Florent Geroux (born July 16, 1986) is a

jockey A jockey is someone who rides horses in horse racing or steeplechase racing, primarily as a profession. The word also applies to camel riders in camel racing. The word "jockey" originated from England and was used to describe the individual ...

who has earned over 1,700 wins in American

thoroughbred horse racing Thoroughbred racing is a sport and industry involving the racing of Thoroughbred horses. It is governed by different national bodies. There are two forms of the sport – flat racing and jump racing, the latter known as National Hunt racing in t ...

, including the 2017 Breeders' Cup Classic on

Gun Runner Arms trafficking or gunrunning is the illicit trade of contraband small arms and ammunition, which constitutes part of a broad range of illegal activities often associated with transnational criminal organizations. The illegal trade of small ar ...

, two

Breeders' Cup Distaff The Breeders' Cup Distaff is a Weight for Age Thoroughbred horse race for fillies and mares, 3 years old and up. Known as the Breeders' Cup Ladies' Classic between 2008 and 2012, it is held annually at a different racetrack in the United States or ...

wins with

Monomoy Girl Monomoy Girl (foaled March 26, 2015) is a retired American Thoroughbred racehorse who was the American Champion Three-Year-Old Filly of 2018 and Champion Older Female Horse of 2020. She showed very promising form as a juvenile in 2017 when she wo ...

, and the

2021 Kentucky Derby The 2021 Kentucky Derby (officially, the 2021 Kentucky Derby presented by Woodford Reserve) was the 147th running of the Kentucky Derby. It took place on May 1, 2021, in Louisville, Kentucky. The field was open to 20 horses, who qualified for t ...

on Mandaloun.

Background

Geroux was born in 1986

Argentan Argentan () is a commune and the seat of two cantons and of an arrondissement in the Orne department in northwestern France. Argentan is located NE of Rennes, ENE of the Mont Saint-Michel, SE of Cherbourg, SSE of Caen, SW of Rouen and N ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. His father Dominique was a jockey and later a trainer in France. At age 13, Geroux was accepted into the French riding academy, Afasec. He later started riding in France and became a leading apprentice. He secured his first win on May 6, 2004, at Longchamp on Chopyluz. Geroux married Kasey Spindler, whose father was a Chicago-based jockey, Louis Spindler. The couple have two children, Olivia and Celine. On May 23, 2018, Geroux became a U.S. citizen, taking the Oath of Allegiance at the naturalization ceremony in Louisville, Kentucky.

North American Career

Geroux came to the United States for the first time in early 2007, working with trainer

Patrick Biancone Patrick Louis Biancone (born June 7, 1952 in Mont-de-Marsan, Landes, France) is a Thoroughbred racehorse trainer. He is currently based in the United States, but enjoyed success in both Europe and Hong Kong earlier in his career. He was the head ...

for a few months before returning briefly to France. In the fall of 2007, Geroux returned to the United States with the intention of joining the Kentucky racing circuit. On the opening day at Keeneland, he suffered a serious fall, suffering a broken wrist and two fractured vertebrae. He recuperated in France for several months then returned to the States with Chicago as his home base. He enjoyed some success over the next years, finishing tenth in the Arlington jockey standings in 2010 and winning the 2011 Hawthorne meet. He earned his first stakes wins on Zoeling in the 2010 Leemat Stakes at

Presque Isle Downs Presque Isle Downs & Casino is a casino and horse racing track near Erie, Pennsylvania, owned and operated by Churchill Downs Inc. History The developer, MTR Gaming Group, broke ground in October 2005 for the new facility, which opened on February ...

. In 2010, Geroux changed agents to Doug Bredar and gradually climbed the jockey ranks in the Chicago area. In 2014, Geroux scored his first Grade I victory in the

Breeders' Cup Sprint The Breeders' Cup Sprint is an American Weight for Age Grade I Thoroughbred horse race for horses three years old and older. Run on dirt Corrected grade for Santa Anita sprintover a distance of 6 Furlongs ( mile), the race has been held annually si ...

aboard Chicago-based Work All Week. In 2015, Geroux relocated to Kentucky and was the leading rider at

Kentucky Downs Kentucky Downs is a Thoroughbred horse racing track located on the border between Kentucky and Tennessee, in the city of Franklin, Kentucky, just off Interstate 65. It is unique among American tracks in that it is a European-style course—its su ...

