ARCADIA, Calif. – Flavien Prat is in a strange place in the jockey standings this winter at Santa Anita. Through Sunday, Prat was tied for sixth place with five wins since opening day on Dec. 26, well behind leader Juan Hernandez with 19 wins. Prat is far from his customary position as the leading rider who dominates the rankings. Prat does lead in one category – he has 19 second-place finishes. When reminded of the surprising statistic before racing on Sunday, Prat could only smile and shake his head. He made an optimistic projection. The second-place finishers in December and January could be winners in February or March. “I guess I’ll have a few wins in the future,” Prat said. “I’ll have competitive horses.” Prat is used to winning races in bunches. He was the leading rider at the Santa Anita winter-spring meeting for five consecutive seasons – from 2016-17 through 2020-21, led the standings at the Santa Anita autumn meeting from 2018 to 2021 and won the title at the Del Mar summer meeting five times in a six-year span from 2016 to 2021. :: Get ready for Santa Anita racing with DRF Past Performances, Picks, and Clocker Reports.  The last 10 months have marked a change in Prat’s career. Last spring, he relocated briefly to Kentucky before moving to New York for the summer and fall. Prat returned to Southern California for the autumn meeting at Del Mar in November and was the leading rider during the brief season. He plans the same itinerary this year, keeping Santa Anita as a base through March. Prat’s decision to relocate was based on the hope he would gain better mounts and more attention on the East Coast in an effort to win the Eclipse Award as the nation’s outstanding rider. Prat was nominated for the award for the 2021 season, but lost to Joel Rosario. Prat, Rosario, and Irad Ortiz Jr. are the finalists for the 2022 award, which will be announced in Florida on Thursday. The relocation has paid dividends. Prat’s mounts earned a career-best $29,832,656 in 2022, an improvement from 2021 earnings of $23.2 million, which at the time was the highest in his career. Prat won a career-best 246 races in 2021, and 236 races in 2022. In 2022, Prat ranked second on the national earnings list to Ortiz with $37,035,772. Despite all the travel, Prat achieved a unique milestone in 2022. Last summer, Prat was 10th in the standings at the Del Mar meeting despite riding only four days of the meeting in September. He finished second in the standings at the Saratoga meeting that largely overlapped with Del Mar. Prat’s leading mount in 2022 was the undefeated superstar Flightline, who is expected to be named Horse of the Year on Thursday. Flightline won his three starts in 2022 with Prat aboard, all in Grade 1 races – the Metropolitan Mile Handicap at Belmont Park in June, the Pacific Classic at Del Mar in September, and the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Keeneland in November. Prat is unlikely to advance too far in the standings at Santa Anita next weekend. He is not riding on Friday and is booked to ride Corona Bolt for trainer Brad Cox for the first time in Saturday’s Grade 3 Southwest Stakes, a $750,000 race at 1 1/16 miles at Oaklawn Park. Corona Bolt is unbeaten in two starts, including an attractive win by 6 3/4 lengths in the Sugar Bowl Stakes at six furlongs on Dec. 26 at Fair Grounds. :: Get Santa Anita Clocker Reports straight from the morning workouts at the track. Available every race day.  Prat is scheduled to ride at Santa Anita on Sunday. With a lower-than-normal position in the standings and a case of seconditis, Prat said he is not changing his approach to riding on a daily basis. “There’s nothing we can do, just keep my head down,” Prat said. One-day jockey suspensions Victor Espinoza and Frankie Dettori will serve one-day suspensions on Friday for excessive use of the whip in races on Jan. 15. Espinoza was ruled to have used his whip eight times, two more than the permitted limit, on Angel Nadeshiko, who finished fourth in the Grade 3 La Canada Stakes. Dettori used his whip seven times on Looks Rare, who finished second in a $62,500 claiming race for maidens. Both riders were fined $250. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.