Jockey Dylan Davis earned 209 wins across six race meets in 2024 to pace all riders and secure top honors as the leading rider at the New York Racing Association, Inc. (NYRA). This is Davis's second year-end NYRA title, adding to a 2022 campaign which saw him win 186 races.
This year, Davis, who is represented by agent Mike Migliore, scored a pair of meet titles at the Aqueduct winter [54] and Belmont at the Big A fall [44] meets.
“It means a lot,” said Davis. “Me and Mike put in a lot of work, day in and day out and year in and year out, on the NYRA circuit. We have a lot of support from all the horsemen and owners to ride their amazing horses. I feel I've been improving as a rider and getting better every year. It's great to have that recognition and to have this accomplishment to be the NYRA year-end leading jock. I know it's my second one, but it feels really good.”
Among Davis's 23 stakes wins were 10 graded events, led by his first Grade I win with Carson's Run (Cupid) in the Saratoga Derby Invitational at Saratoga Race Course.
“Everything came together at Saratoga. I feel I've always been riding well, but we really capitalized on the opportunity with good riding and the horses being ready. Saratoga is the place where you want to really shine and to finish third at the premier meet was a big accomplishment and I think it opened up the eyes of a lot of owners and trainers that my riding ability has stepped up. It really continued through the fall and the quality of horses has been improving and I'm really thankful for that.”
Davis finished the year with a NYRA record of 1,091-209-165-140 and earnings of $15,349,606, good for a win rate of 19.16 percent and in-the-money rate of 47.11 percent.
Manny Franco claimed second in the year-end standings with 196 wins while Kendrick Carmouche finished third with 152 wins.
Four-time Eclipse Award-winning trainer Chad Brown secured his ninth year-end training title with 146 wins. Brown captured three meet titles this year at Belmont at the Big A spring [32 wins], Saratoga [45 wins] and a 13th consecutive Belmont at the Big A fall [31 wins] during a season which saw him win multiple Grade I races with runners such as Chancer McPatrick (McKinzie), Carl Spackler (Ire) (Lope de Vega {Ire}), Domestic Product (Practical Joke), Raging Sea (Curlin), Ways and Means (Practical Joke), Whitebeam (GB) (Caravaggio), Randomized (Nyquist) and Chili Flag (Fr) (Cityscape {GB}).
Brown posted a record of 574-146-96-77 with $15,881,246 in purse earnings for a win rate of 25.44 percent and in-the-money percentage of 55.57. Linda Rice finished second with 121 wins with Hall of Famer Todd Pletcher finishing third with 67 wins.
Chad Brown | Sarah Andrew
The year's leading owner, Seth Klarman's Klaravich Stables, secured its sixth consecutive year-end title with 63 victories. Klaravich Stables posted an overall record of 224-63-37-26 with total purses of $5,957,965. Michael Dubb finished second with 38 wins while Linda Rice finished third with 34 wins.
For the Aqueduct fall meet, Manny Franco came out on top as the leading rider, scoring 34 wins that included six stakes wins.
“I feel blessed to have these opportunities for all the trainers, all of the owners, here in New York, all year round,” said Franco. “My agent, John Panagot, has been doing a terrific job. I've been winning a lot of races here, so winning the title is just amazing. I feel great about that.”
Franco, who was also NYRA's year-end leading rider in 2018-19 and 2023, posted a meet record of 143-34-24-16 with earnings of $2,327,063, good for a win rate of 23.78 percent and in-the-money percentage of 51.75.
Dylan Davis finished second with 32 wins with Jose Lezcano finishing third with 21 wins.
Trainer Linda Rice secured her third consecutive Aqueduct fall meet training title with 22 wins, her third training title this year after taking the Aqueduct winter [23 wins] and Aqueduct spring [18 wins] meets.
“I'm happy to have won this title three years in a row, that's good,” said Rice. “Hopefully we can keep moving forward and have a good winter meet. We have about 80 horses and it's a lot of work and we always have horses coming in and out – horses always need time, but it's a good number to work with.”
Rice completed the meet with a record of 103-22-15-22 and earnings of $1,341,177, good for a win rate of 21.36 percent and in-the-money rate of 57.28 percent. Rick Dutrow, Jr. finished second with 16 wins and Brad Cox finished third with 11 wins.
Sanford Goldfarb clinched the owners' title at the Big A fall meet with eight wins. He completed the meet with a 22-8-3-3 record and $308,809 in earnings. Gatsas Stables finished second [seven wins] with Linda Rice and Winning Move Stable finishing in a tie for third [five wins].
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