Impressive Maiden Winner Recruiting Ready Nearing Next Start 

Stakes Winner Never Gone South Getting Summer Vacation

Disco Barbie Earns Long-Awaited Stakes Win

Preakness Meet Titles Going Down to the Wire

 

BALTIMORE – Adam Staple and Jalin Stable’s multiple stakes-winning millionaire Page McKenney remains with trainer Mary Eppler as he continues recovering from a filling in a tendon that cost him a planned start in the Pimlico Special (G3) May 20.

 

Eppler, based at Pimlico Race Course, said a recent ultrasound done on the 6-year-old gelding have revealed no new or worsening swelling or damage to the area. Slight filling in a tendon was discovered the morning of the Special and, though it was minor, the trainer chose to scratch her stable star.

 

“We try to be overly cautious with all our horses,” she said. “We did an ultrasound and it was exactly the same as the day of the Pimlico Special, which is good because a lot of times it can be worse 10 days or two weeks later. So we started some treatment on it. That’ll go another two weeks, and we’ll ultrasound it again in a month.

 

Page McKenney is receiving shock wave therapy on the tendon once every two weeks for a total of three treatments. Eppler has set no timetable for if or when he will resume training.

 

“He’s doing fine. His attitude and his appetite are great. He’s going to have a rest for probably a couple months at least, maybe up to a year,” she said. “We’re just taking our time with him. We’ll see what the next ultrasound shows and go from there, decide whether to send him to the farm or keep him at the racetrack. We just don’t know yet.”

 

Claimed for $16,000 in July 2013, Page McKenney has 16 wins and $1.4 million in purse earnings from 44 lifetime starts, finishing in the top three 33 times including 24 in a row since May 2014. Nine of his victories have come in stakes, topped by the General George (G3) Feb. 15 at Laurel Park.

 

Impressive Maiden Winner Recruiting Ready Nearing Next Start

 

Sagamore Farm’s Recruiting Ready, a runaway winner of his May 28 unveiling at Pimlico, has been training forwardly as he approaches his second career start.

 

Trainer Horaco De Paz said a decision will be made where to run back after the juvenile Algorithms colt breezes this weekend at Laurel Park. He has worked twice since his smashing debut victory, most recently going five furlongs in a bullet 1:00.40 June 18.

 

“He’s doing really good. He came out of his race like he didn’t even run,” De Paz said. “He was quite full of himself and we’re very happy with everything, how he looks and what he’s done. He’s actually moving forward on his own without us necessarily pressuring him to get ready for anything.”

 

Recruiting Ready was ahead by seven lengths after a quarter-mile in 22.39 seconds, led by eight at the top of the stretch and hit the wire 10 ¼ lengths in front after running 4 ½ furlongs in 51.78 over a fast main track under motionless Hall of Fame jockey Edgar Prado.

 

De Paz nominated Recruiting Ready to the six-furlong Bashford Manor (G3) July 2 at Churchill Downs.

 

“We’re going to look at that. He’ll have one more work this weekend and then we’ll decide. He worked really good this past weekend and really doesn’t need much at all. He’s pretty much ready to go. We just have to see how things look afterward and decide if we want to go there,” he said. “He’s pretty legit. He’s a serious racehorse.”

 

De Paz is also excited about Sagamore homebred Riley’s Choice, a 2-year-old Distorted Humor filly that is nearing her race debut. She shows six works since late April at Laurel, most recently breezing a half-mile from the gate in 49 seconds June 19.

 

“She’s close. She’s within the next two to three weeks, for sure,” De Paz said. “Recruiting Ready kind of set the bar really high for us, but she’s pretty competitive.”

 

Stakes Winner Never Gone South Getting Summer Vacation

 

M M G Stables LLC’s multiple stakes winner Never Gone South, fourth in the Chick Lang Stakes May 21, is on the farm getting a short break before returning for a fall and winter campaign at Laurel.

 

The 3-year-old Munnings colt breezed four furlongs in a bullet 48 seconds June 9 at Laurel in his first timed work since the Chick Lang, his eighth lifetime start and fourth this year.

