Manny Franco

The New York Racing Association released the stakes schedule for the 2024 winter meet at Aqueduct Racetrack, the organization said in a release Friday. The 47-day Big A winter meet, which will feature 26 stakes races worth $3.5 million in purses, begins Monday, Jan. 1 and runs through Saturday, Mar. 30. Live racing will be conducted Thursday-Sunday for the first three weeks of January and Friday-Sunday from Jan. 26 through the first week of March. Aqueduct will host a Presidents' Day card on Monday, Feb. 19. Four-day race weeks resume...

Chad Brown had three chances to record a sixth victory in the last eight runnings of the GIII Pebbles S., and it was the 10-1 longest priced of the trio Implicated (Connect) who parlayed a perfect trip into a first black-type success Saturday at the Big A. Drawn the fence with Manny Franco at the controls for the first time, the $125,000 Fasig-Tipton October yearling purchase was away without incident and raced a touch keen into the first turn as 53-1 Precious Avary (Divining Rod) showed the way at a...

Jockey Manny Franco earned the 2,000th victory of his career Sunday at Aqueduct when guiding the Chad Brown-trained Spirit of St Louis to a half-length score in the day's second race. "I feel great," Franco, who also won the day's opener, said. "I had that on me the whole week, so I'm glad to do it early. I'm a little calm now and happy to do it. I just let him do what he wanted to do because I know the pace wasn't fast in front. I just kept my...

She may not have been the longest shot on the board--that title fell to intent-on-the-lead pacesetter and 55-1 shot Sister Bridget (Ire) (Galileo Gold {GB})--but Mertkan Kantarmaci's 29-1 trainee Evvie Jets (m, 5, Twirling Candy--Natchez Trace, by Consolidator) was still an afterthought in the public eye's at 29-1 behind a trio of Chad Brown entrants and one shipped stateside by Ireland's Joseph O'Brien in Saratoga's GII Mohegan Sun Ballston Spa S. Thursday. Longshot or not, Evvie Jets set the Spa lawn on its ear with a bold win up the...

Gainesway Stable's Spendarella (Karakontie {Jpn}) was named 2022 New York-bred Horse of the Year--as well as champion 3-year-old filly and champion female turf horse--at the New York Thoroughbred Breeders Inc.'s annual awards ceremony, sponsored by the New York Thoroughbred Breeding and Development Fund, at Saratoga National Golf Course Monday evening. Now four, the filly won a pair of graded events last spring before heading overseas for a runner-up effort in the G1 Coronation S. at Royal Ascot. She returned Stateside to win the GI Del Mar Oaks in August. "It's...

The 19-day Aqueduct Racetrack spring meet, which ran from Mar. 30 to Apr. 30, closed out with jockey Manny Franco and trainer Linda Rice repeat as the leaders in their respective divisions after taking the titles at this year's Aqueduct winter meet. Franco secured his second Big A spring meet riding title with 37 wins while Rice won her fourth Aqueduct spring meet training title with 17 wins. Franco, a 28-year-old native of Carolina, Puerto Rico, earned the eighth riding title of his career. "I'm very grateful for the help...

2nd-Aqueduct, $84,000, Alw (NW2$X), Opt. Clm ($62,500), 4-21, 4yo/up, f/m, 1 1/16mT, 1:43.02, fm, 1 length. YUKATA (IRE) (f, 4, Galileo {Ire}--Blue Kimono {Ire}, by Invincible Spirit {Ire}), victorious in a Deauville all-weather maiden at first asking for Jean-Claude Rouget in November 2021, took a conditions race on the turf at ParisLongchamp last April before finishing third as the favorite in the Listed Prix Finlande at the same venue May 19. Well-beaten when last seen in the G1 Prix de Diane (French Oaks) last June, she was part of a...

Jockey Manny Franco captured his fourth winter meet riding title at Aqueduct, posting 63 wins at the meet that ran from Jan. 1 to March 26. Linda Rice paced all trainers with 37 wins, while Windylea Farm secured their first NYRA-circuit owners title with 12 wins. "It means a lot to me. This is what we're here for," said Franco, who is represented by agent John Panagot. "I want to be one of the top riders here on the New York circuit, and I work hard to make it happen....

The betting public got it right in Saturday's GIII Withers S. at Aqueduct, rescheduled from Feb. 4 due to extreme cold, as Gary and Mary West's Hit Show (Candy Ride {Arg}) sat a golden trip beneath Manny Franco and shot clear from 8-5 second-elect Arctic Arrogance (Frosted) to take the Triple Crown prep by about four lengths. Looking to build on a strong 3 1/2-length allowance victory going Oaklawn's short-stretch mile Dec. 17, the homebred gray was quietly ridden and was content to save ground after a clean break, as...

Flavien Prat is a world-class jockey, a future Hall of Famer who dominated the Southern California circuit before heading east. Yet, he entered the week tied for fourth-place in the Saratoga jockey standings, 15 wins behind the leader, Irad Ortiz, Jr. Tyler Gaffalione is the top jockey in Kentucky and is coming off a meet at Churchill Downs where he was leading rider and had 29 more wins than the runner-up. He began the week in ninth-place in the Saratoga standings. That's no reflection on Prat or Gaffalione. What it...

The progressive Rotknee (Runhappy) took his current winning streak to three, running out an easy winner of Sunday's Damon Runyon S. at the Big A. Drawn widest in a field of five, the homebred showed the best early speed and angled over to the fence in the opening furlong, forcing odds-on Best Idea (Honor Code) to be checked for half a stride. Going strongly on the engine beneath Manny Franco, Rotknee turned them in a couple of lengths to the good and kept on gamely to become the seventh stakes...

Manny Franco, who has been among the winningest riders on the tough NYRA circuit for the last several years, has fired his agent, Hall of Famer Angel Cordero Jr. "It's true," Cordero said Tuesday by text. "There's no problem. He just wants to do better. I don't blame him. Everybody wants to be No. 1." In 2020, Cordero was also dismissed by Hall of Famer John Velazquez after working as his agent for 22 years. Cordero, 79, is still the agent for apprentice Jose Gomez. He has not yet found...