Tag: Florent Geroux

Breeders’ Cup Presents Connections: Achard Restarts His Career, Claims His First Graded Win

Jockey Alex Achard may have caught some flack from his fellow riders over his celebration in the winning photograph from last Saturday's Grade 3 Chicago Stakes at Arlington Park in Arlington Heights, Ill., but he hasn't let that bother him. After all, it's not every day you get your first graded stakes victory.

“A lot of people made fun of that, but I don't really mind,” the 30-year-old Achard said. “I was so happy. I was confident before the race, but obviously it wasn't easy. 

“When I handicapped the race, Brad Cox's horse was really the horse to beat and after that the race was quite open; I guess I got such a good trip so that's probably where I won the race.

“At that moment (at the finish line) I wasn't really thinking about anything, I was just happy.”

Achard began his riding career in his native France, but made the decision to move to the United States in 2018. He knew the opportunities were more plentiful, but he didn't know which part of the country to try first. 

“I had no clue where to go, absolutely no clue,” Achard said, laughing. “I'd been to the U.S. once before, galloping in California one winter, and when things weren't working out in France after I lost the claim, I knew I wanted to come back to the U.S.

“I called Flo[rent Geroux], even though I didn't know him very well, because when he left there was when I was starting to ride, so we kind of crossed paths with each other. I just knew who he was, and that he was successful.”

Geroux suggested Indiana because the grouping of racetracks in the region are all within driving or short flight distance, Achard said.

It's taken several years to build up his business. When he first arrived, the jockey couldn't find an agent and wound up making his living as an exercise rider.

“Obviously in France I did well years ago, but you restart from the bottom here,” Achard said. “Nobody knows you or what you've done in your own country. It was harder than I thought, I just thought I'd find an agent and it would be all right. When I couldn't find anyone, I just started galloping for Tom Amoss in Indiana, breezing most of his workers. He sent me to Saratoga for the summer with a string of 10 to 12 horses. Obviously I didn't race, but it was a great experience.”

After Achard returned to Indiana, he found an agent and picked up a few mounts at the end of the 2018 meet. He followed the local circuit to Turfway Park in Florence, Ky. for the winter, and earned a pair of seconds that December, but it wasn't until March of 2019 that Achard finally got his first win in the U.S.

He wound up winning 17 races in 2019, and last year, despite the struggles and restrictions implemented by the pandemic, Achard improved his statistics to win 33 races and top $1 million in earnings. 

Achard's first stakes win came in late summer of 2020 at Indiana Grand, winning the $100,000 Indiana First Lady Stakes on Aug. 26 aboard Wellington Wonder for trainer Michelle Lovell.

“I'm so happy for Alex,” Lovell told Indiana Grand's publicity department after that win. “When he first got here, I saw him win for someone else and thought he could really ride. He has always liked this filly and he knows her really well. She only has one big stride and he knows how to time his move. He works so hard, so I'm glad to see him get his first stakes win.”

In 2021, Achard has already racked up 23 wins. He has able to travel around the Midwest much more due to the relaxing of COVID-19 restrictions, and made a specific request to his agent to try to find mounts at Arlington Park.

“I just told my agent at the beginning of the year, this is the last year of Arlington, and I've never been and I want to see it,” Achard said. “I told her, 'I want to ride there before it's gone, even if the horse has three legs!' I had just heard so many good things about it, and it's really beautiful. It's so sad to think that this might be the last year.”

The possibility of shutting down Arlington reminded Achard of a similar situation in France.

“They just did that to a big track in Paris last year, a beautiful racetrack where you could run 1 ¼ miles straight,” he explained. “There were only two racetracks in Europe where you can do that, Newmarket being the other, but they just shut down the track last year. That was pretty sad.”

Still, it was that drive to see Arlington Park, plus his willingness and desire to ride races at every available opportunity, that earned him the mount aboard the Anna Meah-trained Abby Hatcher in the Chicago Stakes.

