Governor Sam shows solid form in Get Serious; Dry Powder takes Lady's Secret

Governor Sam could not have looked much sharper in the $100,000 Get Serious Stakes on Sunday at Monmouth Park, chasing just behind a blazing early pace and kicking clear to win by 1 1/4 lengths. It was jockey Paco Lopez’s fifth victory on the card.

“I know this horse well,” Lopez said. “I have ridden him several times. This is when he is at his best, when he’s stalking the pace. I was a little worried with how quick it was early, but this is a very good horse. He has a lot of class. He knows how to win.”
Lopez, who exclusively holds the record for most victories on a single card at Monmouth, has won seven races on three occasions and nearly pulled it off again on Sunday. After finishing third in the first race, he won five straight, including both stakes on the eight-race card.

Trainer George Weaver had not won a stakes at Monmouth since Governor Sam’s last visit for the $100,000 Tyro in 2024, but the track again proved to be the perfect spot for the Improbable gelding. Coming off an eighth-place finish in the Grade 1 Jaipur at Saratoga, he was far more potent in listed stakes company.

“He really didn’t run that poorly in the Jaipur last out,” Weaver said. “It was a really tough race. He had some gate issues and that took away any shot of him being closer than he was. But he wasn’t beaten that far and Paco knows him well and he has run at Monmouth before, and this race just made sense.“

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Even after the speedy Get Better scratched, leaving a field of six older males in the Get Serious, the five-furlong sprint still figured to feature hot early fractions. Speed Figures, a well-named last-out allowance winner trained by Kelly Breen, was expected to be the pacesetter and played his part to perfection, blasting through an opening quarter-mile in 20.74 seconds. 

But while the front-runner performed as expected, the eventual winner did not. Coming off back-to-back starts in which he closed from sixth, Governor Sam ran much closer to the pace at Monmouth, as he did in several starts toward the end of last year. He chased just behind the hot Speed Figures and moved forward to challenge him on the far turn.

“He’s an honest, game horse,” Weaver said. “Today he showed he could go back to his old dimension of pressing and still run well. They ran a half in 43.10 and he just kept going.”

It didn’t take much for Governor Sam and Lopez to push past the melting front-runner, and by the time they hit the stretch, they were clear by 1 1/2 lengths with plenty left for a rocketing stretch run. Souper Quest, Coppola, and Alogon all made mild bids from farther back, but they never came close to contending. 

Never relenting in an all-out effort, Governor Sam completed the five-furlong distance in 55.18. Despite running in two Breeders’ Cup races at the same distance, he has never participated in a faster race.

Souper Quest, game under Sonny Leon, rallied between horses to take second for trainer Mark Casse. He finished a half-length clear of the Tarek Moubarek-trained horse Coppola, who finished three-quarters of a length clear of graded stakes winner Alogon.

Gelded earlier this year, Governor Sam is now prepared to run “until he is 9 years old” in Weaver’s estimation. His path will likely lead back to Saratoga this summer.

Lady's Secret Stakes
Dry Powder, overwhelmed in her last two starts for Chad Summers, did some bullying of her own in the $100,000 Lady’s Secret Stakes on Sunday at Monmouth Park. In search of more consistency, the 2-5 favorite turned away a platoon of stubborn challengers in a professional front-running victory.

The top two finishers in the Lady’s Secret, Dry Powder and Lika Rolling Stone, will receive free entry in the Grade 2, $500,000 Molly Pitcher on the July 18 Haskell Day card. Summers said he has had the race in mind for Dry Powder for some time.

“It’s been a little bit of a weird year,” Summers said. “I'm glad to get her back in the winner’s circle. We’ll keep the march forward to a race like the Molly Pitcher. Obviously, she's multiple Grade 1-placed, but we’d like to get that graded stakes for her this year.”

At the end of a 3-year-old campaign that included a runner-up finish in the Grade 1 Cotillion and trip to Del Mar for the Breeders’ Cup Distaff, Dry Powder was pegged as one to watch in 2026. Her early results were mixed, however, and, after a dominant allowance victory at Gulfstream in March, she proved woefully unprepared for the Grade 1 La Troienne at Churchill Downs in May, finishing 14 lengths back in ninth.

Summers was somewhat happier when she returned eight days later and ran fourth in the Grade 2 Ruffian at Aqueduct, but the trainer still couldn’t help but think she was holding something back. Bettors at Monmouth on Sunday seemed to agree, and with proper rest and some class relief, she dug in on the front end in the 1 1/16-mile race and held by three-quarters of a length, paying $2.80 to win. 

Summers joked he was happy to lend a helping hand to jockey Paco Lopez, who entered the card with a 44 percent strike rate at Monmouth and swept both stakes.

“I was proud of the heart that she showed,“ Summers said. “Also glad we could help Paco's percentage go up a little bit.”

In his second of five consecutive victories on Sunday, Lopez sent the heavy favorite to the early lead in a complacent field of six fillies and mares, easing through an opening quarter-mile in 23.97 seconds. He took care to keep her off the rail entering the first turn.

“It’s not easy winning a stakes race,” Lopez said. “This race showed that. She broke sharp and it didn’t look like anyone wanted the lead, so I sent her. The important thing was to keep her outside and away from the rail, which she does not like.”

Inefficiency, the 8-5 second choice who finished ahead of Dry Powder in the Ruffian last month, chased in second in the early going, but when the pacesetter slowed to complete the half-mile in 48.48, jockey Samuel Marin had little choice but to make an early bid. The Chad Brown trainee advanced on the far turn and wasn’t alone, as 29-1 longshot Flowers for Me and the 3-year-old filly Ivy Girl followed the early initiative.

In an instant, Dry Powder was hounded on the front end entering the far turn. On her outside, Inefficiency briefly stuck a head out in front before fading, but as soon as she she did, Flowers for Me launched forward with even more ferocity to take command for a spell. Meanwhile, Ivy Girl slipped up the rail to stick it to the early leader on the inside.

In the end, all of their bids were mere feints compared to the true challenge. Dry Powder, courageous under Lopez, managed to put away all three rivals before she hit the stretch, just in time for 25-1 longshot Lika Rolling Stone to come flying down the center of the track. 

Jockey Sonny Leon was wise to bide his time under the Antonio Arriaga-trained mare and had the most horse near the end, but not even that perfectly timed bid was enough. Dry Powder had enough in reserve for one last kick, and it proved to be enough at the wire. She completed the 1 1/16-mile distance in 1:46.21.

“She was really game today,” Lopez said. “They all tried her and she was able to out-finish them.”

Lika Rolling Stone finished 1 1/4 lengths clear of Ivy Girl, who lost her inside path on the far turn and ran on for third for trainer Amelia Green. Jockey Luis Rivera Jr. launched an objection against the winner for impeding his filly, but stewards dismissed the action.

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