Flavien Prat
Spendthrift Farm and Repole Stable's Accelerize (c, 4, Omaha Beach--Motion Emotion, by Take Charge Indy) tackled a seasoned field in Saturday's 1 1/16-mile GIII Louisiana Stakes at Fair Grounds in just his fourth career start and prevailed in a hard-fought stretch battle. The 'TDN Rising Star, presented by Hagyard' was making his stakes debut. Just a Touch (Justify), the 3-5 favorite after returning from six months on the sidelines and multiple Grade I placings, hopped awkwardly out of the Louisiana gate. Meanwhile, Accelerize had left the stalls sharply and went...
Eleven of the most memorable events from Thoroughbred racing in North America last year have been nominated for the 2025 FanDuel Racing-NTRA Moment of the Year, a distinction determined by fan voting and recognized at the annual Eclipse Awards. Voting is now open on the National Thoroughbred Racing Association (NTRA) website, www.NTRA.com, and via X (formerly Twitter), where every retweet or use of the official hashtag for the moments as presented on the @NTRA account will be counted as one vote. The FanDuel Racing-NTRA Moment of the Year will be...
Track stars such as Ted Noffey (Into Mischief), Sovereignty (Into Mischief) and Forever Young (Jpn) (Real Steel {Jpn}) are among the finalists for the 2025 Resolute Racing Eclipse Awards, recognizing excellence through the past year in Thoroughbred racing, the National Thoroughbred Racing Association (NTRA) said via a Sunday press release. Winners in 17 horse and human categories will be announced on FanDuel TV, and other outlets, during the 55th Annual Resolute Racing Eclipse Awards, presented by John Deere, The Jockey Club and the NTRA, on Thursday, Jan. 22 at 7:30...
Godolphin LLC, who campaigned 13 North American graded stakes winners during 2025, including dual classic winner Sovereignty (Into Mischief), set a single-season record in earnings as the leading owner for the fifth consecutive year, and Irad Ortiz, Jr., established a single-season record as the leading jockey by earnings according to final year-end statistics released by Equibase Company on Friday. Godolphin--with 104 North American wins from 448 starts--amassed record earnings of $22,395,556, surpassing their previous mark of $20.2 million set in 2024. When including earnings from the Dubai and Saudi Cup...
The New York Racing Association, Inc. (NYRA) wrapped up Aqueduct's fall meet Wednesday with Flavien Prat taking the leading rider title and Linda Rice taking the leading trainer honors. Prat's 46 wins included nine stakes victories and five graded victories. His record for the fall stands at 136-46-21-15, earnings of $3,247,016, and a win percentage of 33.82%. Manny Franco was second with 33 wins, while Kendrick Carmouche was third with 25 victories. Rice notched her fourth consecutive Aqueduct fall meet training title with 31 wins and an overall record of...
Who says it never rains in Southern California? Well, for any music trivia buffs in the audience, it was the little-known Albert Hammond who sang those lyrics, but those living in and around metropolitan Los Angeles will confirm that the precipitation came with a vengeance this Christmas week, flooding parts of Interstate 5 and causing power outages and even the (very) odd threat of tornadoes. Nearly two inches of rainfall was recorded at Los Angeles International Airport, breaking a 54-year-old mark, while nearly four inches fell upon Woodland Hills and...
When it was announced last week that former New York Post racing columnist Ray Kerrison had been selected to the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame's Joe Hirsch Media Roll of Honor, New York horseplayers of a certain age had to be smiling. There have been plenty of gifted and talented men and women who have covered the sport over the years, but there's never been anyone like Ray Kerrison. He was fearless, a tremendous reporter, unafraid of whom he might alienate and was a fierce advocate for...
It took the length of the stretch, but Bishops Bay (Uncle Mo--Catch My Drift, by Pioneerof the Nile) closed the gap on the longshot to claim the GII Cigar Mile Handicap at Aqueduct. Bishops Bay is two races shy of enjoying a perfect record this season--that lone off the board finish coming in the GI Forego Stakes Aug. 23 at Saratoga and his lone runner-up effort coming at his '25 opener at Oaklawn Park. He was last seen Nov. 2 winning the GIII Forty Niner Stakes to claim his spot...
2nd-AQU, $85k, Msw, 2yo, 1m, 11:48 a.m. ET MR. MIRACLE (Curlin) gets his career started for a high-powered partnership that includes Jeff Drown, Gary Broad's Walmac Farm and Gainesway Farm. A son of one-time 'TDN Rising Star' presented by Hagyard Cherry Lodge (Bernardini), a listed winner and Grade I-placed at the races, the Mar. 28 foal fetched $700,000 at Keeneland September last fall from bloodstock agent Mike Ryan, who bought the colt's yearling full-brother for $1.4 million this past September. Cherry Lodge is a full-sister to GSW Gala Award and...
Fourth most recently in the GI Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup Stakes at Keeneland Oct. 11, Fionn (Twirling Candy) turned on the tables on that race's runner up, Laurelin (Ire) (Zarak {Fr}) to win Saturday's GIII Jockey Club Oaks at Aqueduct. It's been a year of incredible form for the Brad Cox trainee as the 3-year-old filly has won five of seven starts including her first Grade I success in the GI Belmont Oaks Invitational at Saratoga in July. In fact, that fourth in the QEII as the favorite marked...
Named a 'TDN Rising Star, presented by Hagyard' for her 3 1/4-length debut win over Thursday's distance at Saratoga, Deep Learning proved she had plenty of class, finishing a close-up fifth in the GI Natalma Sept. 13 and running second to subsequent GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf third Ground Support (Army Mule) in the GII Miss Grillo over course and distance Oct. 4. The popular 3-5 choice to go one better here, Deep Learning settled a nice third behind frontrunning Candy Moonshine (Twirling Candy) who cleared from the outside...
4th-Belmont The Big A, $85,360, Alw, 10-16, (NW1$X), 3yo/up, f/m, 6f, 1:10.46, ft, 2 1/2 lengths. WITH THE ANGELS (f, 3, Omaha Beach--Sister Margaret, by Pulpit), unraced since November 2024, returned a winner in her 3-year-old debut Thursday at Aqueduct. A perfect four-for-four as a juvenile, she was named a 'TDN Rising Star, presented by Hagyard' off an 11 1/2-length debut win before racking up three straight stakes wins all against fellow New York-breds. Facing open company for the first time Thursday and racing with the addition of Lasix, the...