Monmouth Standings at Midway Point

This weekend will mark the midway point of an exciting summer meet at New Jersey’s  Monmouth Park, and a check of the various standings shows a few good battles being waged for top honors among the jockeys, trainers and horses at the Oceanside oval. Among the rider colony, crafty vet Paco Lopez tops the wins column, with 44 victories in 184 starts. His $1,305,356 in purse earnings puts him just behind Joe Bravo’s $1,391,190. Elvis Trujillo is second with 37 wins, while Bravo has 27.

Lady Samuri has been money-in-the-bank for bettors

After scoring a decisive eight-length win in the Lighthouse Stakes on June 30, 2013, New York-bred filly Lady Samuri ran her season record to three-for-three and has put more than $82,000 in the bank. She’s tied at the top of the wins column with the hard-knocking five-year-old claimer Gambaru, also three-for-three, but with a substantially less $34,000 in purse earnings. The money list is topped by the $124,500 banked by Raging Daoust, who has chalked up two wins at Monmouth, most notably taking the $150,000 Grade III Salvator Mile by a nose as a 34-1 longshot.

Trainer Plesa consistently sending out winners

So far this meet, trainer Eddie Plesa Jr. has sent 65 runners to the Monmouth starting gate, and has been rewarded with 21 winners, and 40 horses in all hitting the board, for an incredible 62 per cent in-the-money rating. Most recently he sent out Slew’s Exchange to win the Klassy Briefcase Stakes, and, not surprisingly, Plesa tops all trainers with $554,520 in purse earnings as well. While Plesa holds a solid lead among trainers, the battle for second is tight, with Jorge Navarro saddling 16 winners from 49 starters, while Ramon Moya is 15-for-48.