Flavien Prat © Benoit Photo
Flavien Prat, who guided two horses to Breeders’ Cup victories Nov. 1-2 at Del Mar Thoroughbred Club during the World Championships, won the 22nd Bill Shoemaker Award as the outstanding jockey of the event.
The Shoemaker Award goes to the jockey who rides the most winners in the 14 Championship races with the tiebreaker being a 10-3-1 point system for second- through fourth-place finishes.
Prat and Ryan Moore each won two races but thanks to a runner-up effort on Raging Sea in the Longines Breeders’ Cup Distaff (G1) took the tiebreaker from Moore.
Prat’s victories came back-to-back Saturday afternoon with Sierra Leone in the Longines Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1) and Moira in the Maker’s Mark Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf (G1). Prat also had two thirds with Domestic Product in the Big Ass Fans Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile (G1) and Mullikin in the Cygames Breeders’ Cup Sprint (G1).
Moore’s victories came Friday with Henri Matisse (IRE) in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf (G1) and Lake Victoria (IRE) in the John Deere Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf (G1).
The Shoemaker Award is named in honor of one of the greatest jockeys in the history of Thoroughbred racing. Bill Shoemaker, who captured the Kentucky Derby four times, won 8,833 races in a career that spanned more than 40 years. In 1987, at age 56, Shoemaker won the Breeders’ Cup Classic aboard Ferdinand at Hollywood Park.