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Prat Get Three Stakes Wins Saturday, Increases Lead In Del Mar Jockey Standings

A backstretch confab between jockey Flavien Prat and agent Brad Pegram was interrupted this morning with an impertinent question: “Would you consider Saturday's results adequate?”

Pegram laughed. Prat smiled and gave the day an upgraded rating of “good.”

Good if that's what you consider victories in the first three of five stakes on the program – aboard Private Mission, Mo Forza and Going Global — and a runner-up in the $1 million TVG Pacific Classic with Tizamagician at Del Mar Thoroughbred Club in Del Mar, Calif.

“I messed up the last race (fourth in the Del Mar Handicap on favored United),” Prat allowed. “But in the Classic, I had a good trip and just got beaten in the last part.”

The three stakes victories increased Prat's total to 10 for the meeting. He holds the record for a season of 14, established last year. There are 11 stakes remaining at the meeting but Prat will miss the next two, Friday's $80,000 Tranquility Lake and Saturday's $200,000 Grade 2 Pat O'Brien while on assignment at Saratoga.

The two stakes Saturday that Prat didn't win, went to riders whose success was heartwarming to many. Tiago Pereira, who had started the meeting 0-for-48, drew high praise from trainer John Sadler and owner Kostas Hronis for his ride on Tripoli in the Classic. Hall of Famer Victor Espinoza, seemingly overlooked in the focus on younger talent, guided Astronaut ($50.00) to the Del Mar Handicap score.

“It makes me happy to win this race for John Shirreffs,” said Espinoza, who won the Triple Crown with American Pharoah in 2015. “He's always been there for me and I've been there for him. He's been there for me a little more lately.”

Prat has a 31-23 lead over Juan Hernandez and Abel Cedillo in the overall standings, seeking his third straight riding title and fourth in the last five years.

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Prat Increases Lead In Del Mar Jockey Standings, Looks To Add More Saturday

With two wins yesterday, Flavien Prat increased his lead from four to six victories over Abel Cedillo and five to seven over Juan Hernandez atop the jockey standings entering the final 11 days of the 31-day meeting. Prat is looking to make it three straight riding titles at the summer meeting and five of the last six either taken outright or shared.

Prat has recorded six stakes victories, working toward the record 14 stakes in a season he established last year.

And, in terms of quantity and quality, the 29-year-old native of France appears positioned to advance toward both those goals with his mounts on the TVG Pacific Class Day program that is the annual highlight of the season.

Prat has mounts scheduled in all 11 races, five of which are stakes. In the six non-stakes events he is booked on two morning-line favorites – Barbwire (5th, 3-1) and Dream Shake (8th, 7-2) — and has no mounts higher than 4-1 in the early odds. During the run of five stakes in six races, here are Prat's runners on oddsmaker Jon White's morning line:

Race 6, Torrey Pines – Private Mission for trainer Bob Baffert, 9-5 favorite.

Race 7, Del Mar Mile – Mo Forza for trainer Peter Miller, 8-5 favorite.

Race 9, Del Mar Oaks – Going Global for trainer Phil D'Amato, 9-5 favorite.

Race 10, Pacific Classic – Tizamagician for trainer Richard Mandella, 4-1, co-fourth choice.

Race 11, Del Mar Handicap – United for Mandella, 2-1 favorite.

Of course, all that stands in the way of Prat's success today is 83 other horses and 22 other riders intent on success of their own.

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Jevian Toledo Celebrates Four Wins Saturday At Pimlico

Jockey Jevian Toledo solidified his hold on third in the Preakness Meet standings with a four-win afternoon Saturday at historic Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Md.

Maryland's leading rider in 2015 and 2017, the 26-year-old Toledo began his big day winning back-to-back races aboard Band On Tour ($5.20) in Race 4 and Golden Can ($5) in Race 5.

In Race 7, Toledo guided 9-5 favorite Grateful Bred to a 2 ½-length victory in the 5-year-old Great Notion gelding's first start since running fourth behind Fiya in the 5 ½-furlong Maryland Million Turf Sprint last October at Laurel Park.

“He's a really, really nice horse,” Toledo said. “When I asked him, he gave me everything he had. He was trying 100 percent.”

