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Three Saratoga Stakes Wins Net Flavien Prat Jockey Of The Week Title

Whether riding at the West Coast's premier meet, Del Mar, the East Coast's premier meet, Saratoga, or anywhere in-between, Flavien Prat just wins stakes races. With three stakes wins, two of which were graded, Flavien Prat was voted Jockey of the Week for Aug. 2 through Aug. 8. The award, which is voted on by a panel of racing experts, is for jockeys who are members of the Jockeys' Guild, the organization which represents more than 950 active riders in the United States as well as retired and permanently disabled jockeys.

Prat rode at Del Mar on Thursday then headed to Saratoga to ride over Whitney weekend. On Friday, trainer Chad Brown called on Prat to ride Public Sector (GB) for the third time in the Grade 2 National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame Stakes. Sent to the post as the 4-5 favorite in the field of seven 3-year-olds, Public Sector (GB) raced off the pace while saving ground. When a seam opened up along the rail past the sixteenth pole, Public Sector (GB) powered home to win by a length in 1:35.03 over the one mile distance.

“I thought I was going to be able to go around the leader, but then I saw the leader came out and I dropped in and had room,” said Prat. “We were pretty much making the move together but when I really asked him to make the move, he responded really well.”

On Saturday, it was trainer Chad Brown again to give a leg up to Prat on Flavius in the Fasig-Tipton Lure Stakes at 1-1/16-miles on the Mellon turf course for older horses. Breaking from post position five, Flavius went straight to the lead and continued to find more under Prat's encouragement for a one and one-half length win in 1:41.53.

“I didn't see a lot of speed in the race,” Prat said. “I wanted to be in the race and I found myself on the lead. He was travelling super and he kicked on really well.”

To finish the weekend on Sunday, Prat was the pilot on Con Lima, trained by newly minted Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher in the Grade 3 Saratoga Oaks Invitational. Breaking from post position five, Con Lima went to the front and held off a late challenge from Higher Truth and Jose Ortiz to win by three-quarters of a length in 1:54.42 for the 1-3/16 miles on the turf.

“The speed was pretty much me and the Godolphin filly, and it seems she broke a step slow,” said Prat. I broke better than her and I ended up on the lead. She really kicked on well.”

The win marked the 26th graded stakes event for Prat for 2021. He currently ranks second in that category to Joel Rosario who has 31.

Prat's weekly statistics were 11-4-4-0 for an in-the-money percentage of 72.7% and total purses of $674,080. Prat currently sits atop the standings at Del Mar with 21 wins.

For Jockey of the Week, Prat out-polled Corey Lanerie with three stakes wins, Joel Rosario who won the Grade 1 Whitney, Luis Saez with three stakes wins including the Grade 1 Test, and John Velazquez who won the Grade 1 Saratoga Derby Invitational.

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Flavius Best In Lure Stakes At Saratoga

Juddmonte homebred Flavius, with Flavien Prat in the irons, wired Saturday's $120,000 Fasig-Tipton Lure, at 1 1/16-miles on the Mellon turf for older horses at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, N.Y.

Trainer Chad Brown, who captured his 2000th career win on Friday, saddled a trio of Lure starters comprised of Value Proposition, Delaware, and Flavius, who entered from a runner-up effort in the Seek Again on May 22 at Belmont Park.

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Value Proposition, racing for purse money only after losing a front shoe on the way to the gate, broke well from post 3 and secured a ground-saving position as Flavius exited post 4 with intent, establishing the opening quarter-mile in 24.52 seconds on the firm turf.

Flavius maintained his lead down the backstretch through a half-mile in :48.99 with Tell Your Daddy providing pressure from the outside in second position as Value Proposition continued to enjoy a pocket trip. Fighting Seabee advanced up the rail as Value Proposition angled out into the final turn to launch his bid, while Hall of Famer John Velazquez asked Tell Your Daddy for his best run.

With many rivals lining up at the top of the lane, Flavius never relinquished as the bay ridgling responded to Prat's encouragement and continued to find more en route to a 1 1/2-length score in a final time of 1:41.53.