The G3 was Meah's first graded stakes win as well, and she credited a clever ride from Achard in her celebratory social media post.

Though he wasn't raised in the sport of horse racing, Achard comes by his love of horses and competition naturally. Both his parents are involved in show jumping in France, and for a time during his youth they also exercised racehorses in the mornings.

“Actually, I grew up with horses, but I never wanted to learn how to ride because I was around horses every day and I wasn't interested in riding,” Achard revealed. “It came up way later, when I started riding at 13 or 14, but I could have been on the horses at probably three years old.

“I just fell in love with the horses, and that's the main thing you need. I also love racing, the competition of it, so it's a good match for me.”

Looking forward, Achard says he can't compare himself to the success of his fellow countrymen Julien Leparoux, Geroux, or even Flavien Prat, with whom he did ride a bit in France. 

“What I want is to ride the most winners I can, obviously if they are good races it's even better,” Achard said. “I still have some work to do, but I don't put a lot of pressure on myself, I just try to do my thing. I don't compare myself to them, but if I can do some of what they've accomplished, that would be amazing.”

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‘Versatile’ Fulsome Records Final Workout Before Indiana Derby

Juddmonte Farms' Fulsome turned in his final workout for the $300,000, Grade 3 Indiana Derby on July 7, cruising five-eighths of a mile in 1:00.80 under jockey Florent Geroux shortly after the Churchill Downs track opened at 5:30 Wednesday morning.

“He did great. It was just maintenance,” Geroux said afterward. “He went 48 and 1:01, so he's doing good. We'll see how the race shapes up.”

The Brad Cox-trained Fulsome started his career with four turf races, winning a maiden race and finishing fourth in a stakes in New Orleans, before impressively capturing his dirt debut when a Keeneland allowance race came off the turf. He is now 3-for-3 on dirt, following up with Arkansas' $300,000 Oaklawn Stakes on Kentucky Derby Day and Churchill Downs' Grade 3 Matt Winn.

“He transferred over to the dirt well in April at Keeneland,” said Cox, perennially among Indiana Grand's leading trainers. “I'm glad it came off the turf; it was in the mud. He gave us the confidence to press forward on the dirt, so it's been very rewarding this spring.”

Cox said they were looking both at the grass and the two-turn mile distances available in turf maiden races when Fulsome began his career.

“A little bit of both. He just never shined a whole lot early on when he was chasing Mandaloun around there last fall,” he said with a laugh in reference to Juddmonte's Kentucky Derby runner-up. “It took him a little while to come to hand. He's not a real big horse, and I thought the grass might be a little kinder on him, that he could handle it a little better. He ran well on the grass, but he definitely has stepped up on the dirt.”

In the Matt Winn, Fulsome beat O Besos, one of his Indiana Derby rivals. O Besos, who finished fifth in the Kentucky Derby, is ridden by Indiana Grand's meet-leader Marcelino Pedroza.

“He ran a good race at Churchill,” Geroux said. “He was going to go by him (O Besos) pretty easily at the end. I was kind of tracking him all the way. He had a very nice turn of foot that day. Hopefully he can repeat and do the same thing at Indiana.”

Geroux rode Fulsome in his first three starts on grass.

“I think he's probably a touch better on the dirt,” he said. “He was not very quick. So Brad and Juddmonte didn't feel there was a great need to sprint him on the dirt, having him all the way back and eating dirt. So that's why he ran a few times on the turf, around two turns. And when he was ready to take on the dirt, they switched him over and he's been pretty good since then. His numbers show he's better on dirt, but I think he's very versatile. He can be close up to the pace and also be farther back — and he's good on both surfaces.”

Geroux and Cox, the 2020 Eclipse Award-winning trainer, teamed to sweep last year's Indiana Derby with Shared Sense and Indiana Oaks with Shedaresthedevil, who in her next start won the Kentucky Oaks. Now they'll try to repeat with Fulsome and Oaks contender Marion Francis, winner of a Churchill Downs allowance race in her last start.

