One does not have to spend long on social media to read criticism of jockeys. One in particular seems to attract his share of vitriol, and, at least as far as riding in the Breeders’ Cup is concerned, it is unfounded.

Florent Geroux, most known for riding for leading trainer Brad Cox, has won eight Breeders’ Cup races since 2014 from 42 tries for a Horse Racing Nation Impact score of +73.1 percent. The HRN Impact measures expected wins based on percent of the win pool against actual wins. A positive score means more wins than expected based on odds, and a negative score means fewer wins.

And although four of those eight wins came with Cox, Geroux has won four races for other trainers, including the 2017 Classic for trainer Steve Asmussen aboard eventual horse of the year Gun Runner. Put another way, Geroux is 4-for-26 without Cox, and Cox is 6-for-22 without Geroux. So attributing Geroux’s success to Cox is a dubious claim at best.

Of course, we’d be remiss if we did not mention Irad Ortiz Jr., who leads all jockeys with 20 wins since 2014. That’s seven more than his closest pursuer, Joel Rosario. The difference is, Ortiz did it in 97 races for a 20.6 percent win rate, and Rosario needed 101 races.

More importantly for bettors, Ortiz has an HRN Impact of +49 percent and a return on investment of 90.7 percent.

At Del Mar specifically, Ortiz is 4-for-17 and Geroux is 1-for-8 , with Gun Runner being the one. There are some very notable ducks at Del Mar, as both Tyler Gaffalione and Frankie Dettori are 0-for-7 where the turf meets the surf, and Saez is 0-for-8. Gaffalione is 0-for-25 in California Breeders’ Cups, and local leading rider Juan Hernandez is 0-for-13. Ortiz is 12-for-51 when at Santa Anita.