Geroux kicks off Santa Anita stint on high note
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ARCADIA, Calif. – By his own admission, jockey Florent Geroux acknowledged his decision to relocate from Fair Grounds to Santa Anita, smack in the middle of winter, was curiously timed.
“Came a little bit late to the party,” Geroux said Friday. “I got here last night. Last-minute decision.”
As it turns out, his timing was impeccable. On Saturday, his second day at Santa Anita, Geroux rode Plutarch to victory in the Grade 3 Robert B. Lewis. Trained by Bob Baffert, Plutarch emerged as a candidate for the spring classics. It was just what Geroux hoped to find when he relocated.
“My goal, if everything goes well, is to maybe pick up a nice 3-year-old,” Geroux said the day before Plutarch gave him exactly that.
There were a variety of reasons why Geroux chose to relocate. His business had tailed off at Fair Grounds, and with top Santa Anita-based jockey Umberto Rispoli injured, Geroux figured more opportunities were available in California. Another reason was a phone call with Baffert.
When Baffert heard Midwest-based Geroux was thinking about relocating, he encouraged the move. “I was talking to him the other day, I said come out here. I have a good one I can put you on,” Baffert said. Geroux “is sharp, he’s a good rider, a top-class rider. He’s a smart guy.”
A winner of eight Breeders’ Cup races, Geroux is 39, with two middle-school-age kids in Kentucky. The jockey is willing to commute back and forth.
“Since we race only three days a week [in California], I can easily go [to Kentucky] on the dark days, and come back here on the racing days,” Geroux said. “It looks like most [workouts] are done here on the weekends, so I think I can go back two or three days and come back here Thursday through Monday. I think it’s doable.”
Geroux is represented in California by jockey agent Matt Nakatani. “Having a local agent, it’s a big advantage,” Geroux said. “Matt has done a great job with [Rispoli] the past two years, he was the leading rider at Del Mar and near the top this meet here.”
Fair Grounds remains in the picture for Geroux. He has six mounts Feb. 14 at Fair Grounds, including Quality Mischief in the Grade 2 Risen Star Stakes. The jockey will spend plenty of time in airplanes. He also looks forward to the challenge of breaking into the Santa Anita colony.
“I think I fit very well with these guys, and things should pick up when I start working some of those horses in the morning,” Geroux said. “Better chances, better quality horses hopefully.
“I know here it could be short fields, but if you ride for the right people, and you win races, you’re going to ride.”
On Saturday in the Lewis, Geroux was riding for the right trainer on the right horse. Baffert-trained Plutarch has emerged as a top 3-year-old, and Geroux may have found a second home in California.
Brant training for 3-year-old season
Brant, winner of the Grade 1 Del Mar Futurity and third-place finisher in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile in his most recent start Oct. 31 at Del Mar, is training toward his 3-year-old debut for Bob Baffert. Where and when Brant makes that debut is uncertain.
“He’s doing really well, I was trying to get him to the Rebel, but it’s going to be tight,” Baffert said Saturday. The Grade 2 Rebel is on March 1 at Oaklawn Park. Brant posted the third workout of his comeback on Feb. 5 at Santa Anita, five furlongs in 1:01.80.
Litmus Test, Baffert-trained winner of the Grade 2 Los Alamitos Futurity, is on target for the Grade 2 San Felipe Stakes on March 7 at Santa Anita.
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