Geroux headed to Del Mar for summer meet

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – While most of the Kentucky horsemen who aren’t headed for Saratoga or Colonial Downs for the next eight weeks or so will be staying home to compete at Ellis Park or Horseshoe Indianapolis, Florent Geroux is going in another direction.

“We’re going to Del Mar,” said Geroux’s longtime agent, Doug Bredar.

Geroux has become known as a clutch rider in recent years, winning big-money events for top trainers such as Brad Cox and others while averaging more than $15.5 million in annual mount earnings since his breakthrough season of 2015. Bredar said a number of factors went into the decision to try Del Mar as a regular for the first time. The Southern California track runs July 22 to Sept. 11, although Geroux could leave early to return for the rich meet at Kentucky Downs (Sept. 1-14), where he is the all-time earnings leader among jockeys ($9.1 million).

“Brad informed me he wasn’t going to be running as much this summer at Ellis as in the past,” Bredar said. “We had no intention of going to Saratoga” to ride regularly, “although we’ll still make it back East” for certain stakes for Cox and others.

In recent years, Geroux, who turns 36 on July 16, made similar trips while based primarily at Ellis in western Kentucky.

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“We felt like Del Mar is a really good opportunity to run for good money for new owners and trainers,” Bredar said.

“We’ve actually had quite a bit of success the times we’ve gone out to Del Mar or Santa Anita,” he added, most notably a victory in the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Del Mar in November 2017 aboard Gun Runner.

In making inquiries with various California trainers as to how Geroux will be received, “Let’s just say I haven’t gotten any nos yet,” Bredar said. “We’re open to ride for anyone. I’d like to think we’ll be in the top five” in a jockey colony that has thinned out to a certain degree with Flavien Prat leaving for New York and others for Kentucky.

Meanwhile, Ricardo Santana Jr. is headed back to Saratoga for the seventh straight summer after he and agent Matt Muzikar also mulled the possibility of riding at Del Mar. Santana enjoyed a nice run at the Churchill Downs spring meet that ended Monday, finishing with 33 wins. That number was second only to the 62 posted by Muzikar’s other rider, Tyler Gaffalione, who figures among the leading riders at Saratoga, which starts July 14.

Joe Rocco Jr. and Rey Gutierrez are among the local jockeys set for Colonial, which starts Monday. Most of the other jockeys on this circuit live in Louisville and will be making the two-hour commute to Ellis, which is operating on a three-day schedule (Fridays to Sundays) during a meet that runs through Aug. 28.