Monmouth: Long-idle Geeky Gorgeous gets heavy burden for Open Mind

OCEANPORT, N.J. – Geeky Gorgeous carries top weight of 125 pounds in her first handicap appearance, the $60,000 Open Mind for New Jersey-bred fillies and mares on Sunday at Monmouth Park.

Trainer Danny Lopez has no complaints with the impost assigned his 4-year-old homebred by stakes coordinator Dan Dufford.

“She should be the highweight,” Lopez said. “It’s the race secretary’s job to get them all there to the wire together. I’ve done my job. He’s done his job. Now let’s see what happens.”

Making her first start since September, Geeky Gorgeous has the outside post against six rivals going six furlongs.

She had a banner 2012 season at Monmouth with a mark of 4-2-0 in 6 starts for earnings of $142,840. Her victories included a pair of open allowances, capped by a career-best 85 Beyer Speed Figure in her final race of the campaign.

If she returns anywhere close to that form, Geeky Gorgeous will be very tough to beat. She has a history of running well fresh, finishing third in her 2-year-old debut and rolling to an easy win in her season debut last year.

There was concern that this race would not fill. As a hedge, Lopez entered Geeky Gorgeous in Saturday’s John. J. Reilly Handicap against the statebred boys. She will scratch from that spot to run in the Open Mind.

“We breeders are here to make these kind of races go,” Lopez said. “It’s important for the program.”

Elvis Trujillo will be aboard.

Don’s Peach, assigned 116 pounds, owns the best recent form in the field.

She was claimed for $6,250 by trainer Kathy Mongeon at Gulfstream Park in February. Don’s Peach then ran second in a starter allowance before heading to Monmouth for a front-running victory in a first-level statebred allowance race.

“She seems to have blossomed in the program,” Mongeon said. “I claimed her because she was a Jersey-bred, and it has worked out nicely. We had been kind of watching her in Florida and she had already finished second in an a-other-than up here, so we decided to get her.”

Paco Lopez has the return call.

Little Stitch, a veteran of the statebred handicaps, totes 121 pounds, second only to Geeky Gorgeous. She returns on short rest, having run here Monday against open company in the Red Cross Stakes, setting the early pace before fading to sixth in her season debut.

Angel Serpa will be aboard the 7-year-old mare trained by Joseph Jenning.