Represented by agent Marty Leonard, Toledo completed his afternoon with a 9 ¼-length triumph on 3-year-old Maryland-bred filly Tam Char in Race 8, a pickup mount. Trained by Charles Frock, Tam Char had not raced since finishing sixth in a six-furlong maiden claimer last October at Laurel.

“They told me to warm her up myself because she may need it, so I warmed her up myself. She broke and they told me to put her in the race because the [last] time she kind of stayed in the gate, and she was coming off a layoff,” Toledo said. “I put her in the race and she took me pretty close. I didn't even ask her, and when I asked her she took off. It was pretty good.”

Toledo, who had won four with four of his previous 19 mounts, now has 21 wins, two behind J.D. Acosta, who won Saturday's Race 3 on Mosby's Ranger ($8.20). Charlie Marquez, who was at Delaware Park Saturday, leads the standings with 28 wins.

“I feel blessed. My agent did a really good job finding me good mounts today. I got pretty decent horses, pretty decent mounts,” Toledo said. [Tam Char] really surprised me. I just picked up the mount. The trainers and owners give me such a good opportunity, so I'll take it.”

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Motivated By Paralyzed Brother, Jockey Hector Diaz Building On Opportunities At Monmouth Park

Hector Diaz, Jr. has never been willing to settle for second-best ever since his late start on a career as a jockey, but in this instance he's inclined to make an exception.

The 31-year-old journeyman currently sits second in the Monmouth Park jockey standings with 12 wins – well behind runaway leader Paco Lopez, who is on his way to a seventh title at the Shore track with 26 wins, but also ahead of notable veterans Joe Bravo, Jose Ferrer, Antonio Gallardo, Nik Juarez and Trevor McCarthy.

It's potentially a significant achievement for Diaz, who finished fourth in the track's rider standings a year ago.

“Monmouth Park has a great jockey colony. It's a very tough colony,” said Diaz, who is listed on four mounts when racing resumes at Monmouth Park with a six-race twilight card on Friday. “There are so many great riders and I feel grateful to be second now. I know it's going to be competitive and a challenge to stay there.

“I just have to focus on myself and keep working hard and remember that the things that have me second now will be the things that keep me second.”

In part because he is late to the profession, Diaz has an appreciation for every accomplishment now, big or small.

Though he grew up with a father and brother who were jockeys, and with cousins Irad and Jose Ortiz, in Trujillo Alto, Puerto Rico, Diaz didn't enroll in the Escuela Vocacional Hipica jockey school until he was 23.

“My dad did not want me to be a jockey. But in my heart I knew I always wanted to be a jockey,” Diaz said.

Some of the motivation for finally setting on his professional path came from his brother, Hector Miguel Diaz, who was paralyzed in a spill at Camarero Race Track in Puerto Rico.

“He was just 21 when he was paralyzed,” said Diaz. “I decided that I needed to do this and do it for him.”

Diaz had mixed results as an apprentice in the ultra-competitive New York arena before shifting to Monmouth Park.

“It's hard in New York but I can't say it didn't really work out because of the opportunities I got there,” he said. “If I didn't get those opportunities I might not be getting the opportunities I have now at Monmouth. Those trainers come here to race. They know me. New York was part of the process that has helped me be where I am now.

“I believe you build your career every year and you do that by continuing to work hard. Last year was a good year for me. I won a couple of stakes races and I finished fourth in the standings at Monmouth Park. I think that has helped me get off to a good start this year.”

Diaz, who didn't start riding professionally until he was 27, isn't bashful about his long-term goal.

“I want to be leading rider here someday,” he said. “Paco is tough to beat. He is always tough to beat. So maybe it won't be this year and maybe it won't be next year but I believe I can do it. I always believe in myself. I always bet on me all the time to succeed. I will continue building my career and I won't stop trying to reach my goal.”

Diaz matched his personal best with 74 overall victories last year while earning a career-best $2,802,843. He is certain he can exceed those numbers this year.

“The trainers have been trusting me. That's a big part of this,” he said. “My agent (Shawn Klotz) is doing his job and I am doing my job in the mornings. But it's about opportunities. You've got to work hard to earn those opportunities but owners and trainers have got to support you. They have to give you a shot.”

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