Flavien Prat strengthened his case for the Eclipse Award for outstanding jockey of 2024 with each passing month last year. He won the Grade 1, $3 million Pegasus World Cup Invitational aboard National Treasure in January at Gulfstream Park, took down 18 stakes races during an outstanding summer at Saratoga, and moved into November with a win aboard Sierra Leone in the Grade 1, $7 million Longines Breeders’ Cup Classic at Del Mar.
Along the way, Prat compiled more mount earnings than any other North American-based rider last year with $37,274,176. He also set new standards for both graded wins and stakes wins by a jockey in a calendar year. Prat won 56 graded stakes to break a record held by Jerry Bailey, and 82 stakes overall to surpass a record held by Irad Ortiz Jr.
“The Pegasus was important,” Prat told Daily Racing Form in December while looking back on 2024. “Saratoga was very good as well. To finish with the Classic, the year was good throughout.
“It’s started well, and I never had a period where it slowed down. That was the key, I think. We won the Pegasus and that was a fresh start. It sent me the right direction after that.”
:: Full list of 2024 Eclipse Awards finalists, including profile stories
Prat is a 32-year-old native of France. He won a total of 230 races last year from 1,040 mounts, and the win total ranked eighth among all jockeys in North America.
Prat won more Grade 1 races than his North American peers last year, with 16, and beyond that won 20 Grade 2 races and 20 Grade 3 races for total graded stakes mount earnings of $22,994,535 in 2024.
Aside from National Treasure and Sierra Leone, the long list of horses Prat won Grade 1 races with last year includes Chancer McPatrick, Gaming, Domestic Product, Highland Falls, Raging Sea, Ways and Means, and Sweet Azteca.
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