“I am so appreciative for this horse. Juddmonte are very good clients of mine,” Brown said. “They are very patient with this horse and decided to leave him in training for another year. It took a little time to get him back in form, but I loved his race today. I appreciate Flavien taking the initiative of taking it to them early. This horse switched off nicely down the backside and it seemed when he had his ears up moving comfortably down the backside, so I knew he had a big chance. He ran lights out today. It was an impressive performance.”

By War Front and out of the multiple graded-stakes winning Dynaformer mare Starformer, Flavius launched his career in Ireland with trainer Dermot Weld. He joined Brown's stable in 2019 and captured the Tourist Mile in September at Kentucky Downs in his fourth start for the four-time Eclipse Award-winning trainer.

Flavius launched his 6-year-old season with a close fourth in the Grade 1 Frank E. Kilroe Mile in March at Santa Anita ahead of his Seek Again effort.

“I didn't see a lot of speed in the race,” Prat said. “I wanted to be in the race and I found myself on the lead. He was traveling super and he kicked on really well. When I rode him in the Kilroe, it was against a good group of horses. I thought everything worked out well today.”

Tell Your Daddy stayed on strong to complete the exacta by 1 1/2-lengths over Value Proposition. Rounding out the order of finish were Dreams of Tomorrow, Delaware, South Bend, Fighting Seabee, and Temple. Midnight Tea Time, Guildsman, and main-track-only entrant Tacitus were scratched.

“He ran real good and gave me everything he could,” Velazquez said of Tell Your Daddy. “We got a good position. The winner was a little bit better than us.”

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Bred in Kentucky by his owner, Flavius banked $66,000 in victory while improving his record to 12-4-3-1. Sent to post as the 6-5 favorite, he paid $4.70 for a $2 win ticket.

“This has a been a horse that we brought over here with expectations that he could move up to the next level, and he's gotten close to this level,” said Garrett O'Rourke, general manager of Juddmonte's American division. “I think today his race was perfect. It's nice to keep horses like this a little bit longer in training and when they reward you, it makes it worthwhile.”

Live racing resumes Sunday at Saratoga with a 10-race card featuring the $120,000 Fasig-Tipton De La Rose, the $200,000 Grade 2 Adirondack, and the $700,000 Grade 3 Saratoga Oaks Invitational. First post is 1:05 p.m. Eastern.

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Front-Running Get Smokin Takes Seek Again Foes Wire To Wire

Entering the $100,000 Seek Again for 4-year-olds and up going one mile on Belmont Park's Widener turf course, trainer Tom Bush said he was optimistic Get Smokin would benefit from a more compact schedule between starts. The ability to get in a rhythm paid off, as the Get Stormy gelding led the eight-horse field through every point of call and held off 9-5 favorite Flavius to post a three-quarters of a length score on Saturday at the Elmont, N.Y., track.

Get Smokin, who won the Grade 3 Tampa Bay going 1 1/16 miles on the Tampa Bay Downs turf on February 6, ran eighth after a nearly two-month respite in the Grade 1 Maker's Mark Mile on April 9 at Keeneland. Bush said Get Smokin can better demonstrate his ability when wheeling back in just five or six weeks, and the schedule adjustment resulted in his second win in three starts of his 4-year-old campaign.

Get Smokin broke sharp under jockey Junior Alvarado, leading the field through the opening quarter-mile in 24.25 seconds and the half in a moderate 48.61 over the firm turf as the Chad Brown-trained Flavius pressured the pacesetter from the second position.

Out of the turn, Alvarado kept his charge alert, maintaining the edge as Flavius made a stretch-drive bid from the outside. But Get Smokin did not wilt under pressure, finishing strong to the wire in a final time of 1:33.96.

“He's very quick,” Alvarado said. “If anyone else wants the lead, they have to work very hard. He broke sharp today again, which makes my job easy. I just had to nurse him along. Turning for home, I knew I had plenty of horse left and he gave me that nice kick that he has.

“You can never get too excited until you cross the wire first, but I was very happy with the pace I was going with him,” he added. “He was traveling comfortable enough that I knew he'd have a kick at the end.”

Bush, who also trained Get Stormy to nine stakes wins from 2009-'12, said the pace scenario set up well for Get Smokin.

“He's dangerous on the front end, that's for sure,” Bush said. “When they're loping along like that and they aren't using themselves too much, you're always happy to see that. I knew they'd be laying a little closer, too, since we were the only speed, but they couldn't get by him. It was a terrific effort.”