“It was great last year,” Geroux said. “We brought some nice horses over there. It's easier when you're the favorite, or one of the favorites, to win these types of races. But it looks like he should be the favorite for the Indiana Derby. I don't know who's coming, but my guess is that he would be the favorite.”

The Grade 3 Indiana Derby will be joined by five other stakes on the card, bringing stakes purses for the day to $840,000. The Indiana Derby will be slated as the 12th race on the card with an estimated post time of 8:25 p.m. The Grade 3 Indiana Oaks will be carded as Race 11 with an estimated post time of 7:43 p.m.

The 19th season of Thoroughbred and Quarter Horse racing is now in progress and continues through Monday, Nov. 8. Live racing is conducted at 2:25 p.m. Monday through Wednesday, with first post on Thursday set at 3:25 p.m. A special Indiana Champions Day highlighting the state's top Thoroughbred and Quarter Horses will be held Saturday, Oct. 30, beginning at noon. More information about the 2021 racing season is available at www.caesars.com/indiana-grand.

 

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Trio Of Cross Country Stakes Wins Net Florent Geroux Jockey Of The Week Title

With two stakes wins at Canterbury Park and a graded stakes win at Churchill Downs, Florent Geroux was voted Jockey of the Week for June 21 through June 27. The award, which is voted on by a panel of racing experts, is for jockeys who are members of the Jockeys' Guild, the organization which represents more than 950 active riders in the United States as well as retired and permanently disabled jockeys.

Geroux doesn't travel to Canterbury Park often to ride, but on Wednesday evening with four mounts during the Northern Stars Turf Festival he won two stakes with a second and third. The team of Trainer Brad Cox and Geroux won the Curtis Simpson Oaks with Saranya who went off as the favorite in the field of nine 3-year-old fillies. She raced three deep while tracking the leaders on the backstretch, taking command at the furlong marker and held off a late charge from Amalfi Princess with a final time 1:35.04 for the mile.

Cox and Geroux struck again in the Mystic Lake Mile for 3-year-olds and up with Hieronymus. The second choice in the field of nine, Geroux had Hieronymus forwardly placed just off the pacesetter racing to the backstretch. He closed the gap through the stretch to prevail by a nose on the wire in 1:32.93, establishing a new track record for the mile.

Returning to Churchill Downs on Saturday, the Cox/Geroux team went postward with Set Piece (GB) in the Grade 2 Wise Dan for 4-year-olds an up. Somelikeithotbrown was on the lead early, while Set Piece (GB) ran in ninth. At the head of the lane, Set Piece (GB) closed ground while still seven lengths behind Somelikeithotbrown. Inside the eighth pole, Geroux guided Set Piece (GB) inside to rally past Somelikeithotbrown to win by a half-length in 1:40.50 for the one and one-sixteenth mile turf contest.

“He's a very nice horse,” Geroux said. “No matter where he comes from, inside or outside, he always seems to rally late. Turning for home, he gave me his best run.”

Weekly statistics for Geroux were 29-9-9-2 for a 31 percent win rate and total purse earning of $912,280.

Geroux out-polled fellow riders Brian Hernandez, Jr. with two stakes wins, Miguel Mena who won the Grade 3 Ohio Derby, Jose Ortiz with two graded stakes wins and John Velazquez also with two stakes wins.

Geroux plans to ride full time at Ellis Park this summer with occasional trips to Saratoga or Del Mar.

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Ellis Park Opens Summer Meet To Excited Crowds In Stands, Familiar Names In Winner’s Circle

The RUNHAPPY Meet at Ellis Park kicked off Sunday before an enthusiastic crowd welcoming back horse racing in the Tri-State area with fans in the stands for the first time since 2019. COVID protocols forced last summer's meet to be held only before socially-distanced reserved seating. Ellis Park is located in Henderson, Ky.

