Prayven a proven winner

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 12/08/2024 (745 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Assiniboia Downs leading rider Prayven Badrie continued to put on a show during Manitoba Derby week at the Downs and he’s showing no signs of slowing down while trying to hold off three-time leading rider Antonio Whitehall.

Badrie also owns a riding title at the Downs, but he had to share that with Whitehall in 2018. Badrie made it to the lead in the first week this year, and he’s attempting to take the field wire-to-wire for a title he can call his own.

“I’m just thankful for all the opportunities from the owners and trainers,” said the 34-year-old from Trinidad, who won four races this week that included a hat trick on Tuesday and a single on Monday. Notably among Badrie’s wins were the $50,000 Harvey Warner Manitoba mile aboard Blazing Bo ($9.70) for trainer Mike Nault, and the $50,000 Manitoba Oaks on Midnight Lady ($8.60) for leading trainer Lee Delaronde. Neither horse was favoured, but both dominated their fields late with big rallies from off the pace.

Badrie now has 32 victories on the season, four more than Whitehall (28) and eight more than his roommate Ronald Ali (24) and Damario Bynoe (24). Perennial top 5 rider Renaldo Cumberbatch (21) rounds out the top five as always. Ali won three races this week including the $50,000 Graduation Stakes aboard Gee I’m Foxy ($3.40) for trainer Jared Brown on Tuesday, while Cumberbatch rode Spitten Kitten ($3.80) to the slimmest possible margin of victory in the $50,000 Escape Clause Stakes on Monday. Cumberbatch also finished second in the Manitoba Derby aboard McEwen for trainer Shelley Brown, and that’s definitely a horse worth watching.

Badrie has come a long way since first riding at the Downs in 2011 and 2012 and returning in 2017. Unmentioned in his success story are the years he spent exercising elite horses for some top trainers when he returned to the fold in 2017, without getting a mount on any of them. That early slogging would eventually pay off with a tie for the leading riding title in 2018 and numerous stakes mounts later. It was all part of the plan.

There were a few detours along the way, with a spill on the final day at Century Downs in 2018 that broke his left hip and pelvis. Then, after six months in recovery, he returned on the first race day of 2019 at Century Mile and went down in another spill, breaking his collarbone. Luckily that injury only took a month to recover from and he returned to win 46 races in Alberta.

After an enforced COVID break, Badrie returned to Assiniboia Downs in 2022 and slowly began his climb back to the top of the standings. He finished fifth in the standings in 2022 with 26 wins and fifth again in 2023 with 28 wins. In February 2024 Badrie started exercising horses in the biting Manitoba cold for trainer Mike Nault and A2 Thoroughbreds, and it was just the boost he needed to make it to the top this year, along with some choice mounts from trainer Lee Delaronde and owner Henry S. Witt, Jr.

“He started to get his confidence back,” said A2 Thoroughbreds partner Nolan Allard about Badrie. “This spring he started to get on our 2-year-olds and things just started getting better and better. He said, ‘I feel like my old self. You guys helped me get my confidence back.’ And he’s riding like that right now. The way he’s finishing down the lane is unbelievable. And Mike (trainer Mike Nault) and him get along good, which makes things go so much better.”

Badrie is not only winning stakes for Nault, A2 Thoroughbreds, and True North Thoroughbreds, he’s also winning big races like the Manitoba Oaks for leading trainer Lee Delaronde, who is enjoying his time as the trainer for top Downs owner Henry S. Witt, Jr.

The 53-year-old Delaronde now leads all trainers with 21 wins, as Witt’s former trainer Jerry Gourneau appeals a $10,000 fine and six-month suspension. Delaronde was spotted in the paddock wearing a rare bow tie for the Manitoba Derby, and while his horses weren’t successful in that race, they’re winning everything else.

“It was once in a lifetime opportunity,” said Delaronde about his snappy Derby day attire. “I’ll probably never have another Derby horse, so I thought I’d better dress up for the occasion. And it was the first time I’d met Henry.”

Delaronde didn’t saddle a horse at Assiniboia Downs in 2023, and even in his wildest dreams never imagined the scenario he’s in now as the leading trainer for the top Downs owner.

“People were laughing at me,” said Delaronde. “They said if they’d taken odds at the beginning of the meet on me being leading trainer, I would have been 200-1 or something like that. And, you know, Jerry will be back next year. The agents and riders are treating me good and we have a good crew at the barn, so that’s half the battle.”

Delaronde hails from White Cap Dakota First Nation in Saskatchewan, and he’s been training horses since 1998. He’s also done all kinds of jobs at the racetrack from groom to paddock judge, to once being the assistant starter at Assiniboia Downs.

Roussette finished a wide fifth in the Manitoba Derby for Delaronde and Witt, and he’s been nominated for the Canadian Derby on August 24 at Century Mile in Alberta. If he goes, guess who will most likely be riding him?

Prayven Badrie.