key horse for me. But all of the horses as well. Every win is special. It\u2019s been a great journey and I try to enjoy it as much as I can. I\u2019m fortunate to have good people around me.\u201d<\/p>\n
And as for what milestone he would like to chase down next?<\/p>\n
\u201cI just want to keep winning and to do my best, to improve my riding and everything around it,\u201d Prat said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
America\u2019s Day at the Races will present live coverage and analysis of the Belmont at the Big A spring\/summer meet on the networks of FOX Sports. For the broadcast schedule and channel finder, visit https:\/\/www.nyra.com\/aqueduct\/racing\/tv-schedule\/.
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NYRA Bets is the official wagering platform of Belmont at the Big A, and the best way to bet every race of the spring\/summer meet. Available to horse players nationwide, the NYRA Bets app is available for download today on iOS and Android at www.NYRABets.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jockey Flavien Prat secured his 2,000th career victory in North America aboard Iron Max as part of a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":219810,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4107],"tags":[1071,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-219809","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-racing","8":"tag-racing","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114757864427928132","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219809","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=219809"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219809\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/219810"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=219809"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=219809"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=219809"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}