Navarro, Lopez atop standings again

The Monmouth Park season concludes Sunday, and New Jersey racing will shift to the Meadowlands on Thursday, Oct. 1, for a 13-day all-turf meet.

Jorge Navarro has locked up his third consecutive Monmouth training title. Navarro, 40, has won 40 races at the meet from 152 starters, a 26 percent win average.

Jamie Ness is second coming into closing weekend with 27 wins, three more than Marcus Vitali, who is third.

Jockey Paco Lopez also will win his third straight title. Lopez wasn’t as dominant as he was in 2014, when he rode twice as many winners as the runner-up, but he had a very successful season while riding out of town on a number of occasions.

Coming into closing weekend, Lopez has won 74 races from 302 mounts, a 25 percent win average.

Trevor McCarthy, who has ridden in Maryland the last few weeks, is second with 51 wins. Nik Juarez is third with 45 wins, one more than Abel Castellano Jr. in fourth.

This will be Lopez’s fourth title. He also won in 2010. He leads all riders at the meet with purse earnings of more than $3.3 million, more than twice as much as McCarthy, who is second in earnings.

◗ Monmouth Park-based trainer Kelly Breen is coming off a huge week. From Sept. 14-20, Breen had four wins and a second from eight starts. He won the $150,000 Bayern Stakes at Parx with Encryption and the $100,000 Wild and Wonderful at Charles Town for the second straight year with Pants On Fire. His runner-up finish came with Delaware Oaks winner Calamity Kate in the $1 million Cotillion at Parx.

Lopez was aboard Encryption and Pants On Fire. Edgar Prado rode Calamity Kate.