Manuel Franco

Manny Franco took out his jockey's license in 2013 and earned his first career graded stakes victory in 2015 with Coffee Clique in the Grade 3 Dr. James Penny Memorial Handicap. Franco earned a then-career-best $9,353,812, which ranked 14th in North America among all jockeys, and managed to improve upon that in each of the next three seasons.

Franco won the Grade 3 Withers Stakes in 2015 with Far From Over and again in 2016 with Sunny Ridge. He earned his first Grade 1 win on Oct. 1, 2016, when he guided Joking to a win in the Vosburgh Stakes and added a second a week later when he won the Frizette Stakes on Yellow Agate.

In 2018, he posted new career-best totals for wins (251) and purse earnings ($17,068,709). He also earned him milestone 1,000th career win on Oct. 5, 2018, at Belmont Park on Courageous Bet.

In 2019, Franco rode standout turf and dirt sprinter World of Trouble in his final three career starts, all graded stakes wins. Franco entered the 2019 Breeders' Cup World Championships with one third-place finish on his resume and picked up another with Another Miracle in the Juvenile Turf Sprint before a breakthrough victory later on the card aboard Sharing in the Juvenile Fillies Turf. That win gave Franco four Grade 1 wins in 2019.

Franco also assumed riding duties on promising 2-year-old Tiz the Law in 2019. The colt won the Champagne Stakes at Belmont Park and finished third in the Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes at Churchill Downs to become a leading winter-book favorite for the 2020 Kentucky Derby. 

As Tiz the Law’s fortunes rose in 2020, so did Franco’s profile. He enjoyed a successful winter-spring meet at Aqueduct, leading in wins and ranking second in earnings, and also made headlines with Tiz the Law in Florida before both returned to the NYRA circuit after Belmont Park reopened in June due to the COVID-19 pandemic. At Gulfstream, Tiz the Law won both the Holy Bull Stakes and the Curlin Florida Derby, and then he provided Franco with his career highlight to date when he dominated the Belmont Stakes Presented by NYRA Bets on June 20, which served as the opening leg of a rescheduled Triple Crown.  Tiz the Law turned in another powerhouse performance in August at Saratoga, where he rolled to victory by 5 1/2 lengths under Franco in the $1 million Runhappy Travers Stakes.

Franco continued to establish himself as one of the best jockeys in North America during the early 2020s. He finished eighth in earnings in 2022 and ninth in earnings in 2023, winning graded stakes with horses such as Tribhuvan and Hit Show. In 2024, he notched his second Breeders’ Cup win aboard Immersive, who captured the NetJets Juvenile Fillies at Del Mar.