Report: Geroux Heading to Del Mar This Summer

Florent Geroux, who currently sits seventh in the national earnings rankings for jockeys in 2022, will ride in California full-time for the first time this summer at Del Mar, according to a report in Blood-Horse. Geroux, perennially one of the leading rider in Kentucky in the spring and fall, used to spend summers in Saratoga, but had moved his tack to Ellis the past few years.

Geroux's agent, Doug Bredar, told Blood-Horse his client will ride for “almost everybody at the top of the standings” at Del Mar and that the move could serve as a trial run for Geroux to move to California for the long run.

“This is short-term for the moment,” Bredar said. “We just wanted to test the waters. We've had a lot of people, a lot of horsemen out there have asked us to go in the past. We feel that now is the right time.”

The California jockey standings, dominated by Flavien Prat for the better part of the past six years, suddenly have an opening at the top after Prat decided to move his tack to New York full-time in a quest to win his first Eclipse Award. The move has paid off for Prat, who is winning at 21% at the Belmont Park meet and has surged to second nationally in earnings, behind only Irad Ortiz, Jr. The current leading rider in California, Juan Hernandez, is 10th in the country in earnings.

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Breeders’ Cup Buzz: The Rides Of A Lifetime

Behind every winning race is a winning ride, and the Breeders' Cup has produced some of the most impressive piloting efforts the sport has seen.

When considering those winning trips, a share of the credit must, of course, go to the jockey's agents who booked the mounts for their riders. An agent knows a good ride when they see it.

With 37 years of Breeders' Cup races to draw from, we polled six jockey's agents to get their picks for the greatest riding effort in Breeders' Cup history. The answers cast a wide net from personal victories, to betting scores, to rooting for childhood heroes.

Doug Bredar

“For obvious reasons, it would be Gun Runner in the Breeders' Cup Classic at Del Mar. I'm still surprised that Arrogate went off as the favorite. The bettors thought that Gun Runner would have issues going a mile and a quarter, but the connections felt otherwise. Arrogate had beaten him a couple of times, and it was not only an incredible thrill watching Florent Geroux win the race, but redemption for the way he did it. The fractions were 22.4, 46.1, 1:10.2 and 1:35. He went wire-to-wire and I thought it was an exceptional ride. Very fond memories of a special race.”

John Herbstreit

“Arazi and Zenyatta are the most impressive horse races I've seen. Even when Zenyatta ran second, she was impressive. Alysheba and Personal Ensign are my favorite wins. My favorite ride was Pat Day on Wild Again in the 1984 Classic.”

Ron Ebanks

“Randy Romero on Personal Ensign in the mud getting up the last jump to nail Gary Stevens on Winning Colors (1988 Distaff). He was my idol as a kid and I couldn't have been more happy and proud of him.”

Jimmy McNerney

“Pat Valenzuela aboard Fraise in the 1992 Turf stands out the most. It was the first Breeders' Cup that I was old enough to 'legally' bet and I put $100 across the board on him. He came from last and P-Val made every right move weaving his way through the pack through the turn. When they straightened, he dove down and snuck through along the fence and nipped Sky Classic right on the money. There's no other path that he could've taken and had the same result.”

Mike Luider

“Gulch in the 1988 Sprint. Angel Cordero Jr. was masterful!”

Brian Beach

“Julie Krone's ride on Halfbridled in the 2003 Juvenile Fillies was one of the best I've seen. It's not always about weaving though traffic and getting up at the wire. It's sometimes about getting your horse to perform its best under adverse circumstances, and that's what happened in this race. They broke from the 14 post and Julie was able to get her filly to relax while going wide and still not expending too much energy until she could get a better position down the backstretch. By the time they turned for home Julie had Halfbridled in a perfect winning position with something left in the tank for the run to the wire.”

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Geroux Riding Momentum From Derby Week Success At Churchill Downs

Jockey Florent Geroux is enjoying his early success at the Churchill Downs spring meet in Louisville, Ky., and entered Saturday's 11-race card one win behind Tyler Gaffalione for the top honors in the jockey standings.

The 34-year-old native of France recorded 17 wins from 64 mounts with purse earnings just shy of $2.2 million.

“We had a very successful Kentucky Derby week to begin the meet and we kept the momentum from there,” Geroux said. “We're riding for some great owners and trainers and, most importantly, some live horses.”

Geroux's early success at the meet helped him rise to third in overall North American purse earnings with $7,880,342. He sits just behind Irad Ortiz Jr. and Joel Rosario.

Represented by Doug Bredar, Geroux was tabbed to ride eight horses Saturday night including the morning line favorites in both stakes events: Frank's Rockette (6-5) in the $150,000 Winning Colors (G3) and Delta's Kingdom (5-2) in the $110,000 Keertana Overnight Stakes.

