Flavien Prat

In a desperate run to the finish, 6-1 shot Argos (Nyquist) just outlasted a furious late charge from European invader and 'TDN Rising Star' Wild Desert (Ire) (Too Darn Hot {GB}) to steal the bet365 Summer Stakes at Woodbine, a Win and You're In race for the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf at Del Mar. A debut winner sprinting 5 1/2 furlongs at Ellis Park for trainer Kevin Attard, who earned his first Summer win since he legged up Gary Stevens aboard El Soprano (El Prado {Ire}) in 2001, Argos...

The unique Kentucky Downs meet featured on its Wednesday closing day card the GIII Blackwood Dueling Grounds Oaks Invitational Stakes, which was won in circuitous fashion by the late-running exploits of Fionn (Twirling Candy--Gaelic Gold, by Giant's Causeway). Never out of the money across seven prior starts, the filly christened her stakes run with a victory in the Allen Black Cat LaCombe Memorial Stakes at Fair Grounds Mar. 8. Turning in a respectable third to the stellar Nitrogen (Medaglia d'Oro) in the GII Appalachian Stakes at Keeneland Apr. 8, the...

With a rocket in his pocket and a willingness to take on all comers in stride, 'TDN Rising Star' Brant (Gun Runner--Tynan, by Liam's Map) put up his dukes in the GI Del Mar Futurity Stakes and landed Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert his record 19th score in the seaside oval's signature race on closing day. Every moment the colt has had an opportunity to hit the track he has done so with a gusto to the stop the clock as soon as possible--no sundials here. After going to...

5th-Kentucky Downs, $180,800, Msw, 9-4, 2yo, f, 1mT, 1:34.74, fm, 1 1/2 lengths. IMAGINATIONTHELADY (f, 2, Not This Time--Romanticism, by War Front) was the most well-regarded first-time starter in the field, going off as the 3-1 second choice behind 2-1 favorite and second-time starter Market Chill (Not This Time). Forwardly placed from her outside gate under Flavien Prat, she pressed the tempo wide of Paris Twilight (City of Light) past the half-mile pole in :46.44. Once given her head with less than a quarter to run, Imaginationthelady spurted clear with...

TIME TO WIN, SAR, 9-1, 1 mile, VIDEO Beyer Speed Figure-87 (2nd) (c, 3, by Not This Time--Nagamble, by Flatter) O-Spendthrift Farm, William Lawrence, Big Easy Racing, Titletown Racing Stables, Winners Win, Golconda Stable, Ali Goodrich and Mark Parkinson. B-Fred Hertrich III. T-Chad Brown. J-Flavien Prat. Time to Win went into serious training late in 2024 as a 2-year-old then needed six months at the beginning of this year, but looked good finishing second to Only in America (below) as a debut favorite. He's a half-brother to Juju's Map, the...

Bi-coastal, 1 1/4-mile Grade I stakes over the weekend at Del Mar and Saratoga featured a number of contenders projected to target the GI Breeders' Cup Classic. The obvious winner was continent-crossing jockey John Velazquez, who parlayed a win in Saturday's GI Pacific Classic into a score 16 hours later in Sunday's GI Jockey Club Gold Cup. Here's a look how the horses who were in action emerged from those efforts and where they stand heading into the championship race. Fierceness: For a colt who has a reputation for sometimes...

The effort that goes into winning one race--at any level--is tremendous. Winning the same graded race four years in a row? That's the stuff of Hollywood. And yet veteran Gold Phoenix (Ire) (g, 8, Belardo {Ire}--Magnifica, by Mizzen Mast) showed once again why he is the GII Del Mar Handicap's leading man Saturday, winning for the fourth consecutive year and earning a 'Win and You're In' berth to the GI Breeders' Cup Turf over this course Nov. 1. GSW Stay Hot (Summer Front) finished second, while MGSW Atitlan (The Factor)...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y.--In the opener of the Travers Day program Saturday, Bottas (Vekoma) delivered a double maiden-breaking victory. Not only did he win his career debut in the $100,000 maiden special weight race for 2-year-olds, he notched the first triumph for the Dahman stable of Qatari businessman Abdulhadi Mana Al Hajri. With a last-to-first run under Flavien Prat, Bottas secured the lead by the sixteenth pole and finished 2 1/4 lengths ahead of Franklin Delano (Liam's Map) in the 1 1/16 miles on the inner turf course in 1:41.70. The...

5. DEEP LEARNING, SAR, 8/8, 1 1/16m (turf) 'TDN RISING STAR' (VIDEO) Beyer Speed Figure-84 (f, 2, by Cairo Prince--Dovima, by Union Rags) O-Klaravich Stables. B-Tony Dardis, Dell Ridge Farm, Ken Donworth and Desmond Ryan (Ky). T-Chad Brown. J-Flavien Prat. Deep Learning's debut generated the highest Beyer so far this year among 2-year-old turf fillies, and stacks up well with some of Brown's past stars. Five of his six GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf winners also launched their careers in Saratoga 1 1/16-mile turf maiden races--and her 84 Beyer...

Klaravich Stables' Deep Learning (Cairo Prince) sat a midfield trip while saving all the ground in Friday's third race from Saratoga, hugged the fence into the lane, and when she was popped the question by Flavien Prat with better than a furlong to go, she left her rivals in the dust, careering away to graduate by a good three lengths to achieve 'TDN Rising Star' status. Sent off favored at 2.35-1, the $27,000 Keeneland September buyback who blossomed into a $325,000 OBS April breezer (see below) was content to gain...

First-time starter Setting Sun (Caravaggio), who was pulled up during the running of the ninth race at Saratoga Wednesday, has been euthanized according to a press release from NYRA Thursday. The note reads: "During the running of Race 9 on Wednesday, August 6 at Saratoga Race Course, the Miguel Clement-trained Setting Sun was pulled up by jockey Flavien Prat in the stretch run with an injury to the left front. The filly was immediately attended to by on-track veterinarians, who transported Setting Sun to Rood & Riddle Equine Hospital for...

Flavien Prat has been suspended by the Saratoga stewards for three days as a result of his ride aboard race favorite Zulu Kingdom (Ten Sovereigns {Ire}) in Friday's GII National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame Stakes. Though Prat crossed the line 1 1/2-lengths in front of runner up Luther (GB) (Frankel {GB}), he was ultimately disqualified from the win for causing what the stewards deemed as interference on the first turn of the one-mile race. Joel Rosario, the jockey aboard Luther, lodged an objection following the race and the...