“Very encouraged,” said Ellis Park General Manager Jeff Inman. “It's been a really busy day for our opening day. We got through everything well, we'e executed well. Few little glitches, but we're going to be able to fix them quickly. The team is excited and happy to see the crowds. The crowds are happy. We've got kids. We've got cheering. We've got the thunder of the horses. We're a racetrack again!”

Much of the pre-meet conversation centered on all the high-profile trainers who will have horses stabled at Ellis Park this summer because of the closure of Churchill Downs for off-season training. But when the Pea Patch began its 99th season, local horsemen were the fastest out of the gate.

Bonnie Pittman of Evansville was the winning owner-trainer as Shape of You ($31.20 to win) captured the first race, a starter-allowance with an optional $10,000 claiming price, under Angel Rodriguez. Pittman predicted that Eric Foster of the Owensboro area would follow suit in the second. And, as it turned out, also the third race.

Sir Acealot ($8.40), owned by Joseph A. and Hugh D. Scates, captured the second race for $16,000 maiden-claimers by 5 1/2 lengths, to give DeShawn Parker his first Ellis Park victory in a 5,870-win career. Foster came right back with the $10,000 claimer Can'tbetemall ($4.80) and jockey Chris Landeros winning for the Scateses, Foster Family Racing and R.K. Eckrich Racing. Both races attracted the usual jammed-packed winner's circle whenever Foster wins a race.

“It's awesome, just awesome,” Pittman said. “It's great to see everybody back in the stands again, and we're ready to rock and roll. We've all been out here training the last few months, and I think we're ready to go.”

“We move in early and get them ready,” Foster said after the second race. “That's why I like to win here so much because family and friends get to come who don't always get to go to the races. It makes it that much better.”

Parker, the leading rider at Indiana Grand last year, plans to ride regularly at Ellis Park for the first time because the two tracks don't overlap. Ellis runs Fridays through Sundays and Indiana Grand Mondays through Thursdays.

“We finally got it done,” Parker said of his first Ellis victory, though in fairness he hadn't ridden much before at the track. “It feels good. Nice crowd, nice place, everything.”

“You're kidding,” Foster said when told it was Parker's first victory at the Pea Patch. “He's been everywhere and done everything. He's awesome.”

Foster said he doesn't view it as competition between the local trainers and those coming in from Louisville and Lexington.

“I look up to so many of them,” he said. “I hope they would all be behind us. Any time the guys around here need advice, they'll give it to you.” But, he added, “It is nice for me and Bonnie to get the 1-2.”

After he won again, Foster said, “It's a good day. I tell you what, I already was so happy for Bonnie, and to win two more, it's a blessing. You've got to enjoy every win, and to do it twice in a row.”

Inman was delighted to see Ellis' local horsemen do so well. “Really, it's the local guys who are always here for us,” he said, adding in reference to Churchill Downs' meet ending Saturday, “The big guys are here, but they're coming in right now. I think Brad Cox has had a few horses come in. But we're really not expecting the majority of our top-flight trainers to be here until the 4th or 5th of July.”

Brad Cox, who last summer earned his third Ellis Park training title in a tie with Kenny McPeek, is the reigning Eclipse Award winner as North America's outstanding trainer and recently won his first Triple Crown race with 2-year-old champion Essential Quality in the Belmont Stakes.

Cox made his presence known early on Sunday, taking the fourth race, an entry-level allowance event for 3-year-olds, with heavily favored Swill and jockey Florent Geroux. Swill, racing as a gelding for the first time, came in off a six-month layoff since finishing fourth in Aqueduct's Jerome Stakes. He dominated the seven-furlong race Sunday, winning by seven lengths over Espionage in a field that scratched down to four horses. Swill, a son of Munnings, is owned by Louisville's Rick Kueber and the Ten Strike Racing partnership headed by Marshall Gramm, professor and chair of the economics department at Rhodes College in Memphis.

