Manuel “Manny” Franco put together a summer to remember at Saratoga Race Course, capturing his first-ever leading rider title at the historic venue while establishing a new single-meet benchmark with 73 victories.
The 31-year-old Puerto Rican jockey completed the extended 45-day Saratoga meeting with a record of 73 wins, 49 seconds and 59 thirds from 370 mounts, earning more than $8.46 million in purses. His 19.7 percent win rate helped him finish atop one of the deepest and most competitive jockey colonies in North American racing.
Franco finished six victories ahead of Flavien Prat, who recorded 67 wins, while José Ortiz was third with 66. It was a particularly significant achievement for Franco, who had already accumulated 18 riding titles on the NYRA circuit but had never previously conquered Saratoga.
“It feels unreal – I’m still in the sky,” Franco told NYRA. “I work hard every day here and when you work hard, you see the result.”
A record-breaking summer
Franco’s 73 victories represent the highest total ever recorded by a jockey during a single Saratoga summer meeting, although the 2026 season was expanded to 45 days because of the ongoing construction of the new Belmont Park.
The previous standard for a traditional 40-day Saratoga meet belonged to Hall of Famer Ramón Domínguez, who won 68 races in 2012. Franco competed on 44 of Saratoga’s 45 racing programs this summer.
His championship was officially secured on Sunday when Mashallah powered to a five-length victory in the Grade 3 Prioress Stakes. It was Franco’s 68th victory of the meet and guaranteed that he would finish ahead of Prat, who was riding at Kentucky Downs during Saratoga’s closing weekend.
For Franco, winning the title was about much more than adding another championship to his résumé.
“That was one accomplishment I have on my bucket list, and, finally, we made it,” he said following the Prioress.
Travers glory highlights a memorable meet
Numbers alone, however, do not tell the complete story of Franco’s Saratoga summer.
The defining moment came aboard Leading Change in the Grade 1 Travers Stakes, when Franco guided the Brad Cox-trained colt to victory in Saratoga’s signature race. It was Franco’s second Travers triumph after winning the 2020 edition aboard Tiz the Law, but this one carried a different significance: his first came when spectators were absent because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Travers was one of 11 stakes victories for Franco during the meet, including four Grade 1 scores. In addition to Leading Change in the Travers, he captured top-level races aboard My Gun’s Loaded in the Alabama, Survie in the Christophe Clement and The Good Life in the Hopeful.
The latter provided a fitting exclamation point to his championship weekend. Shortly after clinching the riding title aboard Mashallah, Franco partnered the undefeated The Good Life to a commanding victory in the Grade 1 Spendthrift Farm Hopeful for trainer Brad Cox.
“This is the cherry on top,” Franco said after the Hopeful.
From Puerto Rico to the top of Saratoga
A native of Carolina, Puerto Rico, Franco has established himself as one of the pillars of the New York riding colony during a career that has consistently placed him among NYRA’s most successful jockeys.
He was NYRA’s year-end leading rider in 2018, 2019, 2023 and 2025, and his remarkable 2026 campaign has him firmly positioned to add another title. Through the conclusion of Saratoga, Franco had already accumulated 214 NYRA victories in 2026, 65 more than his closest pursuer.
Perhaps even more impressive, Franco has now won every NYRA meet contested so far in 2026. Before Saratoga, he led the standings at the Aqueduct winter meet with 65 victories, the Aqueduct spring meet with 22 and the Belmont at the Big A spring/summer meet with 53.
Yet Saratoga was the championship that had eluded him.
Winning at the Spa carries a special weight. Every summer, many of the nation’s best jockeys converge in Saratoga Springs, creating a colony where opportunities are fiercely contested and victories difficult to accumulate.
Franco not only won the championship in 2026 — he produced a Saratoga season for the record books.
Seventy-three victories. A Travers Stakes triumph. Four Grade 1 wins. More than $8.4 million in earnings. And, finally, the Angel Cordero, Jr. riding title.
For a Puerto Rican jockey lifting a trophy named in honor of one of Puerto Rico’s greatest racing legends, it was an especially fitting conclusion to an unforgettable summer at the Spa.
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