Fair Grounds-based jockey Florent Geroux won the two graded stakes Saturday on the "Road to the Derby Day" card at the historic New Orleans oval earning Jockey of the Week for January 13 through January 19 by a vote of the panel of racing experts.
The weekly honor recognizes jockeys for significant riding accomplishments and who are members of the Jockeys' Guild, the organization which represents more than 1050 active, retired and permanently disabled jockeys in the United States.
Riding first call for two-time Eclipse Award trainer Brad Cox, Geroux was aboard Hit Show in the Grade III Louisiana Stakes for four-year-olds and up. Off as the 6-5 favorite in the field of eight, Hit Show stumbled slightly breaking from post position one. Content to trail the field, Hit Show raced just off the rail until the top of the stretch when he began to pick off his rivals one by one to win convincingly by a length and one-half in 1:44.91 for a mile and one-sixteenth over a track rated as sloppy (sealed).
"He's always honest when he races," Geroux said to Fair Grounds publicity. "He can run on any track: sloppy, wet, slow, deep, tight, he doesn't care. He's just a horse who likes his job." Geroux and Hit Show have won five of their last six races together.
Geroux made it a double win day in the next and feature race, the Gr. III Lecomte, a Kentucky Derby prep race offering 20 points to the winner. Riding again for trainer Brad Cox, Geroux was aboard race favorite Disco Time. Breaking from post position 10 in the field of 13, Disco Time raced near the back of the field until Geroux gave him his cue on the far turn and began to circle the field even though being floated out at the top of the stretch. Disco Time came charging down the long Fair Grounds stretch to get up just at the wire over the Wayne Catalano-trained Built in 1:47.07 for the mile and one-sixteenth over a sloppy (sealed) track.
"That wasn't the way we drew it up before the race," Geroux said to Fair Grounds publicity. "But he broke OK, and from there I saw a lot of horses going at it, so I just tucked in. I was able to save a lot of ground into the first turn, which was important given the tough post we had. He proved he was the best horse today."
This week, the French-born Geroux, 38, will ride at Fair Grounds until travelling to Gulfstream Park for Saturday's blockbuster card which features seven graded stakes, 10 stakes overall. Geroux will have the mount on Dashman for trainer Brian Lynch in the Gr. III William L. McKnight and Saudi Crown for trainer Brad Cox in the feature race, the $3 million Pegasus World Cup Invitational.
Other contenders for Jockey of the Week included Stewart Elliott with eight wins for the week at Sam Houston, Antonio Fresu with two stakes wins at Santa Anita, Juan J. Hernandez who won the Gr. III La Canada at Santa Anita and Flavien Prat who won two stakes at Santa Anita including the Gr. III Las Cienegas.
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