 

“I spoke to the owners and we sent him to the farm here in Maryland. He’ll be away for a couple of months just to freshen him up,” trainer Cal Lynch said. “We’ll go visit him, let him get some rest and relax and he’ll be good to go in the fall.”

 

Never Gone South won Delaware Park’s Strike Your Colors Stakes in his second start at 2 and opened 2016 with a victory in the Frank Whiteley Jr. Stakes Jan. 16 at Laurel. No worse than third in his first six starts, finishing second in the James F. Lewis III and Marylander stakes and third in the Miracle Wood, he was sixth in the Federico Tesio April 9 prior to the Lang.

 

“He came out of the last race OK. Everything seems to be well. He had a really good bullet work and looked well. He’s a horse that doesn’t miss too many dances,” Lynch said. “He’s run hard for a long time now. This time of year sometimes it’s a good chance to give horses that ran all through the winter a little break. We’ve got young horses for [the owners] coming through and if we can give him a little break I think he’ll benefit from it.”

 

Since winning his career debut last summer at Parx, Nothing to Lose has started in seven consecutive stakes. Lynch said the plan is to continue that trend and step up to graded company.

 

“We’ll probably look at the General George or something along those lines if he comes back as good as we hope and he strengthens up from 3 to 4,” he said. “Those are the kinds of races we want to run with him.”

 

Disco Barbie Earns Long-Awaited Stakes Win

 

A troubled seventh in the The Very One Stakes May 21 on the Preakness Stakes (G1) undercard, Diane Manning’s 6-year-old mare Disco Barbie picked up her first career stakes win in the Satin and Lace June 19 at Presque Isle Downs.

 

Based at Laurel Park with trainer Dale Capuano, Disco Barbie had been second or third in nine previous stakes tries, including four graded attempts in 2014. Overall she has seven wins, seven seconds, four thirds and purse earnings of $441,536 from 44 career starts.

 

Disco Barbie has won two straight on the synthetic at Presque Isle since the The Very One, where she was beaten less than five lengths by heavy favorite Lady Shipman after being bottled up behind horses on the far turn.

 

“We were hoping to win a stake with her. She’s been Grade 2-placed a couple of times but we hadn’t been able to get that win, so that was very nice for the Mannings,” Capuano said. “In The Very One, I thought she should have been second. Lady Shipman ran great and no one going to beat her but we had a lot of traffic problems in that race. She made a nice run at the end; you had to really watch the race to see it. I was pleased with her effort and she came out of it good.”

 

Capuano said that Bobcat was doing well since suffering his first career loss when fifth in the 5 ½-furlong Select Stakes June 12 at Monmouth Park. It was the first start on grass for the 3-year-old Orientate colt, who had been impressive in a pair of dirt victories four weeks apart over the spring at Laurel.

 

“He came back fine. I thought he would finish a little bit better than that. It was his first time on the turf and he handled it OK but he didn’t improve any. Hopefully, I can find a race at Laurel for him,” he said. “I haven’t lost any confidence in him. He got more out of that race that if I had just worked him. We’ll see what happens next time.”

 

Preakness Meet Titles Going Down to the Wire

 

Entering the final weekend of the 28-day Preakness Meet at Pimlico,  the jockey and trainer titles will be a race to the finish.

 

Victor Carrasco had two wins on the last live program June 19 to take over the top spot among riders with 24 victories. Trevor McCarthy and Feargal Lynch are next with 23 wins, and Jevian Toledo is right behind with 21.

 

Last year, Carrasco captured the Preakness Meet at Pimlico title with 35 wins and also led Laurel Park’s summer stand. On June 11, Carrasco won five of Pimlico’s nine races setting a 1 1/16-mile course record with Lael Stables’ Inside Out.

 

McCarthy won Laurel’s winter-spring meet that led into the Preakness meet. Lynch, a former champion apprentice in England, is riding his first full meet in Maryland.

 

Kieron Magee, fresh off a Laurel winter-spring meet title, tops all trainers with 13 victories with four days remaining. He is trailed by Jamie Ness with 11 and Claudio Gonzales with seven.

 

Closing day of the current meet is Sunday, June 26. Racing returns to Laurel for the summer beginning Friday, July 1.