Florent Geroux (born July 16, 1986) is a French jockey who has earned over 1,700 wins in American thoroughbred horse racing, including the 2017 Breeders' Cup Classic on Gun Runner, two Breeders' Cup Distaff wins with Monomoy Girl, and the 2021 Kentucky Derby on Mandaloun.
Geroux was born in 1986 Argentan, France. [1] His father Dominique was a jockey and later a trainer in France. At age 13, Geroux was accepted into the French riding academy, Afasec. He later started riding in France and became a leading apprentice. [3] He secured his first win on May 6, 2004, at Longchamp on Chopyluz. [1]
Geroux married Kasey Spindler, whose father was a Chicago-based jockey, Louis Spindler. The couple have two children, Olivia and Celine. [4]
On May 23, 2018, Geroux became a U.S. citizen, taking the Oath of Allegiance at the naturalization ceremony in Louisville, Kentucky. [5]
Geroux came to the United States for the first time in early 2007, working with trainer Patrick Biancone for a few months before returning briefly to France. [3]
In the fall of 2007, Geroux returned to the United States with the intention of joining the Kentucky racing circuit. On the opening day at Keeneland, he suffered a serious fall, suffering a broken wrist and two fractured vertebrae. He recuperated in France for several months then returned to the States with Chicago as his home base. He enjoyed some success over the next years, finishing tenth in the Arlington jockey standings in 2010 and winning the 2011 Hawthorne meet. [3] He earned his first stakes wins on Zoeling in the 2010 Leemat Stakes at Presque Isle Downs. [1]
In 2010, Geroux changed agents to Doug Bredar and gradually climbed the jockey ranks in the Chicago area. In 2014, Geroux scored his first Grade I victory in the Breeders' Cup Sprint aboard Chicago-based Work All Week. [1]
In 2015, Geroux relocated to Kentucky and was the leading rider at Kentucky Downs, where he won five races on two different days, and also led the Fair Grounds 2015-6 meet. [4] He won the Arlington Million with The Pizza Man and the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf with Catch a Glimpse and the Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint with Mongolian Saturday. [1]
Geroux had a career best year in 2016, with earnings of $17,690,013 and 217 wins, including two Grade I wins on I'm a Chatterbox. [1] He picked up the mount on Gun Runner at the start of the year and rode him to a win in the Louisiana Derby and a third-place finish in the Kentucky Derby. After the pair finished second in the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile, they capped the year with a win in the Clark Handicap. [6] Another highlight was winning four graded races on Arlington Million Day: the Beverly D, Secretariat, American St. Leger and Pucker Up. [7] He earned his 1,000th North American win on December 29 aboard Mr. Misunderstood at the Fair Grounds. [8]
In 2017, Geroux was ranked in the top ten of North American jockeys. With Gun Runner, he won the Breeders' Cup Classic and four other stakes race, plus a second-place finish in the Dubai World Cup. "You ride a thousand horses a year, and this one, there's just something special," said Geroux of his connection in Gun Runner. "I'm not a true believer in that, but I do believe now." [9]
In 2021, Geroux rode Mandaloun to a second-place finish in the Kentucky Derby. However, Mandaloun was later elevated to winner after Medina Spirit was disqualified for a positive betamethasone test post-race. [10]
| Chart (2007–present) | Rank by earnings |
|---|---|
| National Earnings List for Jockeys 2007 | 1105 |
| National Earnings List for Jockeys 2008 | 595 |
| National Earnings List for Jockeys 2009 | 260 |
| National Earnings List for Jockeys 2010 | 212 |
| National Earnings List for Jockeys 2011 | 78 |
| National Earnings List for Jockeys 2012 | 126 |
| National Earnings List for Jockeys 2013 | 96 |
| National Earnings List for Jockeys 2014 | 35 |
| National Earnings List for Jockeys 2015 | 13 |
| National Earnings List for Jockeys 2016 | 5 |
| National Earnings List for Jockeys 2017 | 7 |
| National Earnings List for Jockeys 2018 | 5 |
| National Earnings List for Jockeys 2019 | 13 |
| National Earnings List for Jockeys 2020 | 6 |
| National Earnings List for Jockeys 2021 | 7 |
Patrick Alan "Pat" Day is a retired American jockey. He is a four-time winner of the Eclipse Award for Outstanding Jockey and was inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in 1991 and the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame in 1999. Day won nine Triple Crown races and 12 Breeders' Cup races. He was once the leader for career Breeders' Cup wins though he was later surpassed as the events were expanded after he retired.
Kiaran P. McLaughlin is an American Thoroughbred racehorse trainer best known for training 2006 Horse of the Year Invasor.
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Blame is a retired American champion Thoroughbred racehorse, a winner of nine races in 13 starts including the prestigious Breeders' Cup Classic.
