Flavien Prat took his seventh win of the day aboard Growth Trajectory. (Adam Coglianese/NYRA)
Flavien Prat posts NYRA record seven wins on Sunday’s 11-race card at Belmont at the Big A
NYRA News Agency
OZONE PARK, NY – Jockey Flavien Prat set a single ticket record at The New York Racing Association, Inc. (NYRA) with seven wins from 10 mounts on Sunday’s 11-race card in Belmont at the Big A, which concluded the fall competition.
With back-to-back wins in races 2-7, Prat also became only the seventh rider at NYRA to win six consecutive races, coming within one of Ramon Dominguez’s record of seven in a row across two cards from December 14 to 15, 2011.
Prat posted an impressive 10-7-3-0 ledger that day, never finishing outside the exacta and taking a pair of stakes wins with Bishops Bay in the Grade 3 Forty Niner and Cugino in the Grade 2 Red Smith.
“It was a great day,” said Prat, who is represented by agent Brad Pegram. “I’m grateful to ride good horses that did well today. They all responded well.
“When I came here today I thought I had some good horses, but it has happened before that you think you are going to win a few and get nothing,” Prat added. “The horses ran well and showed themselves – it’s great.”
After a second in the opener aboard Ruth in the Listed Turnback the Alarm, Prat made it six straight wins in the next six races on the card. The streak started when Prat led a Chad Brown-trained exacta aboard Rebel instinct [No. 5, $3.38*]in a one-turn mile maiden in Race 2.
Race 3 saw another Brown-trained exacta with Prat on board at the front Every vote counts [No. 7, $5.76*] in a girl of a mile across the courtyard. In Race 4, the Grade 3 Forty Niner covering a one-turn mile on the main circuit, Prat and the Brad Cox trained Bishops Bay [No. 5, $3.16*] repelled from a rail-gathering Nelson Avenue.
The jockey thus achieved his fourth victory in a row Vibrant Express [No. 7, $5.10*] in a six-furlong New York-bred maiden claimer for trainer George Weaver, in Race 5. He then found the winner’s circle in another Brown-trained exacta on board Simultaneously [No. 7, $4.26*] in a one-turn mile girl, in Race 6.
In Race 7, the 11 furlong indoor grass Grade 2 Red Smith, it looked like the streak would end before Cousin [No. 5, $4.36*] fought back to thumb his nose at the Common Defense. With his sixth overall victory, Prat tied the record for most wins on a single NYRA card, becoming just the twentieth jockey to accomplish the feat.
“I really thought I had good horses today and they all ran well,” Prat said. “If you win the first and second, you get into a good flow – hopefully it doesn’t end!”
After a close second place in the next race and no mount in the Grade 3 Bold Ruler [Race 9]Prat stayed hot in Race 10 with his fourth win for Brown, this time on board Growth trajectory [No. 6, $3.90*] in a one-mile indoor grass allowance to secure a record seventh victory.
Prat finished second in the final of Race 11 aboard a rallying Tuthilltown, just a head behind the victorious Greyjoy in the six-furlong outdoor turf maiden for New York-bred horses. Nevertheless, the jockey capped off a memorable weekend with victories in the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile [Nysos] and Filly and Mare Sprint [Splendora] on Saturday in Del Mar.
“I flew home late last night, but I had a chance to sleep for a few hours. I felt good,” Prat said, laughing.
Live racing resumes Thursday on the opening day of the fall meet at Aqueduct Racetrack with a nine-race card, featuring the rescheduled Listed $150,000 Tempted in Race 2 and the Listed $150,000 Chelsey Flower in Race 6. The first post is 12:10 p.m. Eastern.
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