Geroux to switch tack to Oaklawn

Jockey Florent Geroux will shift his tack from his usual winter base at Fair Grounds to ride at Oaklawn Park when the Arkansas track’s 2021 race meet begins Jan. 22.

Geroux’s move is prompted by a desire to remain connected to some of the best horses trained by Brad Cox, for whom he has become a go-to rider. Monomoy Girl, for instance, is scheduled to race twice at Oaklawn this winter and spring, and Cox will be in heavy stakes action with a number of other prominent horses, including, possibly, likely 2-year-old champion Essential Quality. Geroux rode two Breeders’ Cup winners for Cox – Monomoy Girl in the Distaff and Aunt Pearl in the Juvenile Fillies Turf.

Before 2020, Geroux could remain based at Fair Grounds and travel to Oaklawn to ride specific horses, but COVID-19 protocols prevent that sort of back and forth. Geroux said he felt fortunate to regain the mount on several stakes-quality Cox-trained horses that raced without him at Oaklawn in 2020.

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“I feel like we dodged a bullet last year with all the good horses that went there,” said Geroux. “I feel good here at the Fair Grounds, I really like it here. But with the kind of horses we have this year, this seems like what’s best.”

Geroux will remain at Fair Grounds at least through the Road to the Derby Kickoff Day card, when he has multiple stakes mounts, on Jan. 16. Doug Bredar, Geroux's agent, said Oaklawn’s COVID-19 policy requires Geroux to get a a first COVID test in New Orleans before departing and be tested again upon arriving in Arkansas. If both tests are negative, Geroux will be cleared to ride at Oaklawn.

“It’s a very, very reasonable policy,” Bredar said. “We’ll definitely be at Fair Grounds until the last possible moment.”