Geroux and Cox teamed to win the fifth as well with Arkansas timber man John Ed Anthony's 4-year-old gelding Pine Knoll winning a maiden race on his eighth attempt, this race at 1 1/16 miles on turf. Pine Knoll went virtually wire-to-wire, holding off the late-running Chad Brown-trained first-time starter Orchestration by 1 1/2 lengths.

The first 2-year-old race of the meet was won by Frank Fletcher's filly J L's Rockette, with 2019 meet-titlist James Graham aboard for Bill Mott, one of four Hall of Fame trainers who will have a sizable division of horses stabled at the track. The other Hall of Famers are Steve Asmussen, Mark Casse, and legendary D. Wayne Lukas, who is stabled at Ellis for the first time.

J L's Rockette was a first-time starter by Spendthrift Farm's super-sire Into Mischief. J L's Rockette battled for the lead, opened up a four-length lead with an eighth-mile to go in the five-furlong race, and then held off the on-coming Tap N Glo, who came up just short of giving Cox and Geroux their third winner of the day.

Mott is stabled at Ellis Park for the first time, with those horses overseen by his Churchill Downs assistant, Kenny McCarthy.

“That was fantastic,” McCarthy said of J L's Rockette, adding cheerfully, “He's owned by Mr. Frank Fletcher, and this horse is named after his wife and his daughter. He said, 'So you better win!'”

Thomas Haughey's PTK LLC stable was last year's leading owner with six wins. His family's stable took a step toward defending that title by taking the seventh race, a $52,000 one-mile turf allowance, with the appropriately named Continuation. Joe Rocco Jr. was aboard for trainer Dane Kobiskie.

Continuation needed nine attempts before he won a Churchill Downs' maiden race but now has won two in a row. The 4-year-old son of Munnings made the most of his turf debut, stalking early leader Wentru before taking over through the stretch for a 2 3/4-length victory in the field of nine.

“I'm very thankful for the opportunity,” Rocco said. “Dane does a great job. All of his horses feel like they're ready to run when they bring them over to the races.”

Rocco is among those planning to ride two tracks full-time this summer. The twist is that he won't be just making the three-hour trek from Indiana Grand but from Colonial Downs, 717 miles away in New Kent, Va. Colonial Downs races Monday through Wednesday, July 19 through Sept. 1.

“I bought an RV and am going to drive it there and stay in it,” Rocco said. “I'll just fly from Richmond to Evansville. There's no direct flights. I have to go through Atlanta, but I'll put on a lot of frequent flier miles this summer.”

And he's doing this because?

“Why not?” said Rocco, who turns 40 on July 19. “The dark days don't conflict with each other. Mike Tomlinson, I ride a lot of horses for him and he's taking his whole barn there. So are a lot of other people from Kentucky… And I want to come back and keep the business I've got here as well as much as we can.”

Joe Talamo, the Eclipse Award winner in 2007 as North America's outstanding apprentice jockey, relocated to Kentucky from California last year and won his first riding title in the commonwealth at Ellis Park. This year has presented some challenges as Talamo missed part of the Oaklawn Park meet after contracting COVID. But the 31-year-old jockey made a good start to his title defense by taking the opening-day finale on Michael Cannon's There Goes Harvard, 1 1 1/4-length winner over Tango Tango Tango in the 1 1/16-mile maiden race on turf. There Goes Harvard is trained by California-based Michael McCarthy, who has started a Kentucky division.

“It feels great,” said the unfailingly cheerful Talamo. “I'm grateful for the opportunity that Michael McCarthy gave me. I know him pretty well from back in California. He's a really good horseman, really good trainer. Yeah, it's great to be back. I love the vibe out here with fans. Last year it was a little different; only the owners and trainers could be out here. So it's definitely nice to see it back to normal. Fans interacting and stuff, it's really nice.”

Ellis Park runs through Sept. 4, racing Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays along with Thursday, July 1.

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