MONDAY, MAY 28, 2018 PAGE MCKENNEY: HEART TO HEART SEEKS THIRD STRAIGHT IN SHOEMAKER MILE RACING'S BLUE-COLLAR HERO Terry Hamilton=s Heart to Heart (English Channel) will look for a third straight Grade I victory in Monday=s GI Shoemaker Mile, a AWin and You=re In@ event for the GI Breeders= Cup Mile. Third in last year=s Shoemaker Mile, the 7-year-old went on to win the GII Bernard Baruch H. and was second in the GI Shadwell Turf Mile before concluding his season with a 10th-place finish in the Breeders= Cup Mile at Del Mar in November. After opening 2018 with a seventh-place effort in the Jan. 13 GII Ft. Lauderdale S., he went on to win the Feb. 10 GI Gulfstream Park Turf over nine furlongs and was a wire-to-wire victor in the Apr. 13 GI Maker=s 46 Mile at Keeneland. Bowies Hero (Artie Schiller) owns a pair of graded wins over the Shoemaker=s one-mile distance over the Santa Anita turf. The 4-year-old won the GII Mathis Brothers Mile in Arcadia last December and is coming off a determined score in the Mar. 10 GI Frank Kilroe Mile. Cont. p5 Page McKenney | Equi-Photo IN TDN EUROPE TODAY The Week in Review, by Bill Finley The biggest news in racing last week was the decision to pull CENTAURI STARS IN IRISH 1000 GUINEAS Audible (Into Mischief) from the GI Belmont S. The decision was ‘TDN Rising Star’ Alpha Centauri (Ire) (Mastercraftsman {Ire}) roars back to her best with a win in the G1 Irish 1000 Guineas. made by trainer Todd Pletcher, who said he wasn't happy with Click or tap here to go straight to TDN Europe. the way the horse was training. Audible is a $500,000 purchase at the 2-year-old sales and, now, will not be facing Justify (Scat Daddy), a $500,000 purchase at the yearling sales and a horse going for the Triple Crown in the $1.5 million Belmont. Both are owned by a collection of owners led by WinStar Farm and the China Horse Club, two of the sport's most prominent and richest owners. Then there were the reports that the goliath Coolmore is going to step in and pay $60 million for the breeding rights for Justify, a development WinStar has said is still up in the air. Those are head-spinning numbers and further evidence that the sport has never been more skewed toward the wealthiest, most prominent breeders and owners. They have the most money, they buy the best horses, they hire the best trainers, they seem to win all the major races. This is America. Nothing wrong with that. Then again, isn't is nice to see the little guy with the over-achieving horse do some good every once in a while? That's owner Adam Staple and his gelding Page McKenney (Eavesdropper). Cont. p3 PUBLISHER & CEO Sue Morris Finley @suefinley [email protected] V.P., INTERNATIONAL OPERATIONS Gary King @garykingTDN [email protected] EDITORIAL [email protected] Editor-in-Chief Jessica Martini @JessMartiniTDN Managing Editor Alan Carasso @EquinealTDN Monday, May 28, 2018 Senior Editor Steve Sherack @SteveSherackTDN Racing Editor Brian DiDonato @BDiDonatoTDN News and Features Editor Ben Massam @BMassamTDN Associate Editors Christie DeBernardis @CDeBernardisTDN Joe Bianca @JBiancaTDN ADVERTISING [email protected] Director of Advertising Alycia Borer Advertising Manager Lia Best Advertising Designer Amanda Crelin Advertising Assistants Alexa Reisfield Rachel McCaffrey Run, Roi, Run. Santa Anita hosted the first ever Southern California Corgi Nationals Photo Editor/Dir. of Distribution race Sunday and, by the time all was said and done, Roi (above) emerged as the winner. Sarah K. Andrew @SarahKAndrew Santa Anita photo [email protected] Social Media Strategist Justina Severni ACORN SHOWDOWN TAKING SHAPE 6 Director of Customer Service Vicki Forbes A matchup between GI Kentucky Oaks heroine Monomoy Girl (Tapizar) [email protected] and 2017 champion 2-year-old filly Caledonia Road (Quality Road) is one of many races to look forward to on the GI Belmont S. undercard. Marketing Manager Alayna Cullen @AlaynaCullen Director of Information Technology BLAME BAGS ANOTHER SPRINT STAKE 8 Ray Villa One day after Miss Kentucky (Blame) won the GIII Winning Colors S. at [email protected] Churchill Downs, Marley’s Freedom (Blame) gave her sire another win Bookkeeper under identical race conditions in Santa Anita’s GIII Desert Stormer S. Terry May [email protected] WORLDWIDE INFORMATION International Editor Kelsey Riley @kelseynrileyTDN TODAY’S GRADED STAKES [email protected] EST Race Click for TV European Editor 6:46p Shoemaker Mile S.