Prat's seven wins (six consecutive) on single Belmont at Big A card sets NYRA record
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Flavien Prat won seven races on Sunday’s card on the final day of the Belmont at the Big A meet, establishing a New York Racing Association record for wins by a jockey on a single card.
Nineteen jockeys had won six races on a card - Ramon Dominguez did it three times - and there had been 25 occasions on which that happened. Prat won six consecutive races on the card, making him the seventh rider to do that.
Prat had 10 mounts on the 11-race card and finished with seven wins and three seconds. His bid for an eighth win aboard Tuthilltown in the finale fell a head short.
“When I came here today, I thought I had some good mounts, but it’s happened before when you think you’re going to win a few and get nothing,” Prat told the New York Racing Association publicity department. “The horses have been running well and showing up - it’s great.”
Prat, the reigning Eclipse Award-winning jockey, accomplished the feat after taking a flight from Southern California, where on Saturday he rode two winners in Breeders’ Cup races at Del Mar. He arrived in New York after 3 a.m.
“I flew home late last night, but I had a chance get a few hours of sleep,” Prat said. “I felt good.”
Prat began Sunday by finishing second on Ruth in the Turnback the Alarm Stakes, the first race on the card. He proceeded to win the next six races on Rebel Instinct ($3.38), Every Vote Counts ($5.76), Bishops Bay ($3.16) in the Grade 3 Forty Niner Stakes, Vibrant Express ($5.10), Concurrently ($4.26) and Cugino ($4.36) in the Grade 2 Red Smith.
Prat missed out on another NYRA record - seven consecutive winners - when he finished second on Step Forward in race 8. Prat did not ride in race 9 - the Bold Ruler Stakes - but got the record when he rallied Growth Trajectory ($3.90) to victory in an allowance race. Four of Prat’s winners were trained by Chad Brown.
“He’s been a great supporter, I couldn’t have done it without him,” Prat said in a televised interview on America’s Day at the Races.
Prat’s seven-win day gave him 33 wins from 128 mounts at the Belmont at the Big A meet. He tied for second with Ricardo Santana Jr., who had 219 mounts, both finishing behind Manny Franco who went 40 for 176.
Brown was leading trainer with 32 wins, six more than Linda Rice.
The Aqueduct fall meet begins Thursday.
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