Red-hot Geroux takes next step at Saratoga

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – In the first hour on his first morning in Saratoga this summer, jockey Florent Geroux worked two graded stakes winners for trainer Steve Asmussen.

“You spoiled me on my first day,” Geroux said to Asmussen following workouts on Louisiana Derby winner Gun Runner and Belmont Stakes winner Creator.

If Geroux can pick up those kinds of mounts in the afternoon, it could be a fun summer for the 30-year-old Frenchman, who will ride full time at Saratoga for the first time when this prestigious meet opens Friday.

Geroux has spent the last few summers based primarily in Chicago at Arlington Park. But his business really took off this winter and spring, and the move to Saratoga is the next logical step in a burgeoning career.

“If I don’t go to Saratoga now, when am I going to?” Geroux said in a recent interview. “The timing is good. Obviously, the business is what’s bringing me there.”

Geroux is riding a wave of momentum into Saratoga. In a span of 17 days (June 30 to July 16), Geroux won graded stakes at Prairie Meadows, Monmouth Park, Parx Racing, Belmont Park, and Delaware Park, where last Saturday he won the Grade 1 Delaware Handicap aboard I’m a Chatterbox. Coincidentally, Geroux was aboard I’m a Chatterbox when she was disqualified from first in last year’s Coaching Club American Oaks at Saratoga, one of four mounts he’s ridden here.

Geroux leads all jockeys in North America with 18 graded stakes wins. His 29 overall stakes victories are one behind Javier Castellano.

So much in demand is Geroux these days that after he rides Friday’s opening-day card here, he is flying across the country to ride Belvoir Bay in Saturday’s Grade 2 San Clemente Handicap at Del Mar.

“I think it’s good to travel,” Geroux said. “First of all, you ride a different track. I think for a rider, you get more experience. When you always stay in the same place, it’s tougher when you go outside.”

Brothers Irad Ortiz Jr. – last year’s leading rider at Saratoga – and Jose Ortiz – coming off his first Belmont spring/summer meet title – are among the riders Geroux will be competing with daily. Geroux and his agent, Doug Bredar, don’t come to Saratoga with any illusions of being leading rider; they just want to broaden Geroux’s exposure and perhaps pick up new clients.

“I’m not going there trying to break records and say, ‘Okay, I’m going to beat everybody and be No. 1,” said Geroux, who worked as an exercise rider for Patrick Biancone here in the summer of 2007. “I’m just trying to keep the business I got and hopefully improve my stock as well, pick up a nice 2-year-old or horses I don’t have right now.”

Geroux has seen fellow riders not based in New York come to Saratoga and struggle. In 2015, Corey Lanerie and Julien Leparoux were first and second in the rider standings at Churchill. Lanerie went 0 for 57 at Saratoga before leaving early. Leparoux struggled through a 5-for-104 meet.

“I don’t want to go there and be the Corey Lanerie of last year,” Geroux said. “It’s horse racing. If you don’t have the horse, those guys, they can’t make magic.”

Geroux appears to have plenty of horses. In Gun Runner, he has a horse who could upset Kentucky Derby winner Nyquist in the Grade 1, $1 million Haskell on July 31 at Monmouth Park. In World Approval, he has a top contender for the Arlington Million on Aug. 13. In Catch a Glimpse, he has a 3-year-old filly who has won eight consecutive races heading into the Grade 2 Lake Placid here Aug. 21. In Cavorting and I’m a Chatterbox – both of whom he’s ridden to Grade 1 wins recently – Geroux may have a decision to make on whom to ride in the Grade 1 Personal Ensign on Aug. 27.

Asmussen, who trains Gun Runner, and Mark Casse, who trains Catch a Glimpse and World Approval, are supporters of Geroux, though they do not use him exclusively.

Casse and Geroux first started doing business together by chance last October when two riders declined the opportunity to ride Catch a Glimpse in the Natalma Stakes. Geroux won the race on her and then won the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf on her and five more races.

Geroux is 14 for 30 on Casse-trained horses, including an 8-for-15 record in stakes.

“The No. 1 thing I like out of riders is a positive attitude,” Casse said. “This is a tough-enough game, and nobody wants to win any more than us, and I just want a positive attitude. Obviously, he’s a very talented guy; that helps, but I also like his positive attitude.”

Asmussen said he started using Geroux at Fair Grounds “because of his tremendous success,” and the two have combined to win 18 races from 95 starters.

“He is a horseman; he knows a lot about the horses he rides, he’s got a good feel for them, and he’s easy to work with,” Asmussen said. “You get very good feedback from him on where you’re at with these horses.”

Though Geroux is married and has two young daughters, he is not looking at Saratoga as any type of working family vacation. His family will visit, but they are not spending the entire summer with him.

“I’m going to be there and really focus on working hard,” Geroux said. “It’s pretty tough, six days a week. It’s not like we’re going to spend vacation. My first time there I want to make sure I’m 100 percent.”