A milestone victory for jockey Manny Franco (Walter Wlodarczyk)
By Mary Eddy – NYRA Press Office
OZONE PARK, N.Y.— Jockey Manny Franco notched his 2,000th career victory on Sunday’s Closing Day of the Belmont at the Big A fall meet when guiding the Chad Brown-trained Spirit of St Louis to a half-length score in Race 2, the $200,000 Mohawk for New York-breds 3-years-old and up traveling 1 1/16 miles over the inner turf.
The native of Carolina, Puerto Rico earned the victory with a stalk-and-pounce trip aboard the 4-year-old son of Medaglia d’Oro, tracking one length behind pacesetter Ruse before taking charge at the top of the lane and fending off a late bid from City Man. The win also marked the 200th stakes triumph of Franco’s career.
“I feel great,” said Franco, who also won the day’s opener aboard Dusk. “I had that on me the whole week, so I’m glad to do it early. I’m a little calm now and happy to do it. I just let him do what he wanted to do because I know the pace wasn’t fast in front. I just kept my position and he was there for me the whole way.”
Franco, 28, has enjoyed two riding titles this year at Aqueduct, taking the winter and spring meets with 63 and 37 wins, respectively. Additionally, Franco has won six other riding titles at NYRA racetrack meets, and was the year-end leading rider on the circuit in 2018-19. Franco is on track for another year-end title with 198 wins on the NYRA circuit heading into Sunday’s card, 46 wins ahead of second-place Irad Ortiz, Jr.
Among Franco’s 2,000 career wins were Grade 1 triumphs in the Belmont Stakes, Travers, Champagne and Florida Derby with New York-bred fan favorite Tiz the Law in 2019-20, as well as a win at the 2019 Breeders’ Cup aboard Sharing in the Grade 1 Juvenile Fillies Turf. He has won 10 additional Grade 1 events, including the Vosburgh [Joking, 2016], Frizette [Yellow Agate, 2017], Fourstardave [World Approval, 2017], Jockey Club Gold Cup [Discreet Lover, 2018], Jaipur [World of Trouble, 2019], Carter [World of Trouble, 2019], Sword Dancer [Channel Maker, 2020], Joe Hirsch Turf Classic [Channel Maker, 2020], Diana [Althiqa, 2021] and Manhattan [Tribhuvan, 2022].
“Every win means a lot, so right now, I can’t pick one [favorite],” said Franco. “Every win is a blessing. I’m just happy to do this. I want to say thanks to all the trainers, owners, and my agent John Panagot, for all their support and the support they’ve been giving me since I got here to New York. And to my family – I think that family is everything. I’m glad that I’ve got my dad here, my brother, daughter and my wife. I’m just happy.”
To date, Franco, a graduate of the riding program at the Agustín Mercado Reverón Escuela Vocacional Hípica in Puerto Rico, boasts 59 graded wins with total purse earnings of more than $136 million.
“I feel great and blessed,” Franco added. “I just try to keep going strong and I’ll keep working hard to keep winning races.”
Live racing resumes Thursday at Aqueduct Racetrack for the 10-race Opening Day of the 31-day fall meet, which will offer 33 stakes, 10 of them graded, worth a total of $6.385 million. First post is 12:20 p.m. Eastern.
