If you walked into the Big Red Spring last August and asked anyone who the king of the Spa was, you’d get one name: Irad. It’s almost a cliché at this point. But the saratoga jockey standings 2025 ended with a statistical knot that has kept railbirds arguing well into the winter.
Irad Ortiz Jr. took home the hardware—his seventh Angel Cordero Jr. riding title—but he didn't necessarily take home the biggest "win" depending on how you look at the ledger.
Horse racing isn't just about crossing the wire first. It's about the money, the stakes, and the sheer volume of mounts. In 2025, the Saratoga summer meet (which ran from July 10 through Labor Day, Sept. 1) was a slugfest between two brothers and a Frenchman who is rapidly becoming the most efficient rider in North America.
The Final Count: Irad vs. The World
Irad Ortiz Jr. is a machine. There is no other way to put it. He finished the 40-day summer meet with 59 wins from 286 starts. That’s a 20.6% win rate. Think about that for a second. Every five times he got in the gate, he came back to the winner's circle.
Honestly, the "Ortiz Exacta" is the safest bet in New York. His brother, Jose Ortiz, pushed him to the absolute limit this year, finishing second with 55 wins. For a while there in mid-August, it looked like Jose might actually leapfrog him. He was riding out of his mind on the dirt, but Irad’s volume is just too much to overcome.
Here is how the top of the saratoga jockey standings 2025 shook out by total victories:
- Irad Ortiz Jr.: 59 wins
- Jose Ortiz: 55 wins
- Flavien Prat: 42 wins
- Ricardo Santana Jr.: 38 wins
- Kendrick Carmouche: 29 wins
It looks like a runaway for Irad, right? Well, not exactly.
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The Flavien Prat Factor: Quality Over Quantity
If you’re a bettor, you probably noticed something weird last summer. Even though Flavien Prat was third in wins, he was actually the leading money earner at the meet.
Prat pulled in $5,670,370 in total purse earnings, edging out Irad’s $5,341,609 and Jose’s $5,464,600. How does a guy with 17 fewer wins end up with more money? He wins the races that actually matter.
Prat has become the go-to guy for the "big" Saturdays. He took the Grade 1 Whitney with Sierra Leone—giving trainer Chad Brown his first-ever win in that specific race, which is kind of wild when you think about Brown’s dominance. He also snatched the Sword Dancer and the Diana.
Basically, Irad wins the Tuesday claimers and the Thursday allowances that keep the lights on. Prat shows up on Saturday, takes the million-dollar trophy, and leaves everyone wondering what happened. It's a fascinating contrast in styles. Irad is aggressive, high-volume, and works every single race like it's the Breeders' Cup. Prat is the "ice man," patient to a fault, and lethal in stakes company.
The Mid-Meet Surge
Irad's 2025 start was historic. By day 14 of the meet, he already had 28 wins. That broke records. People were talking about him hitting 70 or 80 wins for the summer. But the "Saratoga slump" is a real thing. The humidity kicks in, the turf gets a little soft, and the luck starts to turn.
By late August, the gap had closed. Jose Ortiz was winning at a 22% clip on the turf, and Ricardo Santana Jr. was making a massive run for Steve Asmussen’s barn.
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Beyond the Top Three: The Grinders
While everyone focuses on the Ortiz-Prat triangle, the 2025 meet had some local heroes who kept the lights on for the Saratoga regulars.
Kendrick Carmouche finished with 29 wins. He is the ultimate "blue-collar" jockey. He doesn't get the Grade 1 mounts that Pletcher or Brown hand out, but he wins on the longshots that break the Pick 6.
Dylan Davis also had a solid showing with 21 wins. He’s been steadily climbing the ranks for years, and 2025 felt like the year he finally cemented himself as a top-five threat on the NYRA circuit. He finished ahead of Manuel Franco (20 wins), which is a big deal in the jockey room hierarchy.
Then you have the legends. John Velazquez and Javier Castellano. Johnny V had 16 wins; Javier had 11. They don't ride 8 races a day anymore. They're selective. But when Johnny V gets on a 2-year-old for Todd Pletcher in a maiden special weight, you still have to pay attention. They’re the "professors" of the backstretch.
Why These Standings Matter for 2026
The saratoga jockey standings 2025 aren't just a history lesson. They're a roadmap for what's coming this year.
Last year was unique because Saratoga hosted an extra 9 days of racing (including the Belmont Stakes and July 4th weekend) while Belmont Park was under construction. That extra "Spring at the Spa" session really padded the stats for guys like Irad and Prat early on.
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In 2026, we’re going back to the traditional 40-day summer meet structure. Scarcity changes things. Every mount becomes more valuable.
One thing to watch? The earnings race. Irad and Prat both shattered the all-time single-year earnings record for jockeys in 2025, both clearing $40 million nationally. That rivalry is the hottest thing in sports right now. They aren't just racing for the Saratoga title; they're racing for the Eclipse Award and a spot in the history books.
How to Use This Information
If you’re heading to the track or betting from home, stop looking at just the win totals.
- Look at the Surfaces: In 2025, Jose Ortiz was significantly better on the dirt (24% win rate) than Irad. If it's a muddy Tuesday, Jose might be your man.
- The Saturday Rule: If it's a Grade 1 stakes race and Flavien Prat is on the mount, his "lower" win total doesn't mean he's a worse rider. It means he's a specialist.
- The Apprentice Watch: Keep an eye on the kids. 2025 saw some flashes from younger riders like Christopher Elliott (6 wins). They get a weight allowance that can be the difference in a sprint.
The 2025 season at the Spa was one of the most lucrative in history, with over $1 billion in total wagering handle. The jockeys are the ones driving that engine. Whether you're a fan of Irad’s "win-at-all-costs" energy or Prat’s tactical brilliance, the standings prove one thing: Saratoga remains the hardest place in the world to win a horse race.
To get ahead for the upcoming season, start tracking the current Aqueduct spring meet results. Many of the mid-tier jockeys who performed well in the 2025 standings use the spring months to build "out" with trainers like Linda Rice and Mike Maker, which often leads to prime mounts once the circuit moves back up to Saratoga in July.