Lopez wins six races, topped off by Value Proposition in the Red Bank
For the second Saturday in a row, jockey Paco Lopez won half the races at Monmouth Park.
Aug. 28, Lopez won seven of 14, including a turf-stakes score aboard Vigilantes Way. This time, on Sept. 4, Lopez went six for 12 and capped his afternoon with an easy win aboard 1-5 favorite Value Proposition in the $150,000 Red Bank Stakes.
The Red Bank, at one mile on turf, scratched down to four runners and Value Proposition, in from Saratoga for trainer Chad Brown and owner Klaravich Stables, was much the best. Lopez settled his mount in third behind a slow gallop, the half-mile going in 49.18, split rivals passing the three-furlong marker, took aim at pacesetting Proven Strategies in mid-stretch and galloped to a three-length victory. The winner stopped the timer in 1:38.18 over a course rated “good” and paid $2.60.
Value Proposition, a 5-year-old Great Britain-bred ridgeling by Dansili out of Dash to the Front, by Diktat, has been campaigned sparingly, winning for the fifth time in 11 starts. Proven Strategies easily held second over Reconvene and Vanzzy. South Bend was entered main-track only, Sand Dancer and Bird King were scratched, and show wagering was canceled on the Red Bank.
Lopez swept the card’s first three races, none of his winners favored, and followed that with two victories for leading trainer Wayne Potts, aboard Sailor Speed in race 6 and Greatest Love in race 7. Lopez, runaway leading rider at this crop-free meet, was on a can’t-miss favorite in the nightcap and made it a six pack aboard Value Proposition.