Manny Franco leading rider on NYRA circuit for 2025, Linda Rice leading trainer and owner

Manny Franco paced all riders to secure top honors as the leading jockey at The New York Racing Association, Inc. (NYRA) with 206 wins across the circuit’s six race meets in 2025.

Franco, 31, secured his fourth year-end title at NYRA after coming out on top in 2018-19 and 2023. This year, Franco, who is represented by agent John Panagot, scored a pair of meet titles at the Aqueduct winter [64 wins] and Belmont at the Big A fall [40 wins] meets, and won 19 stakes races on the circuit.

“It’s amazing,” Franco said. “First of all, I want to say thanks to God for letting me do what I love. I’m just happy to get the opportunity from all the owners and trainers in New York. My agent, John Panagot, has been doing a tremendous job and I’m happy to be the leading rider for the fourth time in New York. It’s not easy, but it’s not impossible either. You’ve got to work hard and that’s what I’ve been doing since I came here. You never take anything for granted.”

Among Franco’s top victories in New York were six graded wins, led by a Grade 1 conquest with Test Score in the Belmont Derby Invitational at Saratoga Race Course, and Grade 2 wins in the Carter presented by NYRA Bets with Crazy Mason, Pilgrim with Bottas and Jockey Club Derby Invitational with Asbury Park. Additionally, Franco won at the Grade 3 level in the Glen Cove with Love Cervere and the Elite Power with Just Beat the Odds.

“I’m blessed to be in this position right now,” Franco said. “Every horse I ride, I try to get to the wire first. That’s my mentality day in and day out. There were so many great wins this year, and Test Score in Saratoga was one of them. Any win is special, no matter if it’s claiming, allowance or a stake. A win is a win, and I love to get to the wire first.”

Franco finished the year with a NYRA ledger of 1,164-206-205-195 and earnings of $15,851,470, good for a win rate of 17.70 percent and in-the-money rate of 52.06 percent.

“I’ll just keep grinding – never stop hustling. I will keep my mind on that all the time and keep trying to do my best,” Franco said of his goals for next year.

Kendrick Carmouche claimed second in the year-end standings with 178 wins while Flavien Prat finished third with 168 wins.

Trainer Linda Rice set a single-season NYRA record of 165 training wins on December 12 with Snide in a maiden claiming tilt, and brought her tally to 172 by year-end for a decisive victory over Chad Brown [127 wins] in second. Rice, 61, captured three meet training titles this year at the Aqueduct winter [51 wins], Aqueduct spring [15 wins] and Aqueduct fall [31 wins] meets. 

“2025 has been a great year overall. The team has really performed and have been putting in the hours, energy and expertise,” Rice said. “My clients have given me the opportunity to go different directions and that allows you to have success when they give you that latitude to make sometimes difficult decisions.”

Among Rice’s record wins on the NYRA circuit this year were a pair of stakes scores in the Damon Runyon with Sand Devil and the Say Florida Sandy with Sheriff Bianco. She also enjoyed great success with claimed horses, including Light the Way, a $40,000 claim in February who has since won 5-of-11 starts; and Acoustic Ave, who was haltered for $45,000 in March and has since posted an ultra-consistent 9-3-4-1 record topped by a runner-up effort in the Grade 3 Elite Power.

In total, Rice posted a record of 808-172-139-120 with $9,561,873 in purse earnings for a win rate of 21.29 percent and in-the-money percentage of 53.34.
Hall of Famer Todd Pletcher finished third with 78 wins.

Rice also clinched the NYRA year-end owners’ title with a total of 61 wins and three meet owners’ titles when leading all owners at the Aqueduct winter [22 wins], Aqueduct spring [six wins] and Belmont at the Big A fall [10 wins, tie] meets.

“That was a bit of a surprise,” Rice said, with a laugh. “I consolidated in New York back around 2013 and I think that was a very good move for me.”

