Florent Geroux

With two weeks remaining until the $30.5-million Dubai World Cup meeting at Meydan Racecourse, riding assignments for the American raiders are coming into focus. Perhaps the best chance for U.S. victory on the program, champion and recent G2 Riyadh Dirt Sprint hero Straight No Chaser (Speightster) will look for more desert riches in the G1 Dubai Golden Shaheen with his regular rider John Velazquez back in the irons. The veteran reinsman's agent Kiaran McLaughlin also confirmed that Velazquez has the call aboard Il Miracolo (Gun Runner) for trainer Antonio Sano...

6th-Fair Grounds, $53,000, Alw, 3-1, (NW1X), 4yo/up, 1 1/16m, 1:42.23, ft, 10 1/2 lengths. JUST A TOUCH (c, 4, Justify--Touching Beauty {GSW, $183,166}, by Tapit) was training 'exceptionally well' ahead of a pending return to action, Qatar Racing U.S. advisor Fergus Galvin told TDN Senior Racing Editor Steve Sherack on Feb. 21, and those words proved more than prescient, as the 4-year-old colt galloped his rivals into the ground, suggesting the sky is the limit in the handicap division for 2025. Ridden forward from gate three, the bay colt had...

Florent Geroux, who won both graded stakes Saturday on the "Road to the Derby Day" card at Fair Grounds, earned 'Jockey of the Week' for January 13 through January 19 by a vote of the panel of racing experts.The weekly honor recognizes jockeys who are members of the Jockeys' Guild for significant riding accomplishments. Riding for Brad Cox, Geroux first guided Hit Show (Candy Ride {Arg}) to victory in the GIII Louisiana Stakes and then took the GIII Lecomte Stakes aboard Disco Time (Not This Time) to close out the...

Sent off at odds of 9-5 to take his career record to three wins from as many appearances in Saturday's GIII Lecomte Stakes at a sloppy Fair Grounds Race Course, Juddmonte's Disco Time (Not This Time) was hung out to dry somewhere on the banks of the Mississippi turning into the long straight, but he closed resolutely through the final eighth of a mile to earn 20 points on the Road to the Kentucky Derby. In a bit tight at the break, the homebred was able to get down into...

Shadwell Stable's 'TDN Rising Star' Muhimma (Munnings), a jaw-dropping winner of her first two career starts sprinting at Churchill Downs, remained unbeaten in front-running fashion while making her two-turn debut in Saturday's GII Demoiselle Stakes at Aqueduct. The win, good for 10 points on the road to the GI Kentucky Oaks, provided Coolmore stallion Munnings with a sweep of the juvenile graded stakes races at the Big A following Poster (Munnings)'s success in the GII Remsen Stakes contested one race earlier on the program. Muhimma stopped the clock for 1...

WinStar Farm, CHC Inc and Siena Farm's Patch Adams (c, 2, Into Mischief--Well Humored, by Distorted Humor) tore away from his rivals in the final furlong to become the day's second 'TDN Rising Star' for his sire, trainer Brad Cox and jockey Florent Geroux with a jaw-dropping performance. He becomes the 47th 'Rising Star' for the Spendthrift super-stallion. Looking to atone for a debut third--albeit a highly rated one--when odds-on at Keeneland Oct. 11, the homebred colt was 58 cents on the dollar this time around and made absolutely no...

7th-Churchill Downs, $125,477, Alw (NW1X)/Opt. Clm ($100,000), 11-1, 2yo, f, 7f, 1:23.77, ft, 5 1/2 lengths. MUHIMMA (f, 2, Munnings--Princesa Carolina {SW & GISP, $453,619}, by Tapit) issued a sparkling debut with a 7 1/2-length statement at Churchill Downs Sept. 20 and she was stamped a 'TDN Rising Star' for her effort. Ready for the next level and well-backed at 31 cents on the dollar here, the filly tracked just off of a double-digit longshot up the backstretch. When the tap was given, the gray responded around the far turn,...

6th-Churchill Downs, $118,425, Msw, 11-1, 2yo, 7f, 1:23.88, ft, 3 3/4 lengths. DISCO TIME (c, 2, Not This Time--Disco Chick {MSW & GSP, $735,250}, by Jump Start), who went favored at 2-1 in the final few clicks of the tote, sat a three-wide trip and came away in the final sixteenth of a mile to graduate at first asking Friday afternoon at Churchill Downs. Away alertly from an outside stall for Florent Geroux, the March-foaled dark bay settled just off the pace cut out by the once-raced Troubleshooting (Not This...

Trainer Chad Brown sent out his two Keeneland-based pre-entrants in the GI Breeders' Cup Mile--'TDN Rising Star' Carl Spackler (Ire) (Lope de Vega {Ire}) and Chili Flag (Fr) (Cityscape {GB})--together for a half-mile breeze over the grass in :50.40 (1/3) Saturday morning. According to Keeneland clockers, their final quarter mile went in :22.80. "I thought it was a great work, very straightforward," said jockey Tyler Gaffalione, who rode Carl Spackler to a win in Keeneland's GI Coolmore Turf Mile Stakes Oct. 5. "He's really feeling good out there. He's a...

Unraced since filling the trifecta in the Bourbonette Oaks in March, Alpine Princess (Classic Empire) made a triumphant return to the track Sunday night with a romp in the Remington Park Oaks. The daughter of Classic Empire seemed on the Road to the Kentucky Oaks late last year with back to back wins including a two-length score in the Untapable Stakes at Fair Grounds to end her juvenile campaign. Fourth on a sloppy track to start 2024 in the GII Rachel Alexandra Stakes, Alpine Princess switched to the Tapeta for...

A $700,000 daughter of Munnings, Muhimma ran to the billing Friday, streaking home the easiest of winners at Churchill Downs as the 4-5 favorite for Shadwell Stables and trainer Brad Cox. Outrun only by one of the only runners in the field with prior experience in My Lil Punky (Outwork), Muhimma was content to let that rival handle the tempo up the backstretch, sitting second through fractions of :22.36 and :45.11. Moving under her own devices under a motionless Florent Geroux, the favorite cruised up along the outside of the...

With better than three months left on the racing calendar for 2024, 'TDN Rising Star' Thorpedo Anna (Fast Anna) has already locked up the 3-year-old filly championship, having dominated her peers in the GI Longines Kentucky Oaks, GI Acorn Stakes and GI Coaching Club American Oaks. She lost little in defeat when running fellow 'Rising Star' Fierceness (City of Light) to a head in the GI Travers Stakes, but she returns to her own sex for Saturday's $1-million GI Cotillion Stakes, the first half of a Grade I double in...