There are no quiet weekends for the remainder of March for Flavien Prat, the champion jockey of 2024.
After riding at Santa Anita last Saturday, Prat will be on planes each weekend for the rest of the month. This Saturday in the Tampa Bay Derby, he is scheduled to ride Chancer McPatrick, who won the Grade 1 Hopeful and Grade 1 Champagne Stakes last year before finishing sixth in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Del Mar on Nov. 1 in his last start.
On March 15, Prat is scheduled to ride the recent Oaklawn Park maiden race winner Rapture in the Virginia Derby at Colonial Downs, according to trainer Brad Cox. Prat will then travel to Fair Grounds in New Orleans for the Louisiana Derby program on March 22. On March 29, he is expected to ride the Arkansas Derby program at Oaklawn or the Florida Derby program at Gulfstream Park.
Whew!
“I’m definitely a good customer of Delta,” Prat said.
Chancer McPatrick underwent surgery to have a small bone chip removed from an ankle after his loss in the BC Juvenile. Trainer Chad Brown in January described the injury as a “tiny flake.” Chancer McPatrick has had six workouts since late January in advance of his comeback.
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“I’m excited to get back on him and see what he can do,” Prat said.
Last month, Prat rode John Hancock to a win in the Sam F. Davis Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs in the colt’s second start. Cox said recently that John Hancock is under consideration for the Louisiana Derby.
“John Hancock ran a good race in Tampa in his second start,” Prat said. “I thought it was a game effort.”
Prat, 32, won the Eclipse Award as the nation’s outstanding rider of 2024, a career first. His mounts earned more than $37.2 million, leading the nation’s riders. Prat set all-time records by winning 56 graded stakes and 82 stakes overall.
“It was a great achievement,” he said between races at Santa Anita on Sunday. “Every year you try to do your best and try to improve.
“I’m thankful to be in the position that I can travel and ride good horses all around the country. I’m trying to take advantage of all of that.”
Prat has won the Kentucky Derby once, in 2019, when Country House was promoted from second to first after Maximum Security was disqualified for causing interference.
Prat did not ride the pandemic-delayed Kentucky Derby in 2020. He was second on Hot Rod Charlie in 2021, third on Zandon in 2022, third on Angel of Empire in 2023, and fourth last year aboard Catching Freedom.
It may be several weeks before Prat finalizes his mount for this year’s race on May 3.
“It’s that time of year they start to show up and you get an idea what could run in the Derby,” he said. “That’s where we all are right now.
“So many things can happen.”
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