Flavien Prat

Only a courageous runner-up effort behind 'TDN Rising Star' and 3-year-old male Eclipse finalist Fierceness (City of Light) in the GI Travers Stakes this past August stood between Brookdale Racing Inc, Mark Edwards, Judy Hicks and Magdalena Racing's 'TDN Rising Star' Thorpedo Anna (Fast Anna) and a perfect season in 2024. But the enormously talented dark bay filly was utterly dominant against her own sex in 2024 and became the first female since Havre de Grace (Saint Liam) in 2011 to take home the coveted Horse of the Year statuette...

After threatening a breakthrough for the past several seasons, jockey Flavien Prat finally reached the summit of his profession Thursday when he was recognized with the Eclipse Award for outstanding jockey for the first time in his career. The Frenchman, who relocated to New York from California a few seasons ago to improve his chances of achieving this type of accolade, rode the winners of a record 82 black-type races in 2024, some 56 of those at the graded level, also a record. Overall he rode the winners of 230...

Florent Geroux, who won both graded stakes Saturday on the "Road to the Derby Day" card at Fair Grounds, earned 'Jockey of the Week' for January 13 through January 19 by a vote of the panel of racing experts.The weekly honor recognizes jockeys who are members of the Jockeys' Guild for significant riding accomplishments. Riding for Brad Cox, Geroux first guided Hit Show (Candy Ride {Arg}) to victory in the GIII Louisiana Stakes and then took the GIII Lecomte Stakes aboard Disco Time (Not This Time) to close out the...

It's an interesting year when it comes to the Eclipse Awards, which will be announced next week. As always, there are the categories that are no-brainers where the winners should be unanimous. But there are several divisions this year that aren't so clear-cut, which will make for an interesting ceremony come Jan. 23. Here's a look at my ballot: Two-Year-Old Male: Citizen Bull (Into Mischief) Became the obvious pick after winning the 2024 GI FanDuel Breeders' Cup Juvenile. Scary thing is that he might be no better than the third...

Dornoch (Good Magic), Sierra Leone (Gun Runner) and Fierceness (City of Light) in the Three-Year-Old Male category were among the finalists for the 2024 Resolute Racing Eclipse Awards, recognizing excellence through the past year in Thoroughbred racing, the National Thoroughbred Racing Associaiton (NTRA) said in a Sunday release. Winners in 17 horse and human categories will be announced on FanDuel TV, and other outlets, during the ceremony, presented by John Deere, Keeneland, and The Jockey Club, on Thursday, Jan. 23 at 7:30 p.m. ET. The evening will culminate with the...

Last year, the Santa Ynez Stakes was issued a downgrade from its grade III status and tabbed as a listed race for 3-year-old fillies in 2025. However, Kentucky Oaks points remain on the table--10 will be deposited in the winner's account--when the bell rings at Santa Anita on Sunday. The Santa Ynez is now part of 1/ST Racing's 3-Year-Old Filly Series, which is sponsored by Fasig-Tipton. Made the morning-line favorite at 5-2 is Hronis Racing's A.Z. Wildcat (Munnings). The chestnut stalked the pace nicely and ended up breaking her maiden...

An announced on-track crowd of 41,562 welcomed the return of live racing to Santa Anita Thursday afternoon, the largest non-weekend or holiday crowd on opening day since 1990 and biggest opening-day crowd in eight years, track officials said late Thursday. Total all-sources handle of more than $21.4 million was the third-highest in track history for an opening-day program and marked a 17.4% increase over 2023. It was the fourth time in the last seven years that handle exceeded $20 million. "Our Racing Office offered an exceptional program, the owners and...

Tied no more. After weeks of sharing the top of the leaderboard, Flavien Prat surpassed Jerry Bailey Thursday to become the new record holder for most graded stakes wins in a single season. His landmark 56th came in the GII Mathis Mile Stakes aboard King of Gosford (GB) (Zoustar {Aus}), a 3-year-old imported from Ireland late last year to the barn of Phillip D'Amato. A well-seasoned runner over 2024, Thursday's 3-5 favorite came in in plenty good form with only one off-the-board finish from eight starts since hitting American soil...

2024 marked another successful year for the TDN Writers' Room, which is presented by Keeneland and hosted by the team of Bill Finley, Zoe Cadman and Randy Moss. This week we look back on a few of our favorite guests throughout the year. First, we checked in with Richard Migliore ahead of a historic Belmont Stakes weekend. 'Richie' reminisced on Belmonts past and shared what he was looking forward to most for the first-ever 'Belatoga.' "I can already feel the energy that's been in town," Migliore said as he called...

2024 marked another successful year for the TDN Writers' Room, hosted by the team of Bill Finley, Zoe Cadman and Randy Moss. Take a look and a listen to this week's episode, where we look back on a few of our favorite guests throughout the year.

1st-Aqueduct, $87,300, Msw, 12-8, 2yo, f, 1m, 1:38.64, ft, 1/2 length. RAMIFY (f, 2, Munnings--Chamber, by Tapit) continued a big weekend at the Big A for juveniles by Munnings out of Tapit mares with this debut victory at 3-1. The chestnut filly settled at the back of the field as a trio of runners vied for the early lead down the backstretch through a quarter in :23.02. Ramify was still well back in last as the half went up in :46.28, but she made rapid progress on the far turn....

After upsetting last weekend's GII Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes at Churchill Downs with First Resort (Uncle Mo), Godolphin and trainer Eoin Harty doubled up in dramatic fashion with fellow 2-year-old homebred Poster (Munnings) in Saturday's GII Remsen Stakes at Aqueduct. The victory, good for 10 points on the road to the GI Kentucky Derby, also provided jockey Flavien Prat with his record-setting 80th stakes win of the season and his 55th graded stakes win of the year, tying Hall of Famer Jerry Bailey. Making his dirt and stakes debut after...