Prat Notches 1,000th Win in North America

Jockey Flavien Prat, who entered the Feb. 19 racing program at Santa Anita Park with 998 winners, quickly hit the 1,000th win milestone by capturing the first two races there Friday.

Prat notched his 999th victory aboard Natalie Baffert and Debbie Lanni's Du Jour ($2.80) for Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert in the day's opener and then recorded his 1,000th win in North America on Michael Rosenmayer's Clockstrikestwelve ($3.20) for trainer Jonathan Wong about a half-hour later.

The rider then got started on his next milestone by notching win number 1,001 in the third race on the John Sadler-trained Luvluv ($6.80) to move to 1,001.

"It means a lot; it's a big achievement," said Prat following the second race. "I wasn't dreaming of that when I came here (from France) to be honest with you, and I didn't think it would happen so quickly. It felt like yesterday that I got here and started riding."



Prat, 28, began his career in his native France, riding his first winner at Fontainebleu. He was named France's top apprentice rider that year.

He rode periodically in the United States from 2009-13, sometimes wintering in California. He registered his first Santa Anita win at age 17 on Jan. 15, 2010, aboard the Suzanne Rodriguez-trained Heavenly n' Free, who paid $103.40 to win.

His U.S. career began to take off beginning with the 2014-15 winter/spring meet at Santa Anita. 

Teaming with jockey agent Derek Lawson, Prat became the winningest rider in California over the past five years, winning 11 Southern California riding titles, including last summer's meet at Del Mar with a record 15 stakes races. 

He experienced a highlight-reel year in 2019, winning the Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (G1) at Churchill Downs on Country House  upon the disqualification of Maximum Security  for interference. Later that year, he captured his third career Breeders' Cup race when Storm the Court scored an upset in the TVG Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1) at Santa Anita Park.

During the 2019 Breeders' Cup, Prat rode in all 14 championship races.

During prior Breeders' Cups, he won the 2016 Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint (G1T) on Obviously and the 2017 Las Vegas Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile (G1) on Battle of Midway.

Prat, currently Santa Anita Park's leading rider, replaced Lawson with agent Brad Pegram earlier this month. His mounts have made more than $76.8 million, topped by earnings of $19.6 million in 2019. He rode a career-best 195 winners in 2020.

"I hope to do as good as I have done," he said of future aspirations. "I don't want to be satisfied with what I've done; I want to try to improve. I think there's room for improvement ... It's nice; it's been a lot of support from my family and the trainers and owners, all the connections. It's something I share with everybody. I've been lucky to have been on a lot of good horses ... They all have a place in my heart."