, where he won five races on two different days, and also led the Fair Grounds 2015-6 meet. He won the

Arlington Million The Arlington Million is a Grade 1 flat horse race in the United States for thoroughbred horses aged three years and upward on the turf. It was originally raced at the now-closed Arlington Park in Arlington Heights, Illinois over a distance of m ...

with

The Pizza Man The Pizza Man (foaled March 25, 2009) is an American Thoroughbred racehorse who won multiple stakes races including the Arlington Million in 2015 and the Northern Dancer Turf Stakes in 2016, becoming the first Illinois-bred horse to win either ...

and the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf with

Catch a Glimpse Catch may refer to: In sports * Catch (game), children's game * Catch (baseball), a maneuver in baseball * Catch (cricket), a mode of dismissal in cricket * Catch or reception (gridiron football) * Catch, part of a Anatomy of a rowing stroke, row ...

and the Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint with Mongolian Saturday. Geroux had a career best year in 2016, with earnings of $17,690,013 and 217 wins, including two Grade I wins on I'm a Chatterbox. He picked up the mount on

at the start of the year and rode him to a win in the

Louisiana Derby The Louisiana Derby is a Grade II American Thoroughbred horse race run annually at the Fair Grounds Race Course in New Orleans, Louisiana. Run in late March, the race is open to horses, age three, willing to race miles on the dirt. It currently o ...

and a third-place finish in the

Kentucky Derby The Kentucky Derby is a horse race held annually in Louisville, Kentucky, United States, almost always on the first Saturday in May, capping the two-week-long Kentucky Derby Festival. The competition is a Grade I stakes race for three-year ...

. After the pair finished second in the

Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile The Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile is a Weight for Age stakes race for thoroughbred racehorses three years old and up. As its name implies, it is part of the Breeders' Cup World Championships, the ''de facto'' year-end championship for North American t ...

, they capped the year with a win in the

Clark Handicap The Clark Stakes is an American Thoroughbred horse race held annually in late November at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky. Among the oldest races in the United States, it was first run in 1875, the year the racetrack opened for business. C ...

. Another highlight was winning four graded races on Arlington Million Day: the

Beverly D Beverly or Beverley may refer to: Places Australia *Beverley, South Australia, a suburb of Adelaide * Beverley, Western Australia, a town * Shire of Beverley, Western Australia Canada *Beverly, Alberta, a town that amalgamated with the City of ...

Secretariat Secretariat may refer to: * Secretariat (administrative office) * Secretariat (horse) Secretariat (March 30, 1970 – October 4, 1989), also known as Big Red, was a champion American thoroughbred horse racing, racehorse who is the ninth winne ...

, American St. Leger and Pucker Up. He earned his 1,000th North American win on December 29 aboard Mr. Misunderstood at the Fair Grounds. In 2017, Geroux was ranked in the top ten of North American jockeys. With Gun Runner, he won the Breeders' Cup Classic and four other stakes race, plus a second-place finish in the Dubai World Cup. "You ride a thousand horses a year, and this one, there's just something special," said Geroux of his connection in Gun Runner. "I'm not a true believer in that, but I do believe now." In 2021, Geroux rode Mandaloun to a second-place finish in the

. However, Mandaloun was later elevated to winner after

Medina Spirit Medina Spirit (April 5, 2018 – December 6, 2021) was an American Thoroughbred racehorse who finished first in the 2021 Kentucky Derby before being disqualified. He came second in the 2021 Breeders' Cup Classic and third in the 2021 Preakness ...

was disqualified for a positive

betamethasone Betamethasone is a steroid medication. It is used for a number of diseases including rheumatic disorders such as rheumatoid arthritis and systemic lupus erythematosus, skin diseases such as dermatitis and psoriasis, allergic conditions such ...

test post-race.

Year-end charts

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Geroux, Florent 1986 births Living people French jockeys American jockeys People from Argentan Sportspeople from Orne