Samuel Marin’s pre-meet goal of being Monmouth Park’s leading rider this summer will see him have to settle for second behind perennial champion Paco Lopez, but the 23-year-old native of Trujillo, Venezuela, may have a nice consolation prize to fall back on now.

Marin guided Cugino to a comfortable one-length victory in Monday’s $100,000 Red Bank Stakes at Monmouth Park for his meet-leading ninth stakes win. That’s one more than Lopez with four racing days remaining.

“It means a lot,” said Marin, who has second place in the rider standings secured. “Our goal was to be the leading rider. We didn’t make it but we tried. Having the most stakes wins would make it a great meet for me. I just want to keep it going the final two weekends.”

Marin gave the Shug McGaughey-trained Cugino a patient ride in the one-mile grass feature that was reduced to a field of four following four scratches.

Jersey-bred There Are No Words did most of the heavy lifting, taking the field through fractions of :23.10, :46.21 and 1:09.64 for six furlongs before Cugino launched from the back of the pack midway through the final turn.

Cugino collared There Are No Words late and then had more than enough in reserve to hold off Shrug, who was another half-length back.

The winning time over a firm turf course was 1:34.52.

“I wasn’t worried about a lack of pace because when he broke out of the gate he broke sharp so I let him roll out of there and then I knew we had to be patient,” said Marin. “By the time we hit the third quarter we were rolling.

“Any time you ride the best horse you ride with more confidence. I was patient because I knew he was the best horse in the race.”

Owned by West Point Thoroughbreds and Jimmy Kahig, Cugino posted his fifth win from 12 career starts. It was the third stakes win for the 4-year-old Kentucky-bred son of Twirling Candy.

Cugino returned $4.20 to win.

Marin, who will head to the Monmouth-at-Meadowlands meet before shifting his tack to Tampa Bay Downs for the winter, has also won the first two graded stakes in a career that began in the United States in 2022. Both of those Grade 3 wins came aboard Surface to Air at Monmouth Park (in the Monmouth Cup and the Philip Iselin Stakes).

“It’s a big achievement to win as many stakes as I have this summer at Monmouth,” he said.

The Monmouth Park meet wraps up with racing on Saturday and Sunday the next two weekends. Admission and parking are free for all four days.