Geroux is seeking his first leading rider title at Churchill Downs.

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Florent Geroux Making The Most Of Second Oaklawn Experience

Perhaps the surest bet this year at Oaklawn was that Florent Geroux would have a much bigger impact on the jockey standings than he did during his first stint as a regular in 2012 when he came to Hot Springs to ride primarily for powerful Midwest Thoroughbreds, which would threaten Dan Lasater's then-single-season record for victories by an owner (48).

Midwest finished with 42 victories, but Geroux didn't ride any of them after one its trainers at the meet, Jamie Ness, went in a different direction with riding assignments. Quietly, Geroux left Oaklawn after going winless in seven mounts.

Betting that Geroux would fare better in 2021, specifically because of his relationship with Brad Cox, Midwest's other trainer during the 2012 Oaklawn meet, has, as expected, been a financial windfall for the jockey's longtime agent, Doug Bredar.

Through Sunday, Day 23 of the now 51-day meeting, Geroux had ridden 23 winners from just 83 mounts and bankrolled $1,594,830 in purse earnings. He was tied for second in victories, No. 2 in purse earnings, first in stakes victories (five) and tied for first in graded stakes victories (two).

“Very happy,” Bredar said Thursday morning. “We were second-leading rider at Fair Grounds and a lot of people said to us: 'Are you nuts to leave there?' We're pretty much second-leading rider here now, so it's worked out really, really well.”

Geroux began building his relationship with Cox during the jockey's brief stay in Hot Springs almost a decade ago and has become the go-to rider for the 2020 Eclipse Award-winning trainer. Geroux, now among the country's most successful jockeys, normally winters at Fair Grounds, but decided to move his tack to Oaklawn after talking with Cox, who maintains large strings at both tracks. Purses are Oaklawn are the country's highest during the winter.

Geroux and Cox, through Sunday, were 10 for 32 together at this year's Oaklawn meet and had totaled $924,574 in purse earnings. They have teamed for three stakes victories – $150,000 Smarty Jones for 3-year-olds Jan. 22 (Caddo River), $250,000 Bayakoa (G3) for older fillies and mares Feb. 28 (Monomoy Girl) and last Saturday's $350,000 Azeri (G2) for older fillies and mares (Shedaresthedevil). Geroux also won the $150,000 American Beauty Stakes for older female sprinters Jan. 30 aboard Frank's Rockette for Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott and last Saturday's $200,000 Hot Springs Stakes for older sprinters aboard C Z Rocket for trainer Peter Miller.

“It's been special, very special,” Bredar said. “You hope when you make these plans that things turn out the way you want them to. We're tickled to death. Like I said, we're very, very excited. It's been a great year. I think we're fourth in North America in earnings. That's one of the highest numbers we've ever had. We've enjoyed our stay here. Everybody's treated us really, really well.”

Bredar said Geroux, 34, will “kind of finish up through the end of the month” at Oaklawn before Keeneland opens April 2, but “definitely come back” April 10 and April 17. Oaklawn's April 10 card will include four stakes races – $1 million Arkansas Derby (G1) for 3-year-olds, $500,000 Count Fleet Sprint Handicap (G3) for older sprinters, $400,000 Oaklawn Mile for older horses and the $250,000 Carousel for older female sprinters – while Monomoy Girl is scheduled to run April 17 at Oaklawn in the $1 million Apple Blossom Handicap (G1) for older fillies and mares. The $1 million Oaklawn Handicap (G2) for older horses is also April 17. Geroux is the regular rider of Monomoy Girl, a two-time Eclipse Award winner.

“It's gone better than whatever that year was,” Bredar said, referring to 2012. “It didn't work out real well. We're very thrilled that it turned out a lot better this year.”

Bredar also represents Martin Garcia and said Oaklawn's co-second-leading jockey in 2020 will ride regularly until the meeting ends May 1. Geroux and Garcia will both ride March 27 at Turfway Park, Bredar said.

Geroux, through Thursday, had 34 victories, including 10 stakes, in his Oaklawn career. His mounts had earned $3,599,825. Geroux is scheduled to ride the Cox-trained Warrior's Charge in his 2021 debut Thursday at Oaklawn. Geroux won the $500,000 Razorback Handicap (G3) for older horses last year at Oaklawn aboard Warrior's Charge.

Geroux's wife, Kasey, is the daughter of the late jockey Louis Spindler, who rode 27 winners at the 1973 Oaklawn meeting. That bulk of Spindler's victories were for Lasater, who won a then-record 48 races at the 1974 Oaklawn meet.

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