Prat makes Aqueduct his winter base
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OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Flavien Prat, the reigning Eclipse Award-winning jockey, will be based at Aqueduct this winter, though he will likely do a lot of traveling for weekend stakes.
Prat has typically been based at Santa Anita during the winter, but with his children now attending school, Prat preferred to stay with his family in New York, where he is based for most of the year.
“I traveled a lot this winter and I felt like I was not riding much in California, so I might as well stay here,” Prat said Friday at Aqueduct. “Honestly, every Saturday I was going somewhere. So, you leave on Friday, you don’t ride Friday, you don’t ride Saturday, and then you get to take the early flight to ride Sunday. I just didn’t feel like it was worth it to go back.”
Despite all the traveling, Prat was the second leading rider at Santa Anita during the winter-spring meet with 43 victories, 10 fewer than Juan Hernandez.
So, is Prat prepared for the cold of a New York winter?
“I’m as ready as can be,” Prat said. “I stayed quite long here last year, all the way to December. I know it’s not as cold as January and February, but we’ll deal with it.”
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