If you thought jockey Flavien Prat had a breakout year in 2024, how about his breakout week to start off November?
Over six racing days from Nov. 1 to Nov. 9, the 33-year-old Frenchman put up astonishing numbers: He rode 20 winners from 48 starters – a strike rate of 41.66%! Impressive.
Prat, who won his first Eclipse Award as the nation’s top jockey last year, is on the road to an Eclipse double, Among his recent victories were two in the Breeders’ Cup at Del Mar on Nov. 1, aboard Splendora ($7.80) in the BC Filly & Mare Sprint (G1) and Nysos ($3.40) in the BC Dirt Mile (G1).
After the Breeders’ Cup, he boarded a plane back to New York and went on to set a record with seven wins the next day, Sunday (Nov. 2) at Aqueduct, including a pair of graded stakes – the Red Smith (G2) aboard Cugino, and the Forty Niner (G3) with Bishops Bay.
After a three-day break as the Belmont-at-Aqueduct meet switched to the Aqueduct meet, Prat was back at it with four winners on Nov. 6, followed by a pair of wins each of the next three days.
All totaled, Prat rode in 48 races, won 20, finished second eight times, and third three times. His on-the-board strike rate was 64.58% Even more impressive.
Not many riders can say they’ve had a hotter streak than Prat, who already surpassed his win total from 2024. He rode 230 winners in 2024 and is up to 262 through Nov. 10.
After his seven-win day, including six in a row, Prat said he wasn’t really bothered by the cross-country flight after the Breeders’ Cup. He said he was able to get a few hours' sleep.
“When I came here today, I thought I had some good mounts, but it's happened before where you think you're going to win a few and get nothing,’’ Prat said after his record-setting day (Nov. 2). “The horses have been running well and showing up -- it's great.”
With consecutive victories in races 2-7, Prat became the seventh rider at the New York Racing Association to win six successive races, coming within one of Ramon Dominguez’s record of seven in a row set over two cards from Dec. 14-15, 2011.
Prat’s totals on his record day – 10 starts, seven winners, three seconds.
“It was a great day,” Prat said. “I’m grateful to ride good horses that were doing well going into today. They all responded properly.”
We’ll see if the hot streak continues at Aqueduct beginning Thursday. Prat has eight mounts that day and a total of 20 through Sunday, among them Fionn in the Jockey Club Oaks (G3) on Saturday.
Richard Rosenblatt is an award-winning journalist and former Associated Press Horse Racing Editor. Currently, he serves as the news editor at US Racing, overseeing exclusive content from contributors worldwide.
