French jockey Flavien Prat rode to the top in Southern California. Now he gets his chance in the Kentucky Derby

Reporting from Louisville, Ky. —  The single camera was set up on the south side of the jockeys room at Churchill Downs. Three people from NBC were scurrying about, trying to find the right-sized stool, asking that the noise in the room subside and that the volume be turned off on the monitor behind them.

Laffit Pincay III, the affable host of most of NBC’s horse racing coverage, was going to interview the three French jockeys riding in Saturday’s Kentucky Derby.

Julien Leparoux, the veteran at 33 and riding in his 10th Derby, and Florent Geroux, the jokester at 30 and riding in his second Derby, both flanked Flavien Prat, who despite his salt-and-pepper hair is the rookie at 24.

“I’m hoping I can get the other two to get Flavien to open up,” Pincay said to a nearby reporter.

What followed Thursday was 10 minutes of gentle repartee, clothed in camaraderie.

Prat had his fingers intertwined most of the time, his eyes often darting downward. He would have a wisp of a smile as he quietly answered questions.

He saved his biggest smile, wide and long, for when the interview was over and he was just chatting with his buddies.

Welcome to the big time.

Prat has quickly gained a reputation as one of the best riders around. He is the seventh-ranked jockey in the country this year. He recently won his second riding title, first at Santa Anita, following a tie with Rafael Bejarano at the 2016 Del Mar meeting.

He will be on the favorite, Paradise Woods, for trainer Richard Mandella, in Friday’s Kentucky Oaks.

Prat rode in last year’s Oaks, finishing 13th on Mokat in a 14-horse race. Happens to the best of them. Mike Smith finished 14th.

On Saturday, he will be aboard Battle of Midway in his first Kentucky Derby. He has ridden the horse only once — in a $75,000 optional claiming race.

“We don’t pay much attention to the Derby in Europe,” Prat said. “We pay more attention to the Breeders’ Cup. Once I started riding here, I realized how much the Derby meant, and then last year, I went to Derby Day and I realized how big it is.”

The road to the Derby is long and hard, but it almost always starts the same way: with a kid, a horse and a dream.

Prat grew up around horses because his father was a harness trainer. He even did a little pony racing in France. But racing in Europe is more hierarchical and proper as opposed to the U.S., where there is less structure.

“In France, we have a jockey school,” Prat said. “If you want to be a jockey in America, it’s hard; you have to go to the racetrack. There’s no school like there is in France.”

That early experience seemed to resonate with Prat and has become visible to others.

Jon White, a veteran observer of Southern California racing and the current morning-line oddsmaker at Santa Anita, drew an analogy between Prat and one of game’s legends.

“I see Flavien … as something of a throwback to riders back in the day who often gained valuable experience by working with horses at a farm or a ranch before they became a jockey,” White said.

“That was the case with Bill Shoemaker, who started off working at Suzy Q Ranch in Southern California before he began his career as a jockey. Shoemaker once … [said it] was probably the best thing that ever happened to him.”

Prat started riding in France full time, and in 2009, he was the top apprentice. He dropped that status (65 wins) in record time over a two-year period. That’s when things got tough.

In 2012, he ended up as second-call jockey in the prominent stable of Alain and Gerard Wertheimer, billionaire horse owners and breeders who ran Goldikova to three Breeders’ Cup wins. He was behind champion rider Olivier Peslier.

Prat had made a few trips to the U.S. in the winter, where Racing Hall of Famer Richard Mandella would give him mounts.

Prat was having a nice career but wasn’t a top-10 jockey because in France you have to wait your turn. Peslier left the stable in late 2014, but Prat didn’t get the promotion. Instead, Maxime Guyon got the top jockey job.

That’s when journeyman jockey agent Derek Lawson put the full-court press on bringing Prat to America.

“I was recruiting the crap out of him,” Lawson said. “I thought he was the best rider I’ve seen in the last 15-20 years. I pushed and pushed to get him to the U.S. I also had the help of Richard Mandella, who has been one of his biggest supporters. I never had any doubt that he would be the type of rider he was.”

