Lopez has a big weekend

What looked like an evenly matched jockey colony early in the Monmouth Park meet is once again turning into the Paco Lopez show.

Lopez had an amazing weekend at Monmouth, going 9 for 18, and now leads the standings with 38 wins, 17 more than Trevor McCarthy in second.

On Friday, Lopez won the daily double at Monmouth, rode the third race, and then hotfooted it to Belmont Park, where he finished sixth on Easy to Say for Ben Perkins Jr. in race 6. Belmont had a 3 p.m. Eastern first post Friday.

Lopez went 5 for 8 on Saturday and was 2 for 7 on Sunday.

Last year, Lopez ride 120 winners at the Monmouth meet – more than twice the number of runner-up Gabriel Saez – to capture his third local riding title. He won 28 percent of his races. This year, Lopez is 38 for 154, just a hair below 25 percent.