Page McKenney is the morning line favorite in the Richard W. Small Stakes. Photo by The Racing Biz.
From a Maryland Jockey Club release
Second in last year’s race behind Stormin Monarcho, Maryland-based multiple stakes winner Page McKenney will make his 40th career start in the $100,000 Richard W. Small Stakes for 3-year-olds and up going 1 1/8 miles on the main track.
Adam Staple and Jalin Stable’s 5-year-old gelding won the Robellino Stakes and was second by a nose in the Roanoke Stakes facing fellow Pennsylvania-breds in his past two starts. His last wins against open company were back-to-back stakes triumphs over the winter at Laurel, the John B. Campbell and Henry Johnson Memorial, each at 1 1/8 miles.
Page McKenney, who was bred in Pennsylvania by Dr. James Bryant and his wife Linda Davis — the Ja and lin of Jalin Stable — is currently ranked fifth on the Mid-Atlantic Thoroughbred/The Racing Biz Top Midlantic-bred Poll.
“He’s doing great right now,” trainer Mary Eppler said. “He’s very happy and he’s training well.”
Claimed for $16,000 in April 2013, Page McKenney has 12 wins, 12 seconds, four thirds and $860,178 in purse earnings over his career, and has not finished off the board since April 25, 2014, a span of 19 consecutive starts. The stretch includes five stakes victories, a second in the Pimlico Special (G3) and thirds in the Cornhusker Handicap (G3) and Charles Town Classic (G2) this year.
Page McKenney will break from post 8 in the nine-horse field with regular rider Horacio Karamanos at topweight of 124 pounds.
