Paco Lopez

Back in mid-October, trainer John Kirby claimed a horse named Tricolour (Hard Spun) at Parx out of a $10,000 maiden claimer. Not everyone thought that was such a good idea. "The first time we ran him, the guys on TVG said, 'Who in their right mind would claim a horse that was 0-39?'" said Kirby, who is also the horse's owner. The answer: a smart trainer. Tricolour was on his way to becoming the sport's next Zippy Chippy (Compliance), who went winless in 100 career starts. Purchased for $140,000 at...

Sunday's GII Franklin Stakes was a tale of two trips. On one hand, Larry Johnson's Future Is Now (Great Notion), exiting post 5, benefitted from a rail-hugging trip that blossomed into a well-timed opening that propelled her to the front in early stretch and on to victory. On the other end, Godolphin's Star Of Mystery (GB) (Kodiac {GB}) didn't appear a touch sluggish while leaving post 1 and gradually got shuffled to the back of the 12-horse field, necessitating a giant run if there was any hope to even get...

Jairo Rendon was enjoying one of the best years of his career. He finished the Monmouth meet with 66 winners, just 10 winners behind perennial Monmouth riding champion Paco Lopez. He stuck around a few more days to ride some at the all-turf meet at the Meadowlands, but after riding there Sept. 21, he was ready to go home. After the short Meadowlands meet ended, Rendon would have no problem heading to Aqueduct or maybe Gulfstream Park, two places where he could make a lot of money and ride a...

Spurred in part by a record handle on NYRA Bets Haskell Stakes Day, Monmouth Park continued its upward trend with increases in both total and on-track handle for the fourth straight year, while jockey Paco Lopez and trainer Claudio Gonzalez were repeat winners of their respective titles as the 50-day meet came to an end on Sunday. Total average handle was $4,251,965, a 5.4% increase over last year's average of $4,032,648 during a 51-day meet. On-track handle averaged $352,939, a 3.7% increase over last year's average of $340,257. In addition,...

Sixth but beaten just three lengths in the Royal Palm Juvenile Stakes on debut at Gulfstream May 11, Governor Sam returned to the races at Saratoga to break his maiden going gate to wire over 5 1/2 furlongs July 19. Jumping into stakes company again at five furlongs Saturday, he became the first stakes winner for his freshman sire (by City Zip) with a narrow victory in the Tyro Stakes at Monmouth. Up close to the early speed of Johnny Come Lately (Hootenanny), the 1-5 favorite and the only runner...

COLLEEN S., $102,000, Monmouth, 7-28, 2yo, f, 5fT, :55.64, fm. 1--DREAMAWAY, 118, f, 2, by Flameaway 1st Dam: Dream Dancing (GISW, $483,271), by Tapit 2nd Dam: To Dream About, by Monarchos 3rd Dam: Beautiful Pleasure, by Maudlin 1ST BLACK TYPE WIN. O/B-John C. Oxley (KY); T-Wesley A. Ward; J-Paco Lopez. $60,000. Lifetime Record: 2-2-0-0, $107,740. 2--Lemonpeppasteppa, 118, f, 2, Caravaggio--Saranda, by Smart Strike. ($65,000 2yo '24 OBSAPR). 1ST BLACK TYPE. O-Julian De Mora, Jr.; B-New Horizons Bloodstock LLC (KY); T-Jorge Delgado. $20,000. 3--Me Governor, 118, f, 2, The Factor--Mocha Chip,...

Sent away as the somewhat surprising 33-10 favorite in Saturday's $250,000 GIII Sam F. Davis S. at Tampa Bay Downs, Morplay Racing's No More Time (Not This Time) won the pace battle and ultimately the war, as he had enough in the tank late to hold off 'TDN Rising Star' Agate Road (Quality Road) and earn 20 points on the Road to the Kentucky Derby. West Saratoga (Exaggerator), winner of last year's GIII Iroquois S. and a distant second to the G3 Saudi Derby-bound Book'em Danno (Bucchero) in Tampa's Pasco...

All eyes were on Eclipse Award and runaway GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile hero Fierceness (City of Light) making his seasonal debut in Saturday's GIII Holy Bull S. at Gulfstream Park. The tote read 1-5 on the champ, but the Repole homebred and 'TDN Rising Star' was out of gas when push came to shove, and, in a bit of an oddly run race, D J Stable and Robert Cotran's unbeaten Hades (Awesome Slew) controlled a moderate tempo, slipped away from Fierceness in the final furlong and held off Domestic Product...

Jockey Paco Lopez, who pulled up his mount Ridin With Biden (Constitution) a few steps before the finish of last Saturday's GIII Greenwood Cup S. at Parx, likely costing the horse a second-place finish, was handed a 30-day suspension Thursday by the stewards at Parx. In ruling, the stewards wrote that the suspension was "for failure to give his best effort and failure to use the proper diligence in Race 7 on September 23, 2023 while astride the horse Ridin With Biden..." The suspension began Thursday and will conclude on...

There will no doubt be a tendency to dismiss Next (Not This Time) as a novelty act, even after his 25-length romp in Saturday's GIII Greenwood Cup on a sloppy, dreary day at Parx. That comes with the territory when your speciality is marathon-distance races of 12 furlongs or more. But to do so would be a mistake. While it's true that he does not face the best of competition in these races, Next is obviously a seriously talented race horse. You have to be to win a graded stakes...

Monmouth Park continued an upward trend by showing an increase in average total handle and average on-track handle for the third straight year as the 51-day meet came to a close Sunday. Paco Lopez claimed his 10th riding title and Claudio Gonzalez was the leading trainer for the second straight summer. The average total handle was $4,032,648 this year, an 11.4 percent increase over last year's average of $3,620,719. The on-track handle rose 15 percent to $340,257 compared to the 2022 average of $295,896. In addition, the average field size...

Fixed odds wagering at Monmouth Park last year didn't exactly break sharply from the gate. In its first run, it was available only on Monmouth races and, initially, only to on-track customers. A website that took fixed odds bets did get up and going during the meet, but regulations that would allow for bettors living outside of New Jersey to bet on fixed odds never did materialize. Handle figures were never made public, but it appeared that fixed odds accounted for only a small percentage of Monmouth's total handle. Yet,...