Flavien Prat and children accepting his title trophy. (Adam Coglianese/NYRA)
At Belmont at the Big A Spring/Summer Meet
Brown lands ninth training title at meet; Klaravich Stables leading owner
NYRA Press Office
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Flavien Prat, the reigning Eclipse Award-winner as Outstanding Jockey, earned his first riding title at a New York Racing Association, Inc. (NYRA) meet when posting 43 wins at the Belmont at the Big A spring/summer meet that ran from May 1 through July 6.
Statistics for the Belmont at the Big A spring/summer meet included the five-day Belmont Stakes Racing Festival and four-day July 4th Racing Festival, both held at Saratoga Race Course.
The 32-year-old native of Melun, Siene-et-Marne, France enjoyed a major milestone at this meet as he notched his 2,000th North American victory on June 27 at the Big A, guiding Iron Max to the winner’s circle in one of five wins on the card.
He would post yet another five-win day on the July 5 card at Saratoga, highlighted by graded wins with Fionn in the Grade 1 Belmont Oaks Invitational and with Obliteration in the Grade 3 Sanford. Saturday’s wins marked the third consecutive July 4th weekend Prat has posted a five-win day, the last two coming on the Independence Day cards.
“The last few weeks I’ve had good things happen and I try to take it all in,” said Prat, who is represented by Brad Pegram. “My agent and the support of trainers and owners and everybody that’s part of the crew is important.”
Prat’s wins included additional stakes success in the Grade 2 Bed o’ Roses [Ways and Means], Grade 3 Peter Pan [Hill Road], Grade 3 Manila [Zulu Kingdom], Grade 3 Westchester [Bishops Bay] and Listed Schuylerville [Kingsolver].
“Obviously I’m very grateful and proud, and it’s an achievement,” Prat said of his first riding title in the Empire State. “There’s a lot of people that supported me and I feel very grateful.”
Prat spoke of his relationship with leading trainer Chad Brown, who trains three of Prat’s stakes-winners this meet.
“When I decided to move East, he was my first supporter and has been very loyal to me,” Prat said. “He’s a top trainer and a world class trainer. I’m very honored to work with him.”
In total, Prat’s mounts earned $4,047,540 from a 152-43-29-22 record while he rode at a win rate of 28.29 percent and in-the-money rate of 61.84 percent.
Irad Ortiz, Jr. finished second with 34 wins while Dylan Davis was third with 31 wins.
The meet’s training title went to five-time Eclipse Award-winner Chad Brown for the ninth time in his career after a prosperous meet yielded 27 wins for the powerhouse stable.
“I’m very fortunate. I feel very fortunate that we have so many nice horses to work with,” Brown said. “My team does an unbelievable job, including with all of the logistics this meet, shipping horses from all different divisions to run at NYRA. I’m always just so amazed with the day-to-day fluidity of it – they just make things happen. I’m amazed with their teamwork and talent. All of the credit goes to them.”
Brown, 46, adds to previous Belmont spring/summer titles from 2016-22 and in 2024. It was also his 34th training title at a NYRA circuit track.
Among Brown’s wins were a Grade 1 conquest in the Just a Game presented by Resolute Racing [Dynamic Pricing], the Grade 2 Bed o’ Roses [Ways and Means] and Grade 3 wins in the Beaugay [Dynamic Pricing], Peter Pan [Hill Road] and Manila [Zulu Kingdom].
In total, Brown’s horses banked $2,905,275 at the meet with an overall record of 112-27-24-20, good for a win rate of 24.11 percent and in-the-money rate of 63.39 percent.
Linda Rice finished second with 24 wins with Hall of Famer Bill Mott in third with 16 wins.
Seth Klarman’s Klaravich Stables claimed their 30th owners’ title at a NYRA meeting, and their sixth in a Belmont spring/summer meet. Their 13 wins were highlighted by the aforementioned stakes scores with Dynamic Pricing in the Just a Game and Beaugay, and with Ways and Means in the Bed o’ Roses.
In all, Klaravich’s horses banked $1,161,000 through a 37-13-3-8 record.
Linda Rice finished second with nine wins while Repole Stable and Michael Dubb tied for third with seven wins each.
Live racing resumes Thursday at Saratoga Race Course for Opening Day of the 40-day Saratoga summer meet with a 10-race card, featuring two divisions of the Listed $135,000 De La Rose in Races 5 and 8. First post is 1:10 p.m. Eastern.
