Velazquez, Prat headed west after BC: Motion to have string at Del Mar

LEXINGTON, Ky. - When the Breeders’ Cup is over jockeys John Velazquez and Flavien Prat will be heading West to ride at Del Mar, whose 13-day fall meet begins on Friday.

For Velazquez, who has typically ridden in New York during the fall, it gives him a jump-start for the winter where, for the second year in a row, he will ride at Santa Anita.

“He’s going to ride some for Bob [Baffert], that’s always good,” Ron Anderson, the agent for Velazquez said. “There was nothing that important going on at Aqueduct so we said yes.”

This fall, Velazquez has spent more time in Kentucky than New York. He went 8 for 45 at the Keeneland fall meet and has won two races from seven mounts at Churchill. He went just 2 for 23 at the Belmont at Aqueduct fall season.

Velazquez is the all-time leading rider in purse money won with $458.8 million. His 6,460 career wins rank him 13th all-time and he is withing10 of Earlie Fires for 12th.

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Prat returns to Southern California for the fall and winter after moving his tack East for the spring and summer.

In New York in 2022, Prat won 91 races from 462 mounts and his mounts earned $10,386,828 in purses. He was the second-leading rider at Saratoga with 41 wins. He anticipates returning to New York next spring.

“I did not really know what to expect,” Prat said on his stint in New York. “I feel like I’m moving in the right direction. I had great support from different trainers but on an everyday basis I didn’t have many clients, trainers to work with. I feel l’m building up a clientele. We are moving in the right direction and hope to do better next year.”

Motion to send some to Del Mar

Trainer Graham Motion said he plans to have six stalls at Del Mar for the fall meeting.

Motion said the fact he can be confident there’ll be turf racing at that track is a primary reason why he will have a presence at the meet. The weather in the Northeast in the fall can be tricky and Aqueduct has already announced it will have fewer turf races during the month of November.

Motion said his California contingent will include Speaking Scout, who he left in California after his runner-up finish in the Twilight Derby at Santa Anita on Oct. 29, and Wootton Asset, a 4-year-old who won a second-level allowance at Aqueduct on Oct. 27.

Motion said G Laurie, who had to scratch out of Friday’s Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf due to a temperature, could also be sent out to California depending how quickly she recovers.

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