Monmouth: Navarro picking up steam
After a slow start to the meet, Jorge Navarro has rocketed to his normal position atop the Monmouth Park trainer standings. Over the past two weeks, Navarro has gone 10 for 19 at Monmouth, and he now leads the standings by four wins over Jason Servis and Patrick McBurney, who each have won six races.
Navarro has won the last four training titles at Monmouth.
From Saturday through Tuesday, Navarro went 8 for 15. He won four races at Monmouth, three at Parx, and one at Delaware Park.
This Friday and Saturday, Navarro’s focus will be at Belmont Park, where he has four horses entered in stakes. On Friday, he will run El Deal in the Grade 2 True North and Mia Torri in the Grade 3 Bed o’ Roses. On Saturday, he has Sharp Azteca in the Grade 1 Met Mile and War Story in the Grade 2 Brooklyn.
Nik Juarez shot to the top of the jockey standings last weekend, going 6 for 16. Juarez won twice on Saturday and four times Sunday. He leads the standings with 14 wins, five more than Jose Ferrer and Eddie Castro.
Joe Bravo also had a good weekend at Monmouth, going 5 for 10.
Paco Lopez, who has won the last four riding titles at Monmouth, is 3 for 30 at this meet. Lopez did win two races at Penn National on Saturday, including the $200,000 Pennsylvania Governor’s Cup, and a race at Belmont Park last Friday.