Florent Geroux
The beast of the Bayou is now a queen in Kentucky, as Brittlyn Stables' homebred Ova Charged (Star Guitar) overcame a slow break and managed to gut it out late in Friday's GIII Unbridled Sidney S. It was her fifth consecutive victory, 13th from her 16 lifetime starts and fourth from as many appearances in turf sprint events. The 3-5 jolly off a 12 1/2-length dusting of her fellow Louisiana-breds in the Mar. 24 Page Cortez S.--for which she earned a massive 113 Beyer Speed Figure--Ova Charged was off a...
After a busy weekend of works, it was a relatively quiet morning for the 20 contenders for Saturday's GI Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs Monday. Only two Derby horses are expected to have published workouts this week, with Forever Young (Jpn) (Real Steel {Jpn}) and T O Password (Jpn) (Copano Rickey {Jpn}) scheduled to work Tuesday morning. A day before those works, both Japanese runners followed similar routines Monday, warming up in the mile chute for a half-hour before galloping a mile and a half and then returning to the...
A casino is supposed to be on the way, but in the meantime these are tough times for racing in Chicago and its only remaining racetrack, Hawthorne. They still don't have any outside revenue from a casino, their purses are meager and their simulcast signal gets lost on days like Saturday, when they went up against the likes of Aqueduct, Gulfstream, Keeneland, Oaklawn and Santa Anita. The handle Saturday was $1,019,178. It should have been three times that. We've seen a lot of tracks experiment with lower takeouts. The latest...
Nash, named a 'TDN Rising Star' after a 10 1/4-length romp in a 1 1/16-mile Churchill Downs maiden special weight Nov. 12, resumed winning ways after three straight placings at Fair Grounds this season. Nash was second behind Track Phantom (Quality Road) in the GIII Lecomte Jan. 20, then second again in a live optional claimer over a sloppy surface at Fair Grounds Feb. 17. Jockey Florent Geroux settled the even-money favorite four-wide behind Frost Free's pace set in fractions of :23.15, :47.64 and 1:12.56. Remaining four wide throughout, he...
In the previous four runnings of the $20-million G1 Saudi Cup, American-based horses have--surprisingly--passed the post in first on a single occasion while finishing second on each occasion. That 'victory' came in the much-discussed inaugural running in 2020, a result that seems likely to soon be overturned, albeit to the benefit of another American horse. So, even though the U.S. is the epicenter of world dirt racing, its five representatives this year arguably still have something to prove when a field of 14 loads the gate around 12:40 p.m. ET...
7th-Fair Grounds, $57,000, Msw, 2-9, 3yo, f, 1 1/16mT, 1:45.97, fm, 3 1/2 lengths. TARNEEMA (f, 3, Kitten's Joy--Mooghareadh, by Malibu Moon) rallied from the clouds after a poor beginning but came up 4 1/4 lengths short of a pair of next-out winners in her debut over course and distance Dec. 31, an effort for which she received a 70 Beyer Speed Figure. Favored at even-money under Florent Geroux, the Shadwell homebred had a mildly better start and found herself mid pack while able to save ground against the fence....
Alpine Princess (Classic Empire) did not disappoint her backers as she lived up to favoritism and won Saturday's Untapable S. in New Orleans. The bay broke her maiden at second asking by a head at Saratoga Sept. 3, but was well-beaten in the GI Darley Alcibiades S. at Keeneland Oct. 6. Returning to her winning ways against allowance company after her race was taken off the grass at Churchill Downs Nov. 26, the filly went off at 8-5 here. The Brad Cox trainee was in-tight along the rail before the...
2nd-Fair Grounds, $55,000, Msw, 12-23, 2yo, 1 1/16m, 1:44.98, ft, 5 1/4 lengths. ETHAN ENERGY (c, 2, Uncle Mo--Sass and Class, by Harlan's Holiday), a well-beaten sixth on debut sprinting at Keeneland Oct. 22, took a major step forward stretching to two turns at second asking here. Removing blinkers and adding Lasix for this, the 2-1 chance chased in fifth rounding the clubhouse turn. Racing under a tight hold by Florent Geroux, he began to settle down the backstretch in that same slot, made a flashy four-wide blitz approaching the...
Owner Jordan Wycoff was victorious with his only two entrants on Saturday's Claiming Crown card, executing a similar strategy with both favored winners. Each had met their respective starter-allowance eligibility conditions by only once having raced at or below the required minimum claiming price. And both recently had been running against tough competition on the New York and Kentucky circuits before overpowering their fields at Fair Grounds in a rain-soaked renewal of the annual event nicknamed "the blue-collar Breeders' Cup." One of Wycoff's wins Dec. 2 was delivered by Money...
Barry and Joni Butzow, who bred and race graded-stakes winning 'TDN Rising Star' Zozos (Munnings), are the recipients of the 2023 John Deere Award, which recognizes breeders who were represented in this year's Breeders' Cup World Championships and the Breeders' Cup 'Win and You're In' Challenge series over the course of the year. The Deere Award winner was determined by a drawing among all breeders who either won a Breeders' Cup race or a Challenge series race. NTRA Advantage and John Deere will award the Butzows a John Deere Gator...
In 2022, Hill 'n' Dale's super sire Curlin got a record-setting three winners on Saturday's Breeders' Cup card. In 2023, the remarkable sire equaled that as Juddmonte homebred Idiomatic (Curlin--Lockdown, by First Defence) gave her sire a hard-fought victory in the GI Breeders' Cup Distaff sandwiched between the encore wins by Cody's Wish in the GI Dirt Mile earlier on the card and Elite Power later in the GI Sprint. Idiomatic, who has had a stellar year with eight wins from nine starts, has almost certainly sewn up the Eclipse...
Godolphin homebred Tarifa (f, 2, Bernardini--Kite Beach, by Awesome Again), possessed of a pedigree that says longer and maybe a bit later, defied both of those premises to graduate over an extended seven-furlong trip Wednesday at Keeneland, winning off by open lengths to become the newest 'TDN Rising Star' and 21st overall for her sadly departed sire. Backed like a good thing to be off at odds of 14-5 (2.83-1) from a 6-1 morning line, the dark bay was a forward factor just in behind the early pacesetters and jockey...