As an owner, Rice completed the year with a 273-61-45-39 record and $2,833,134 in total purse earnings.

Klaravich Stables finished second with 46 wins while Michael Dubb finished third with 38 wins.

Flavien Prat came out on top as the leading rider at the Aqueduct fall meet with 46 wins, including nine stakes victories, five of which were graded.

His wins were led by Grade 2 victories in the Cigar Mile Handicap [Bishops Bay] and Remsen [Paladin] and Grade 3 wins in the Jockey Club Oaks [Fionn], Pebbles [Fast Market] and Comely [Fully Subscribed]. He notched additional stakes wins in the Listed Chelsey Flower [Deep Learning], Listed Knickerbocker [Ohana Honor], Forever Together [Oversubscribed] and Notebook [Jaxer].

“It was a very good meet, and I’m very grateful,” said Prat, who is represented by agent Brad Pegram. “I had good horses to ride and I’m thankful to the trainers and connections for those rides. Everything went well.”

Prat also enjoyed a five-win day on November 23 that included his wins aboard Oversubscribed in the Forever Together and Fast Market in the Grade 3 Pebbles.

Prat, who notched his first New York riding title at the Belmont at the Big A spring meet [43 wins], completed the Aqueduct fall meet with a record of 136-46-21-15 and earnings of $3,247,016, good for a win rate of 33.82 percent and in-the-money percentage of 60.29.

“It’s been a very good season overall, and I was obviously very pleased to win the [Belmont at the Big A] spring title and this,” Prat said. “It’s been great.”

Franco finished second with 33 wins while Kendrick Carmouche finished third with 25.

Rice secured her fourth consecutive Aqueduct fall meet training title with 31 wins to cap her record-setting year on the NYRA circuit. Rice said it was satisfying to have broken the NYRA training record after she hit the 165 figure in 2023 but subsequently lost one win due to a ruling that demoted Afleet Arlene [1/21/23] from victory earlier that year.

"That [the record] was pretty exciting,” Rice said. “We got there [in 2023] and then were tied, but I think we’ll be safe for a little while now. It comes with a bit of sadness because I have raced here at Aqueduct in the winter for a long time and have had a lot of great wins and moments with clients here, whether it was for $20,000 or in a stakes race. I will be sad when the doors close here, but we’ll hopefully see some exciting things and make new memories at Belmont.”

Rice saw her wins led by back-to-back allowance-level scores with Curlin’s Girl, as well as two wins each with Last Man Standing and Brave Buck. Rice completed the meet with a record of 139-31-24-23 and earnings of $1,788,075, good for a win rate of 22.30 percent and in-the-money rate of 56.12 percent.

Chad Brown finished second with 19 wins and Tom Morley finished third with 10 wins.

Seth Klarman’s Klaravich Stables won their 31st owners’ title on the NYRA circuit, posting 10 fall meet wins that included six stakes scores. Their top performers included Fully Subscribed [G2 Mother Goose, G3 Comely], Weigh the Risks [Listed Pumpkin Pie and Listed Go for Wand], Oversubscribed [Forever Together] and Deep Learning [Listed Chelsey Flower].

Klaravich Stables completed the meet with a 20-10-2-2 record and $877,183 in earnings. Rice finished second with nine wins with Tristar Farm finishing third with eight wins.

Live racing resumes Thursday at the Big A with an eight-race card for Opening Day of the Aqueduct winter meet. First post is 12:40 p.m. Eastern. 

America’s Day at the Races presents daily coverage and analysis of the winter meet at Aqueduct Racetrack on the networks of FOX Sports. For the complete broadcast schedule, visit https://www.nyra.com/aqueduct/racing/tv-schedule.

NYRA Bets is the official wagering platform of Aqueduct Racetrack, and the best way to bet every race of the winter meet. Available to horseplayers nationwide, the NYRA Bets app is available for download today on iOS and Android at www.NYRABets.com.