Page McKenney Scores First Graded-Stakes Win in G3 General George
Page McKenney Scores First Graded-Stakes Win in G3 General George
Two-Turn Specialist Shows Class while Cutting Back to 7 Furlongs
LAUREL, MD – Adam Staple and Jalin Stable’s Page McKenney scored his first graded-stakes victory Monday in the $250,000 General George (G3) at Laurel Race Course.
The two-turn specialist had won eight stakes and earned $1 million after being claimed by his connections for $16,000 in July 2013 but had never won a race at a sprint distance until Monday. Multiple graded stakes-placed around two turns, the 6-year-old gelding handled the cutback to seven furlongs Monday to prevail over 3-2 favorite Majestic Affair by a head.
“I have ridden a lot of nice horses, but this horse is all heart,” jockey Horacio Karamanos said. “It was a big test today at seven-eighths.”
Page McKenney, who hadn’t run in a sprint since finishing sixth in a $25,000 maiden claiming race in Jan. 2013, broke alertly from the starting gate and settled in fourth along the backstretch behind pacesetter Green Gratto and stalkers Majestic Affair and Majestic Hussar. Leaving the turn into the homestretch, Majestic Affair edged away to take the lead into the stretch and appeared on his way to victory before Page McKenney was angled to the outside and began responding to Karamanos’ urging.
Majestic Affair, who captured the Jazil Stakes at Aqueduct last time out, continued on gamely under Kendrick Carmouche but was unable to withstand the relentless stretch drive of Page McKenney.
“He had been training great even better than before, although he wasn’t able to train very much this week because of the (cold) weather. He is amazing. He likes to run on any surface. In fact he set a track record on the turf,” winning trainer Mary Eppler said. “I didn’t expect him to be that close today, but he wanted to run. Even if he did get beat, I would have been so proud of him for trying so hard.”
Page McKenney, the 2-1 second choice, ran seven furlongs in 1:24.6 while winning his 16th career race. Chad Brown-trained Majestic Affair finished four lengths clear of third-place finisher Sonny Inspired.
“He ran his race. He just got beat by a better horse today,” Carmouche said of Majestic Affair.
As impressed with her 6-year-old gelding’s sprint win Monday, Eppler doesn’t plan on keeping him around one turn.
“I think he’s more of a two-turn horse and I will keep him at those distances,” Eppler said.
Page McKenney will be pointed to the $75,000 Harrison Johnson Memorial at 1 1/8 miles at Laurel Park March 19 with tentative plans for future graded-stakes engagements in the Charles Town Classic (G2) and Pimlico Special (G3) around two turns.
