There were two things that Dry Powder and Governor Sam had in common heading into the two stakes races at Monmouth Park on Sunday.

Both were getting significant class relief, coming out of graded stakes.

And both had Paco Lopez aboard.

Dry Powder fended off challenges at four different stages of the race to capture the $100,000 Lady’s Secret Stakes by three-quarters of a length and Governor Sam catapulted off a stalking position after blazing early fractions to win the $100,000 Get Serious Stakes by 1¼ lengths, doing so before a record Father’s Day crowd of 30,367.

The attendance broke the Father’s Day record of 29,262 set in 2015 and followed a record-setting Mother’s Day crowd of 14,687 on May 11.

“We grateful to our fans for coming out and supporting the racing at Monmouth Park and continuing to make Father’s Day a special day,” said John F. Heims, the track’s general manager. “The weather was perfect, the racing was excellent and it’s always nice to see so many fans enjoying themselves at the track.”

Lopez, well on his way to a record-tying 13^th Monmouth Park riding title, won five races on the eight-race card, including both stakes.

Dry Powder, fourth in the Grade 2 Ruffian in her last start, was under duress throughout the mile and a sixteenth Lady’s Secret and even yielded the lead briefly coming out of the final turn to longshot Flowers For Me.

Lika Rolling Stone, a 25-1 shot in the field of six fillies and mares, 3 and up, rallied for second.

The winning time was 1:46.21.

“The race came up kind of interesting,” said winning trainer Chad Summers. “The rest of the horses may not have the stakes experience that Dry Powder does but there were a lot of horses in the field that certainly were in good form or had run well previously.

“When the race came out it kind of looked like everyone had the same running style. I thought we might be in trouble out of the rail. The strategy was to play the break. When she broke the way she did and nobody else wanted the lead I thought Paco did the smart thing. He floated her out going into the first turn because she doesn’t want to be on the rail.”

Dry Powder, second by a neck in the Grade 1 Cotillion Stakes a year ago, earned her fourth career win from 12 lifetime starts. She comes from the same connections – Summers, owner Al Gold and Lopez – that won the Preakness Stakes last month.

This race served as a prep for the 4-year-old daughter of Gun Runner, who is being pointed to the Grade 2, $500,000 Molly Pitcher Stakes on the NYRA Bets Haskell Stakes under card on July 18.

“We kind of circled, early on in the season with Al Gold’s love for Monmouth Park, the Molly Pitcher,” said Summers. “It’s on Haskell day. Obviously Al has fond memories of Haskell day from Cyberknife (the 202 Haskell winner). That’s been our plan all along. When this race came up as the prep it made sense to use this race. We’ll see how she comes out of this. She’ll go to Saratoga and get some down time.”

Dry Powder paid $2.80 to win.

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

Governor Sam, eighth in the Grade 1 Jaipur in his last start, chased Speed Figures through opening fractions of :20.74 and :43.10 to the half in the five-furlong grass sprint before drawing off.

The winning time was :55.18.

“He really didn’t run that poorly in the Jaipur last out,” said winning trainer George Weaver. “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 (winning the Tyro Stakes in 2024) and this race just made sense. He came out of the Jaipur so well it just made sense not to pass this race up.

“To be honest I was worried we were laying too close to that kind of fast pace. I have total faith in Paco, though. He knows how to get to the winner’s circle.”

A 4-year-old son of Improbable owned by Bregman Family Racing and Swinbank, Governor Sam was gelded over the winter, Weaver said. The horse has now won six of 16 career starts and is 6-for-14 sprinting on the grass. He won the Grade 3 Quick Call at Saratoga last summer.

“We gelded him because he’s just not where he needs to be as a stallion,” said Weaver. “He’s always been a heavy horse and a little crabby so we thought gelding him would take him to the next level.

“We made him a gelding over the winter so this horse is going to run until he is nine years old. He’s an honest, game horse. 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.”

Souper Quest finished second, a half-length ahead of Coppolo.

Governor Sam paid $4.80 to win in the field of six 3-year-olds and up.

Racing resumes on Friday at Monmouth Park, with the track adding another day to its racing calendar for the summer.