Owned by Mary Abeel Sullivan Revocable Trust, Get Smokin won for the third time in four career Belmont starts, going 2-for-2 in stakes at the Elmont-based track after winning the Grade 2 Hill Prince in October. Bred in Kentucky by Hurstland Farm and James Greene, Jr., Get Smokin improved to 4-3-2 in 14 career starts and increased his career earnings to $376,040.

“Junior was saying after the race that he would love for this horse to have a target and just lay second or third, but he's so good leaving the gate that you can't take the gate away from him,” Bush said. “This is what we were looking for today. That's the class of the horse. He didn't get discouraged and that's what good horses do.”

Off at 9-2, Get Smokin returned $10.80 on a $2 win wager in the Seek Again's inaugural edition. Bush said the effort could set him up for a start in the Grade 3, $250,00 Poker going one mile on June 20 at Belmont.

Flavius, a close fourth last out in the Grade 1 Frank E. Kilroe Mile at Santa Anita, was making just the second start of his 6-year-old year after ending 2020 with a second in the Grade 2 Seabiscuit Handicap in November at Del Mar. Flavius edged the Tom Morley-trained Tell Your Daddy by a nose for second on Saturday.

“It was a fun race because the two best horses fought all the way from the beginning to the finish,” said Flavius' Hall of Fame jockey Javier Castellano. “There was no pace in the race and he [Get Smokin] had pace and went pretty slow. With no pace and the winner being able to go 24 and 48, that probably cost us the race.”

Fellow Brown trainee Delaware finished fourth, with Grade 1-winner Decorated Invader running fifth. Tiberius Mercurius, Olympic Runner and Epic Dreamer completed the order of finish.

Main track-only entrants Danny California and Yankee Division were scratched.

Live racing continues Sunday with a nine-race card and a 1 p.m. Eastern first post.

Starting on May 1, Belmont Park re-opened to a limited number of spectators. All admission must be purchased in advance at nyra.com/belmont/tickets/.

For comprehensive information on health and safety protocols in effect for the Belmont Park spring/summer meet, please visit: https://www.nyra.com/belmont/visit/plan-your-visit.

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Equibase Analysis: Giving Blitzkrieg A Slight Edge In Seabiscuit Handicap

The Grade 2, $200,000 Seabiscuit Handicap this Saturday at Del Mar brings together a big field of 13 turf horses from around North America in what should be an extraordinary race to watch and to wager on. There should be no clear cut favorite among the group and many horses should offer betting value:

Leading the field in career earnings at $1.8 million is Next Shares, who posted the 27 to 1 upset winning the 2019 Seabiscuit but who is winless this year in six races. Close at hand in terms of career accomplishments is Bowies Hero, who has earned more than $1.5 million with his last big win coming in the 2019 Grade 1 Shadwell Turf Mile.
Next is My Boy Jack, who has banked more than three-quarters of a million. Starting his career on dirt, My Boy Jack was a top 3-year-old in 2018, including a fifth place effort in the Kentucky Derby before going on the sidelines in the fall of 2019 and making his return to the races in this race.
Flavius appears to be a strong contender, having won the Tourist Mile Stakes this past summer before a troubled effort in the Shadwell Turf Mile.

Then there is a trio of grade three winners hoping to step up to this grade two level. Anothertwistafate is one of those trying turf for the first time and just having returned from 16 months off this summer to win the Grade 3 Longacres Mile Handicap. Count Again won the Grade 3 Singspiel Stakes in September before a fourth place effort in the Grade 1 Northern Dancer Stakes so appears to fit nicely here. Blitzkrieg started his career in the United States before spending last winter in Dubai then returning stateside in May. In his second start back from a layoff, Blitzkrieg won the Grade 3 American Stakes and he was most recently fourth in the Grade 2 City of Hope Mile after setting sizzling fractions from the start.
In terms of recent success, One Bad Boy enters the Seabiscuit off a win in the Lure Stakes last month, in which Majestic Eagle was second. Camino Del Paraiso just won the Rolling Green Stakes and Joseph T. Grace Stakes in succession and was second in the Grade 3 Thunder Road Stakes this past winter so could be in the thick of the action again.
Spirit Animal, one of two from the barn of Chad Brown (the other is Flavius) has won two of three this year and is stepping up from allowance company, having finished fifth in his only previous stakes try.
Imperador, who won a pair of G1 races in his native Argentina, made his North American debut last month and finished second so could improve.
Tartini, who has been racing against easier foes but won his last two races, rounds out the field.

