Cox, purses steer jockey Geroux to Oaklawn,
Trainer Brad Cox did pretty well at Oaklawn Park when his go-to jockey was riding at Fair Grounds.
Imagine what heights Cox and Florent Geroux might reach together in the 2021 Oaklawn season starting Friday.
Owing both to Cox’s towering ascent near the top of his profession and Oaklawn’s stronger purse structure, Geroux figures to have a stronger presence than usual in Hot Springs. Among the horses he rides for Cox is two-time Breeders’ Cup Distaff winner Monomoy Girl, whom the trainer is pointing to the Grade 3 $250,000 Bayakoa Stakes at Oaklawn Feb. 15.
Normally, Geroux, 34, winters in New Orleans, where he has recorded 506 victories since 2013. But with Oaklawn averaging roughly $600,000 daily in purses and Cox, an Eclipse Award finalist, well represented locally, Geroux got on horses for the first time this season at Oaklawn on Wednesday morning.
“Brad and I, we talked and we decided where was best for me to go and that was mainly here,” said Geroux, who with 36 victories ranked fourth in the Fair Grounds standings through Tuesday, “Of course, it was mainly because of him. At the Fair Grounds, I have a lot of business, too. I have more business there because people expect me to ride there. Here, it’s different, but I’m hoping to have a good meet. With the help of Brad, I think it’s going to be very beneficial.”
Geroux is named on 12 horses during the first two days of racing (Friday and Saturday), including seven for Cox. Geroux and Cox have teamed for 285 victories since 2014 including two of the trainer’s four in the Breeders’ Cup last November at Keeneland.
Aunt Pearl’s victory in the BC Juvenile Fillies Turf enhanced the reputation of “Flo on the turf” in grass racing. Although Oaklawn lacks grass racing, Cox feels confident putting Geroux on any horse.
“We work well together,” said Cox, Oaklawn’s third-leading trainer in 2020 and dominant the last few years at Fair Grounds. “He’s done a fantastic job for us for years now. Just thought we would start at Fair Grounds and see how it goes. It’s going well, but I think with the purse money and the dayto-day racing being so good at Oaklawn, it probably just makes
more sense for him to be at Oaklawn, as opposed to the Fair Grounds, once it starts.”
Geroux has the mount on Cox trainee Caddo River in Friday’s $150,000 Smarty Jones Stakes for 3-year-olds. Program favorite in the one-mile race is Cowan, whose jockey, perennial Oaklawn champion Ricardo Santana Jr., enjoys the same special relationship with Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen that Geroux has with Cox.
Not surprisingly, Geroux (sixth) and Santana (eighth) were among the top 10 jockeys nationally in purse winnings last year, Geroux’s horses earning more than $14 million.
Geroux has more than 1,700 victories and $108 million in purse earnings in his career. In addition to Monomoy Girl, he was the regular rider of 2017 Horse of the Year Gun Runner. He also won the 2014 Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Sprint aboard Work All Week and the 2015 Grade 1 Arlington Million aboard The Pizza Man. Work All Week, champion male sprinter of 2014, and Gun Runner were both Oaklawn stakes winners.
“Because of the COVID situation, you don’t know how you’re going to be able to travel back and forth,” Geroux said. With Monomoy Girl expected to run twice during the meeting, also in the Grade 1 $1 million Apple Blossom Handicap April 17, “that’s one of the main reasons why I’m here.”
Born in France, Geroux scored his first United Stakes victory in 2008. He has 11 career Oaklawn victories.