Florent Geroux

Florent Geroux (born July 16, 1986) is a French jockey who has earned over 1,700 wins in American thoroughbred horse racing, including the 2017 Breeders' Cup Classic on Gun Runner, two Breeders' Cup Distaff wins with Monomoy Girl, and the 2021 Kentucky Derby on Mandaloun.

Background Geroux was born in 1986 Argentan, France.

North American career Geroux came to the United States for the first time in early 2007, working with trainer Patrick Biancone 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 won the Arlington Million with The Pizza Man and the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf with Catch a Glimpse and the Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint with Mongolian Saturday. Another highlight was winning four graded races on Arlington Million Day: the Beverly D, Secretariat, 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 Kentucky Derby. However, Mandaloun was later elevated to winner after Medina Spirit was disqualified for a positive betamethasone test post-race.

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