Prado brings tack to Gulfstream

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Hall of Fame rider Edgar Prado will return to south Florida and ride on a regular basis beginning Sunday. Prado is named on five mounts on Sunday’s Gulfstream program, including a pair for trainer Todd Pletcher, who last week shipped the first of his many horses expected here for the winter to Palm Beach Downs.

Bob Klesaris, the agent for both Prado and Jose Valdivia Jr. at Gulfstream, said Prado will ride full time at Gulfstream, with some weekend trips to New York and Kentucky.

Prado won with 5 of the 10 horses he rode here during the summer. Prado also came to town last fall and won with 6 of his 25 mounts prior to the opening of the 2013-14 Gulfstream championship meeting, with several of those victories coming for Pletcher. Prado rode 27 winners during the championship meet last winter. He also finished the recent Saratoga session with a bang, winning two races on closing day and the Riskaverse Stakes aboard Miss Frost three days earlier.

“We’ve had a lot of inquiries when we came down earlier this summer, and the plan was to return shortly after Saratoga ended if there seemed to be sufficient business to warrant the move,” said Klesaris. “We had considerable success coming down early riding for Todd last year, and hopefully that situation will repeat itself this fall. We also expect to have a lot of additional business from Peter Walder, who he rides two for on Sunday, and Ralph Nicks, which should guarantee Edgar a lot of live mounts right off the bat.”