Prat has chance to reach Pincay's record

This could be a record-breaking spring for California jockey Flavien Prat, depending somewhat on his travel plans.

Through Sunday, Prat had 102 wins at the winter-spring meeting at Santa Anita, within striking range of the all-time record of 138 wins for the season set by Laffit Pincay, Jr., in 1970-71. Prat, who has repeatedly produced numerous winners on a single program this year, has 16 days of racing remaining at Santa Anita before the season concludes on June 20.

Prat said on Sunday that he may ride at Belmont Park on June 4-6, which would make challenging Pincay’s record more difficult. Still, Prat’s domination of the standings this year has been nothing short of remarkable, particularly in recent months.

Through Sunday, Prat was well clear of Juan Hernandez, who was second with 70 wins. As recently as mid-February, Prat had a one-race lead over Hernandez, 30-29. From Feb. 19 through the end of March, Prat won an astonishing 45 races from 117 mounts. With another streak comparable to that in coming weeks, Prat could reach Pincay’s record.

Sometimes, the wins have come in large batches. Since Dec. 26, Prat has won four races on a program on six occasions. He has had one five-win day and one six-win day.

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The sport has certainly changed in the 50 years since Pincay set the mark. In 1970-71, racing was held five days a week – primarily from Tuesdays through Saturdays – from Dec. 26 to early April, a 75-day season. In those years, the Santa Anita winter-spring meeting was followed by the Hollywood Park spring-summer meeting. Hollywood Park closed in 2013. Since then, Santa Anita has extended its winter meeting into June.

The current Santa Anita meeting is run primarily over three days per week – from Fridays through Sundays – and will encompass 78 racing days.

Pincay needed 534 mounts to win 138 races, a 25.8 winning percentage. Since then, a few riders have gotten near the mark. In the 1977-78 season, Darrel McHargue won 136 races from 548 mounts in a 78-day season. By then, racing was held on a Wednesday-through-Sunday basis.

In 1982-83, Chris McCarron won 135 races from 547 mounts at an 89-day meeting.

In a recent conversation about Pincay’s record, Prat expressed an interest in how many days the Hall of Fame jockey rode per week and how many mounts Pincay had. Prat has won with 28.3 percent of his mounts, and has four rides on Friday’s eight-race program. He has had 360 mounts.

Prat has been the dominant rider at the Santa Anita winter-spring meeting since he won his first title at the track in 2016-17. In 2017-18, he was second in the December to early April segment of the season, and won the spring segment. At the time, the meeting was divided into two seasons.

Prat was the leading rider at the entire 2018-19 and 2019-20 seasons, with 82 and 90 wins. Those seasons were interrupted by a three-week break in March 2019 following a series of equine fatalities at Santa Anita, and for seven weeks in the spring of 2020 because of the pandemic.

Prat, 28, made national news winning the Preakness Stakes at Pimlico on Rombauer last Saturday, his second classic win. He won the 2019 Kentucky Derby on Country House when Maximum Security was disqualified from first for causing interference.

“It was fun to win one,” he said of a Triple Crown race. “Two is better.”

As for Pincay’s all-time record, the coming weeks will determine whether breaking the mark is feasible, or whether Prat will just have the best Santa Anita season of his career.

The wins “can come quickly,” he said. “No matter what, it’s a good meeting.”

Herrera has first local mount

Apprentice jockey Diego Herrera, who has ridden at Los Alamitos in recent months, will have his first mount at Santa Anita in Friday’s eighth race on Princess Synsky for trainer Hector Palma.

Herrera, 17, has won eight races on lower-level Thoroughbreds at Los Alamitos since early April. He will be represented by veteran agent Vince DeGregory.