When describing Prat, trainers have a familiar theme.

“He’s a very good person,” Mandella said

“He’s a real nice kid,” trainer Bob Baffert said.

A companion to niceness is often loyalty.

Before Prat would agree to come to the U.S. full time, Lawson had to arrange a work visa for his girlfriend, Manon Lemaire, whom Prat had been dating since they were 17.

He was clear on what needed to be done. He wasn’t coming without her.

Lawson was able to pull it off, and the pair are still together. Lemaire is an exercise rider for trainer Keith Desormeaux.

“He’s just a good guy,” Lawson said. “He keeps in touch with his father and mother all the time. He’s kept me as an agent; there is loyalty there. He’s extremely polite to all the trainers. He never gets mad.”

But being a full-time jockey in the U.S. has a learning curve because races in Europe are mostly on turf.

“I had to learn to ride on the dirt,” Prat said. “It’s really a different kind of ride. In Europe, you’re afraid to be on the lead. Here, it’s not a big deal to be on the lead.

“In Europe, you need a turn of foot. It’s all about the last quarter of a mile. On dirt, it’s more about being comfortable and getting a good ride.”

Landing in arguably the best jockey colony in the world is no easy task. And it wasn’t.

Prat said he didn’t get any help from the other jockeys.

“They’re pretty competitive,” he said. “They treated me like you should treat a competitor.”

It wasn’t long before he went from competitor to adversary, although a likable one.

“When Prat first showed up in Southern California, it appeared to me he was a rider who had a lot of ability,” oddsmaker White said. “But to be perfectly honest, at first, I didn’t envision he would be a star.

“From the beginning, he seemed to have that intangible that virtually all top jockeys have in that horses simply run better for him than they do for a lot of other riders. I call it the X-factor.”

Prat’s first full-time year in in the U.S. in 2015 was going well, but in his 576th mount, on Sept. 17, his gelding Discreetlyhumorme tripped and fell at Los Alamitos in a maiden race. The horse walked off. Prat did not.

He sustained five fractured vertebrae and a punctured lung. He was hospitalized for five days and was in a body brace for three months.

“It was the first time I broke something that was serious,” Prat said. “It wasn’t a great experience. You just realize that anything can happen and [you] have to enjoy every time, every winner.”

Rather than sit in his Monrovia home and count the hours, Prat signed up for a $2,500 Berlitz English language course in Pasadena.

“I told him I was getting tired of translating for him,” Lawson, who is fluent in French, said with a smile.

It was four weeks, four days a week, 2 1/2 hours a day. Prat didn’t miss a class and was never late.

Once the body cast was off, he could be found running the hills by his home. He returned for opening day at Santa Anita on Dec. 26.

In 2016, his mounts won more than $12 million. He won 170 races on 933 mounts.

“He has a natural gift that most of the good riders do,” Mandella said, explaining his use of Prat. “But a few of them have an exceptional gift, and he has that.”

Obviously, this year has been going well for Prat, who won the Santa Anita riding title. His Derby mount was supposed to be Iliad, for trainer Doug O’Neill, but the colt — who since has been retired — came up a few points short.

He got his first Derby mount a few weeks ago after an ownership change on Battle of Midway. He was named the rider for the Jerry Hollendorfer-trained colt.

But first come the Oaks. Baffert will be saddling Abel Tasman, the second favorite, in the race.

“He works at it. He studies; he’s still getting it,” Baffert said of Prat. “He’s not there yet, but he’s getting there. You can’t get there until you start throwing him into the deep end of the pool. He’s here now, so now he’s in the deep end of the pool.

“I think it’s going to be a very important week for him. I think he’s riding the best filly in the Oaks. Great riders keep great horses from getting beat. It’s going to be a lot of pressure for him. I think this could be his coming-out party.”

That could be a party he might actually enjoy.

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@jcherwa