Franco, enjoying momentum, has his eyes on a riding title

The last race of the day was over, the race meeting had ended, and the beer cans were emerging rapidly from an ice chest on Sunday.

Light beers, of course. This was the jockeys’ room at Santa Anita, after all.

Geovanni Franco cracked a Coors Light, looked across the room and saw colleague Flavien Prat walking toward the door, riding title at the springsummer meeting secured.

“Good luck in New York,” Franco said in earnest.

Prat will ride at Belmont Park for the next few weeks, which is cool with Franco. For the next few weeks, Franco will be based at Los Alamitos, where he will try to win his first riding title in Southern California. The threeweek summer meeting runs until July 15.

The Los Alamitos meeting is not as glamorous as Santa Anita or the upcoming Del Mar meeting, which begins on July 18. But for Franco, the next few weeks are every bit as important. Wins at Los Alamitos can provide momentum for Del Mar, and further solidify Franco’s status on the jockeys’ roster.

Franco finished second in the standings at the spring-summer meeting at Santa Anita with 28 wins, well behind Prat with 39. Franco had his best meeting at Santa Anita since he began riding in Southern California last year, and he hopes for greater success at Los Alamitos.

“I do want to win the title,” he said. “It would help a lot. I want to build business for Del Mar and stay fit and win some races, of course.”

Franco will not have to deal with Prat very often, if at all, at Los Alamitos. His competition for leading rider will probably come from Tyler Baze, Drayden Van Dyke, and Joe Talamo. Franco has mounts in five races on Friday’s eight-race program.

In March, Franco won his first Grade 1 race in the $400,000 Santa Margarita Invitational here aboard Fault. Sadly, Fault was injured earlier this month and underwent surgery. A decision on whether she will return to racing or be offered at sale this fall will be made in a few months, trainer Phil D’Amato said last weekend.

Franco has won five stakes this year, three of which were on Fault. Currently, he lacks a mount on a leading stakes horse.

“It would be nice to find that type of horse,” he said. “You can find those horses in California.”

A native of Mexico City, Franco, 27, began riding there in 2009 before moving to Hastings Park. He later rode throughout the Midwest, at Turf Paradise in Arizona, and in Northern California.

Last summer, Franco’s career was interrupted by a knee injury a few weeks into the Del Mar summer meeting. He did not ride from early August to early November.

“Ever since I came back from the injury, I’ve had a positive attitude,” he said. “The knee kept getting stronger and I felt myself feeling better on the horses.”

Franco finished eighth in the standings at the winterspring meeting at Santa Anita earlier this year before soaring in the standings at the springsummer meeting. Del Mar will be difficult, with the circuit’s leading riders focused on the high-profile meeting and its strong purses.

A top-three finish in the standings there would be considered a success for Franco.

“Now, we’ve got the momentum,” he said. “But it won’t get easier.”

BENOIT PHOTO Geovanni Franco won the first Grade 1 race of his career aboard Fault in the Santa Margarita Invitational.