To be honest, there are a number of horses who can run well enough to win this year's Seabiscuit Handicap, but in this case I'm going to concentrate on three I think stick out just a bit against the rest. They are Blitzkrieg, Flavius and Imperador.

Although it appears on paper both Blitzkrieg and One Bad Boy can only win when they lead from the start, and therefore there will be an early pace battle of epic proportions, I do not believe that to be the case. One Bad Boy, who hails from the Richard Baltas barn, the same as Next Shares, is the one who is more likely to lead early as he breaks from the 10 post. That puts Blitzkrieg in the catbird seat, and looking at many of his earlier races that will work out well. Before leaving California for Dubai this past winter, Blitzkrieg showed the ability to relax in the early stages, such as when winning the San Francisco Stakes with a rock-solid 111 Equibase Speed Figure.

Perhaps overmatched when returned to trainer Doug O' Neill's base in southern California and placed in the Shoemaker Mile, Blitzkrieg returned to stakes winning form in the American Stakes in June, duplicating the 111 figure earned 14 months earlier. Two races later he set a nearly unbelievable early pace in the Tourist Mile when he ran the opening six furlongs in 1:07.8 before tiring to sixth behind eventual winner Flavius. Then, last month in the City of Hope Mile, Blitzkrieg once again went too fast early for his own good, running the opening six furlongs in 1:08.6. Still, Blitzkrieg was beaten only a head for third and earned a career-best 114 figure. In the Seabiscuit, with red hot jockey Abel Cedillo riding back after getting familiar with him and with One Bad Boy able to provide a solid target, Blitzkrieg should be able to pass the tiring leader in the stretch and hold off the others for the upset win.

If the early pace scenario above does not pan out, particularly if Blitzkrieg and One Bad Boy can't avoid battling for the early lead on sizzling fast fractions, Flavius appears most likely to pass them for the win. After returning from six months off and finishing third with a 109 when beaten less than a length, in the First Defence Stakes in June, Flavius won the Tourist Mile Stakes. That race doesn't carry a graded designation yet but it will, considering the $712,000 purse and the quality of the field. Putting that in perspective, the 115 figure Flavius earned in the Tourist Mile is better than the 111 figure 2019 Seabiscuit winner Next Shares earned. Returning one month later in the Shadwell Turf Mile, Flavius found himself in traffic at a critical stage in the stretch run and lost any chance he had to win, eventually finishing fifth. Getting a jockey change to North American leading rider Irad Ortiz, Jr. and with plenty of pace to run at just like he had in the Tourist Mile, Flavius could be in high gear and get up for the win in the Seabiscuit Handicap.

Imperador is an intriguing horse who is very likely to go to post at high odds. Winner of three of eight races in his native Argentina, Imperador made his U.S. debut in September at Churchill Downs in a third level allowance race and ended up second, beaten a half-length, at the end. However, Imperador ran the same kind of race that day I expect Blitzkrieg may run as he sat in second from the start before making up 2 1/2 lengths to lead in the stretch. In this case Imperador was passed late, but not only was he extremely game in holding second by a neck on the wire, he should be more physically fit in his second start back from six months off. Based in Kentucky with trainer Paulo Lobo, Imperador reminds me of another one of the trainer's top turf stars, Ivar, who posted the 14-1 upset in the Shadwell Turf Mile in October, beating Flavius and Bowies Hero in the process.

The rest of the field, with their best Equibase Speed Figures, is Anothertwistafate (105), Bowies Hero (118), Camino Del Paraiso (113), Count Again (108), Majestic Eagle (113), My Boy Jack (110), Next Shares (115), One Bad Boy (112), Spirit Animal (113) and Tartini (101).

Win Contenders, in preference order:
Blitzkrieg
Flavius
Imperador

Seabiscuit Handicap – Grade 2
Race 7 at Del Mar
Saturday, Nov. 28 – Post Time 6:30 PM E.T.
One Mile and One Sixteenth on Turf
Three-Year-Olds and Upward
Purse: $200,000

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