Prat gearing up for return to Keeneland

ARCADIA, Calif. – Jockey Flavien Prat has one more day of mounts at Santa Anita before making his annual springtime move to Kentucky.

Prat is booked to ride Thursday through Saturday at Oaklawn Park, including Timberlake in Saturday’s Grade 1 Arkansas Derby, and will ride at Santa Anita next Sunday, according to his agent Brad Pegram.

Prat will be based at Keeneland when that track begins its spring meeting on April 5.

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Through last Sunday, Prat ranked second in the standings at Santa Anita with 42 wins, eight behind leader Juan Hernandez.

Last April, Prat finished fifth in the standings at Keeneland with nine wins, well behind leader Tyler Gaffalione with 21. Prat won three stakes during that season, including the Grade 1 Maker’s Mark Mile with Chez Pierre.

Prat, 31, was the leading rider at the Santa Anita winter-spring meeting for five consecutive seasons from 2016-17 to 2020-2021, and was the leading rider at the Del Mar summer meeting five times from 2016 to 2021.

Prat altered his annual schedule in the spring of 2022 to focus on riding in Kentucky and New York from early spring until the Breeders’ Cup, in an effort to gain greater recognition for a potential Eclipse Award.

Prat was nominated for the Eclipse Award as the nation’s outstanding rider in recent years, but has not won the award.

Prat last won a riding title in Southern California at the 2022 Del Mar autumn meeting.

At Keeneland, Prat will be joined by Frankie Dettori and Joel Rosario as other riders based in California this year who will ride at that prestigious meeting. Dettori, who is riding in Dubai on Saturday, is expected to return to Santa Anita frequently through the spring.

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