Churchill Downs jockeys and trainers to watch during the fall meet

Before the fall meet at Churchill Downs gets started Sunday, Oct. 25, here are some jockey and trainer trends to consider when you try to find winners under the Twin Spires.

Jockeys to watch

Tyler Gaffalione won the Churchill Downs September meet in runaway fashion, with 20 wins to Ricardo Santana Jr.'s 13. Florent Geroux (12) and Gabriel Saez (11) were the others to break 10 wins during the September meet.

Looking for a few angles from the September meet that will matter during the Fall meet?

Most of the top riders in juvenile races were among the top riders overall, including Santana (5-2-5 from 20 starts with 2-year-olds), Gaffalione (4-4-0 from 18 starts), and Geroux (4-2-1 from 14 starts).

Joe Talamo did his best work in juvenile races during the September meet. He had eight wins from 70 starts but went 4-1-1 from 17 starts with 2-year-olds.

Another rider to watch in 2-year-old races is Brian Hernandez. He only had two wins from 17 starts in juvenile races, but hit the board another 10 times, which put him in the money with 71% of his rides in 2-year-old races.

On grass, Gaffalione (5-4-2 in 23 starts) and Geroux (4-1-1 in 18 starts) were the September meet standouts. However, make sure to give Manny Franco a look if he ships to ride the Churchill grass. He won twice in just four turf starts in September, and they were both graded stakes — the Edgewood (G2) with Sharing and the Distaff Turf Mile (G2) with Beau Recall.

It is nearly impossible to talk about jockeys at Churchill Downs without mentioning Corey Lanerie, the 19-time leading rider at Churchill. Though he only tied for fifth, with eight wins, during the September meet, he won the fall meet title last year (34 wins), an emphatic triumph over Gaffalione and Julien Leparoux, who tied for second with 25.

Just as during this year's September meet, Santana (12-5-6, 50 starts) and Gaffalione (9-6-2, 41 starts) shone in juvenile races. Hernandez had a similar trend in 2-year-old races during the 2019 fall meet. His 6-13-16 record from 67 starts gave him a better in-the-money percentage in juvenile races during last year's fall meet than any other rider.

On the grass, last year's fall meet looked a lot like this year's September meet. Gaffalione (5-5-2, 18 starts) and Geroux (3-0-1, 10 starts) outshined the rest of the riders.

Trainers to watch

Steve Asmussen, who took over as Churchill Downs's all-time leading trainer in June, has been as strong as ever in Louisville. The last three meets have shown Asmussen and Cox first and second in the trainer standings, in that order. Asmussen led the September meet with 12 wins, four more than Cox. The 2020 spring meet ended with Asmussen up 17-16 over Cox. For fall 2019, the margin was 23-15.

In terms of juvenile races during the September 2020 meet, Cox (5-4-1, 17 starts) and Asmussen (4-2-4, 18 starts) led the pack.

Looking back to the 2019 fall meet, Asmussen dominated the 2-year-old races. Across 48 juvenile starts, he amassed 12 wins, three seconds, and seven thirds. Ian Wilkes (6-2-5, 32 starts) and Brad Cox (6-1-5, 31 starts) also had a shedrow full of live 2-year-olds last year.

They have been near the top of the 2-year-old training ranks in recent years. At the 2018 fall meet, Asmussen and Wilkes tied with five juvenile wins apiece. In 2017, Asmussen (eight wins) and Cox (six wins) led.

Three trainers had more than one win on the grass during the September 2020 meet — Mike Maker (5-0-2, 18 starts), Chad Brown (3-1-1, six starts), and Cox (2-3-0, nine starts). At last year's fall meet, no trainer won more than two races. Maker (2-1-3, 17 starts), Brendan Walsh (2-0-0, five starts), Wesley Ward (2-0-1, four starts), and Jack Sisterson (2-0-1, three starts) won a pair on the lawn.