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Take Charge Lady is an American Thoroughbred racehorse and broodmare. She was one of the leading fillies of her generation in the United States, winning 11 of her 22 races between April 2001 and November 2003, earning over $2 million. She recorded Grade I victories in the Ashland Stakes and consecutive editions of the Spinster Stakes, and also won the Alcibiades Stakes, Silverbulletday Stakes, Fair Grounds Oaks, Dogwood Stakes and Arlington Matron Stakes.
Keen Ice is an American Thoroughbred racehorse, best known for winning the 2015 Travers Stakes in an upset win over Triple Crown Champion American Pharoah. He previously faced off against American Pharoah and other notable horses in the 2015 Kentucky Derby, finishing seventh, was third in the 2015 Belmont Stakes, and was second in the 2015 Haskell Invitational Stakes. Prior to the Travers, his only other win had been a maiden race at Churchill Downs as a two-year-old.
The Pizza Man is an American Thoroughbred racehorse who won multiple stakes races including the Arlington Million in 2015 and the Northern Dancer Turf Stakes in 2016, becoming the first Illinois-bred horse to win either of these Grade I races. In 2015, The Pizza Man was named Illinois-bred Champion Turf Male, Champion Handicap Male, and Illinois Horse of the Year. He retired in 2017 as the all-time leading money earner among Illinois-breds.
Gun Runner is a US Hall of Fame Thoroughbred racehorse who was the 2017 American Horse of the Year after winning four Grade I races at age four. He retired with earnings of nearly $16 million.
The 2017 Breeders' Cup World Championships was the 34th edition of the premier event of the North American thoroughbred horse racing year. The 13 races, all of which were Grade I, took place on November 3 and 4 at Del Mar Racetrack in Del Mar, California and were telecast by NBC and NBC Sports. The Breeders' Cup is generally regarded as the end of the North America racing season, although a few Grade I events take place in later November and December.
The 2017 Breeders' Cup Classic was the 34th running of the Breeders' Cup Classic, part of the 2017 Breeders' Cup World Thoroughbred Championships program. It was run on November 4, 2017, at Del Mar Racetrack in Del Mar, California with a purse of $6,000,000. It was expected to be a showdown between the top two horses in North America, Gun Runner and Arrogate, with several other Grade/Group 1 winners providing additional depth in an 11 horse field. However, Arrogate broke poorly and was never a factor in the race. Gun Runner led for most of the race and scored a comfortable victory, likely wrapping up Horse of the Year honors.
Good Magic is a retired Champion American Thoroughbred racehorse. He became the first horse to ever break his maiden in the Breeders' Cup when he won the 2017 Breeders' Cup Juvenile. As a three-year-old, he won the Blue Grass Stakes and Haskell Invitational, and finished second to Justify in the 2018 Kentucky Derby.
Justify is a US Hall of Fame Thoroughbred racehorse who is known for being the thirteenth winner of the American Triple Crown. He also was the first horse since Apollo in 1882 to win the Kentucky Derby without racing as a two-year-old.
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Brad H. Cox is a Thoroughbred racehorse trainer whose most notable horses include multiple Eclipse Award winner Monomoy Girl, Knicks Go, Covfefe, Mandaloun, and Essential Quality. He had four winners at the 2020 Breeders' Cup, helping Cox earn the Eclipse Award for Outstanding Trainer that year. In 2021, he won that title again after Essential Quality won the Belmont Stakes and Knicks Go won the Breeders' Cup Classic; Mandaloun would later be awarded that year's Kentucky Derby.
Hot Rod Charlie is an American Thoroughbred racehorse who won the 2021 Pennsylvania Derby and Louisiana Derby. He also came second in the 2020 Breeders' Cup Juvenile and 2021 Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes, and fourth in the 2021 Breeders' Cup Classic. He was voted the winner of the 2021 Secretariat Vox Populi Award.
Mandaloun is a retired American Thoroughbred racehorse who was awarded 1st place in the 2021 Kentucky Derby after the disqualification of the original winner Medina Spirit. He followed this with wins in both the Pegasus Stakes and Haskell Stakes. He also won the 2021 Risen Star Stakes, and the 2022 Louisiana Stakes.
Knicks Go is a retired Thoroughbred racehorse who was the 2021 American Horse of the Year after winning five of seven starts, including the Breeders' Cup Classic, Whitney Stakes and Pegasus World Cup. The year before he won the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile. He is the sixth horse to win two different Breeders' Cup races.
Society is a multiple Grade I American Thoroughbred racehorse who has as a three-year-old won the Grade I Cotillion Stakes at Parx Racing and as a five-year-old the Ballerina Handicap at Saratoga Race Course.