-GI, SA TJCIS PPs TVG Emma Berry [email protected] 7:02p All American S.-GIII, GG TJCIS PPs TVG Associate International Editor 8:20p Monrovia S.-GIII, SA TJCIS PPs TVG Heather Anderson @HLAndersonTDN Newmarket Bureau, Cafe Racing Sean Cronin & Tom Frary [email protected] 60 Broad Street, Suite 100 Red Bank, NJ 07701 732-747-8060 | 732-747-8955 (fax) www.TheTDN.com TDN HEADLINE NEWS • PAGE 3 OF 8 • THETDN.COM MONDAY • MAY 28, 2018 The Week in Review (cont. from p1) Page McKenney earned $354,400 in 2017, but finished the year with an eighth-place finish in the GIII Harlan's Holiday S. Off The story begins way back in 2013 when Staple, then a poker that race and with the horse having turned eight, Staple began dealer at the Las Vegas casinos, decided to claim a horse.Trainer to wonder if the run was over. Instead, the gelding started off Mary Eppler saw something she liked in Page McKenney and 2018 with a win in a restricted stakes at Gulftstream and then claimed the horse on behalf of Staple for $16,000. It certainly finished a competitive fourth in the GII Gulfstream Park wasn't about the pedigree. Sire Eavesdropper now stands in Hardacre Mile S. The Salvator Mile was not an easy field, but Libya. Yes, Libya. Page McKenney was clearly best. Whenever you claim a horse for $16,000, you're not expecting much, and Staple was perfectly happy when Page McKenney went on to win a $25,000 claimer and a starter allowance. He was just getting started. Page McKenney won a Pennsylvania-bred stakes race at Penn National in August 2014. It was his first of 14 stakes wins, and two of them are graded wins. He has 22 wins overall. The latest came Saturday at Monmouth in the GIII Salvator Mile. Sent off at 7-1, he won by a half-length over Shaft of Light (Smart Strike). His career earnings now stand at $1,870,940. "There are so many big owners now and with all these big powerhouses doing these partnerships, it's harder and harder for the little guy to fit in and win graded races," said Staple. "You don't want to think you're the last of a dying breed, but sometimes I feel that way. When you win with a horse like this, you really do think, >Hooray for the little guy.' It really is a special thing." Mary Eppler, trainer of Page McKenney | Jim McCue/MJC TDN HEADLINE NEWS • PAGE 4 OF 8 • THETDN.COM MONDAY • MAY 28, 2018 "Every time you think it's winding down and then you see it's Oaklawn H., and the vastly improved Dr. Dorr (Lookin at Lucky) not over yet," Staple said. "He's been training so well and has no from the Bob Baffert stable. physical ailments at all." Accelerate has never been better and runs his best races at a Page McKenney has never started in a Grade I race and has mile-and-a-quarter, which bodes well for his chances in the made only seven starts in graded company. Classic. Staple says he sometimes regrets not trying As a side note, it looks like this may have the toughest level of competition at least been the last ever Gold Cup, which used to be once, but says that Eppler has managed the the Hollywood Gold Cup. All indications are horse perfectly and that's a primary reason that Santa Anita will move the GI Santa Anita Page McKenney is still going strong at age H. to the same date on the calender, as that eight. race very much to needs to get away from the "Mary has been trying not to do over do it GI Dubai World Cup--a race it has little chance with him," he said. "For him to maintain his of competing with. form for this long, you just shake your head and realize it's just part of the whole insanity The Battle of the Brothers of this story." Here's a rarity: Little brother Brother Chub The Salvator Mile is part of the Mid-Atlantic (Hey Chub) got the better of his big brother Thoroughbred Championship (MATCH) Series Chublicious (Hey Chub) in Saturday's John J. and there are bonuses given to the point Reilly Handicap at Monmouth for New Jersey- leaders in each division. The GIII Philip H. Iselin breds. The 6-year-old won by 2 1/2 lengths S. is next on the MATCH schedule, so that is Accelerate | Benoit Photo over the 7-year-old. Both are out of the mare likely where Page McKenney will go next. With Sassy Broad and were bred by Joe-Dan Farm. the money he's made with Page McKenney, Staple has bought It was the fourth straight win for Brother Chub. some other horses, but none have turned out to be anything like the star of the stable.