Geroux will ride Luxor Cafe in Champions Cup, stay in Japan

Florent Geroux has received a short-term license to ply his trade in Japan, and the 51-time Grade 1-winning jockey will spend all of December there, beginning with a ride aboard Luxor Cafe in the Champions Cup (G1, formerly Japan Cup Dirt) on Sunday at Chukyo Racecourse.

Reached Monday at the Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport laying over on his way to Tokyo, Geroux, 39, told Horse Racing Nation that the Japan Racing Association had invited him to jockey challenges there before but that scheduling prohibited his participation.

"I stayed in touch with people in Japan and when trainer of Luxor Cafe (Noriyuki Hori) expressed interest in me riding his horse, I was very happy for it to work out," Geroux said. "I will have an agent and translator with me in Japan and looking forward to riding the month (of December) there."

Like racing in North America, where Geroux's mounts have won 2,312 races and have earned $189,682,479, there is both turf and dirt in Japan.

"Many of the jockeys who come for the winter like I am are from Europe, and they don't have that experience on dirt. So I am hoping that is to my advantage," Geroux said. "The races themselves are not that different country to country. I rode in France before America, and you just have to get used to different style courses. The horses themselves race the same."

Geroux won the Dubai World Cup (G1) earlier this year aboard Hit Show and has competed internationally before.

Luxor Cafe was 12th in this year's Kentucky Derby before a five-month hiatus. He returned with a third-place finish to Narukami in the Japan Dirt Classic before winning the Musashino Stakes (G3) by 3 1/2 lengths over Costa Nova as preps for the Champions Cup.