ARCADIA, Calif. - Flavien Prat, the dominant rider in Southern California in recent years, is relocating to New York this spring, he said late Saturday afternoon at Santa Anita. Prat, 29, plans to ride the Keeneland meeting in April before moving to Belmont Park for that track’s spring-summer meeting, which begins April 28. Prat said the move is designed to improve his chances of winning the Eclipse Award as the nation’s outstanding jockey. Prat was nominated for the Eclipse Award for the first time in 2021, but lost the award to Joel Rosario. “It feels like if you want to give yourself a chance to get an Eclipse Award that you need to go to New York,” he said. “That’s just the way it is. I never thought I’d leave here, to be honest.” Last year, Prat won a career-best 246 races and had mounts that earned a career-best $23,214,813, the first time he surpassed 200 wins or had mounts that earned more than $20 million in a single year in his career. :: Win big at Santa Anita: Get DRF Past Performances, Picks, Clocker Reports and Betting Strategies.  For the year, Prat ranked fifth in the nation in earnings, well behind Rosario with $32.9 million. “I thought last year I couldn’t do better as far as being here,” he said of being based in Southern California. “I really never thought I’d move from here. It’s paradise. If I want to improve and get better, I need to go there.” A move to New York is likely to lead to more activity for Prat. In California, Los Alamitos and Santa Anita race largely on three-day-per-week schedules, while Del Mar races three or four days a week, depending on the time of year. In New York, Aqueduct and Belmont Park run primarily four days a week, while Saratoga has five-day racing weeks for most of its prestigious meeting. Overall, the purse structure on the New York circuit is higher than California. Prat has taken a more national role in recent years. In 2019, Prat rode Country House, who was promoted from second to first in the Kentucky Derby after Maximum Security was disqualified for causing interference. Last June at Belmont Park, Prat won the Grade 1 Manhattan Stakes for prominent trainer Chad Brown aboard Domestic Spending. Last summer, he won two stakes at Saratoga. Prat is hoping to continue the relationship with Brown in New York this year. “It feels like we could have some support,” Prat said. In New York, Prat will be represented by his current agent, Brad Pegram. Prat will leave California at a time when he is a clear leader on the circuit in wins, and stakes wins. On Saturday, Prat won two major stakes for Bob Baffert – the Grade 2 San Carlos Stakes with Cezanne and the Grade 1 Beholder Mile with As Time Goes By – and the Grade 1 Frank Kilroe Mile on Count Again for trainer Phil D’Amato. Last month, Prat won the $1.5 million Saudi Derby in Saudi Arabia on the Baffert-trained Pinehurst. Through Saturday, Prat had won 60 races at the meeting, which began on Dec. 26, well clear of second-place Juan Hernandez with 35 wins. Prat has won the riding title at the Santa Anita winter-spring meeting for the last five years, the last four titles at the track’s autumn meeting, and the title at the Del Mar summer meetings in five of the last six years. :: Access morning workout reports straight from the tracks and get an edge with DRF Clocker Reports Through Saturday, Prat ranked second in the nation with mounts that had earned more than $4.09 million, slightly behind leader Irad Ortiz Jr. with $4.3 million. Prat began the year with a career-equaling six wins on Jan. 1. Through Saturday, Prat had won 15 stakes at the Santa Anita winter-spring meeting. Prat won 296 races in his native France from 2008 to 2014, but has lived full time in California since the winter of 2014-15. From 2009 to 2014, Prat rode in California in the winter and the rest of the year in France. -additional reporting by Jay Privman