Quip could offer big thrill for old friends

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Some great trainer-jockey friendships have been forged while teaming together on America’s racetracks. Charlie Whittingham and Bill Shoemaker. Bill Mott and Jerry Bailey. Woody Stephens and Eddie Maple. Todd Pletcher and John Velazquez.

Those friendships were rooted primarily in the fabulous success the men enjoyed in racing – and it’s difficult to say whether those relationships may have evolved if not for that critical common bond. But in the case of trainer Rodolphe “Rudy” Brisset and jockey Florent Geroux, well, they were buddies even before making names for themselves with their racetrack feats.

They’ll be looking to put their teamwork on full display to the sports world Saturday at Pimlico in Baltimore, when Brisset gives Geroux a leg up on Quip in the 143rd running of the Preakness. Quip, like Kentucky Derby winner Justify, is owned by a partnership headed by WinStar Farm.

“It would be amazing, honestly, if we could win together,” Geroux said.

Although they knew each other from a few brief early encounters in their native France, where both grew up in the horse-centric country around Chantilly, it was at Arlington Park 10 years ago this summer – when both were relative unknowns – that Brisset, now 34, and Geroux, now 31, began getting close. With both having worked briefly together in Kentucky for another Frenchman, trainer Patrick Biancone, Brisset had gone to work as an assistant for Bill Mott while Geroux was struggling through a 2008 season in which he would win just 17 races from 206 mounts.

“We rented apartments next to each other in Palatine,” Geroux said. “We were both just trying to find our way. I would come work for him in the morning and ride some for Bill Mott in the afternoon.”

In the ensuing years, as Brisset became an important behind-the-scenes cog in Mott’s high-profile stable, Geroux’s career began to skyrocket. In 2013, his mounts earned $2.9 million, but by 2016, that number had jumped to a whopping $17.7 million. Geroux has won such major events as the Pegasus World Cup, the Arlington Million, the Kentucky Oaks, and four Breeders’ Cup races, including the Classic last fall aboard his Horse of the Year ride, Gun Runner.

All the while, regardless of who was killing it, the men and their wives (Kasey Geroux and Brooke Baker) remained good friends, getting together whenever practical. (Another French jockey, Julien Leparoux, 34, and his family also are part of their tight circle.)

“Florent has always been a great kid,” Brisset said. “You can ask anything of him and he will always try to help you as much as he can.”

After Brisset went out on his own last spring, it took time for his training career to gain a foothold. So when Quip pulled a 19-1 upset with Geroux aboard in the March 10 Tampa Bay Derby, giving Brisset his first stakes victory, both men reacted with unrestrained glee. Walking to the scale to weigh out, Geroux let out a loud “Woooo!” aimed at no one in particular.

“I was happy for myself, but that was more for Rudy than me,” Geroux said. “I’m not saying, ‘been there, done that,’ but I think he needed to win more than me. Just for the short period of time he had been training [10 months], to have a horse qualifying for the Derby was pretty big.”

Both men harbor an extraordinary degree of respect for the other’s ability to maximize a horse’s potential.

“Florent is always on point,” said Brisset, who is naturally light and regularly exercises many of his horses himself, including Quip. “He’s got a great clock, a great pair of hands – and not just in the afternoon, but he’s great in the morning, too. It’s a big weapon for me.”

Geroux said Brisset “has different skills, great skills. If you give him a good horse, he knows what to do with it.”

Last summer and fall at Keeneland, WinStar Farm placed a number of unraced 2-year-olds in Brisset’s care, including Justify. Brisset actually breezed the colt three times before he was sent to Bob Baffert in California.

“I’m sure the WinStar people are very happy with Rudy,” Geroux said. “Obviously, he did a great job.”

Clearly, the quest to upset Justify with Quip marks the apex in a friendship that began organically and innocently. For his part, Geroux knows a Triple Crown win is the most conspicuous thing missing on his résumé.

“It’s what every jockey wants, what every trainer wants,” he said. “To win one with Rudy would be very special.”