'Amazing Run' Ends for Fan Favorite Page McKenney

Adam Staple knew the time was getting closer when the best horse he has ever owned, popular 8-year-old claimer-turned-millionaire Page McKenney, would stop racing.

With that in mind, Staple was somewhat prepared for the sudden retirement of the multiple stakes-winning Eavesdropper gelding Aug. 24 because of a tendon injury in his left front leg.

"The one saving grace out of it, rather than feel blindsided by the whole thing, is we were really looking to kind of wind things down anyhow. A couple more races this year and that was it," Staple said. "We knew the clock was ticking. … I think it softens the blow."

Based at Pimlico Race Course with trainer Mary Eppler and co-owned by breeders Dr. James Bryant and Linda Davis of Jalin Stable, Page McKenney was entered to run in the $100,000 Sal DeBunda PTHA President's Cup Stakes Aug. 25 at Parx Racing, the fourth leg of the 3-year-old and older, long dirt division in the rejuvenated Mid-Atlantic Thoroughbred Championship Series.

The chestnut gelding had already clinched the division title with a win, a second, and a third in the first three legs, starting with the Salvator Mile Stakes (G3) May 26 at Monmouth Park, his 14th black-type victory and second in graded stakes company.

"It really kind of just happened. When we entered, we really thought we were going to be OK. We thought it was something that he had been managing, but with tendons, they tend to show themselves at strange times," Staple said. "We didn't think the injury was initially bad enough for retirement, but the tendon flared up over the last couple days, so it's for the best."

Eppler claimed Page McKenney on behalf of Staple for $16,000 in July 2013 at Penn National Race Course. Together they won 21 races, nine of them at Pimlico or Laurel Park, and Staple later sold an interest in the horse back to Bryant.

Page McKenney ended his career with 22 wins, 16 seconds, and five thirds from 58 starts and purse earnings of $1,905,940. In his last race, he finished third in the July 29 Monmouth Cup Stakes (G3), after which he developed filling in the same leg he had issue with following a runner-up finish in the 2016 Charles Town Classic Stakes (G2).

"We've had these moments before without jumping to conclusions, but all the treatment we normally did for those things was unresponsive and actually got worse, so we began to realize this was something more," Staple said. "Who has runs like this? I'm watching all these elite-level horses—ones that have come and gone, good geldings, good stallion prospects. There are some that we've run against that already have racehorses out there.

"You look at it and all you can do is shake your head and say, 'It was amazing.' It was a long, amazing run."

Staple said he and Eppler have had discussions about Page McKenney's future that could involve a stay at Nor Mar Farm in Freeland, Md., where the horse would go for breaks from racing during his career, and spending the winter in Kilmarnock, Va., where Bryant, an internal medicine specialist, has his practice and a farm.

"With tendons, you don't want to just kick them out. Then they're going to just have this lump on their leg the rest of their lives, probably get arthritic, and probably be their undoing years from now. You don't want that, so we're following a very strict regimen laid out by the vet," Staple said.

"I think if he comes back OK, Mary and I have talked about maybe he could do a Lava Man kind of thing and be a track pony. She's said, as of the last year or so, it takes a lot of effort to get him into gear when he's out on the track. He'd rather just stand there and watch. She's said he's got good track pony features to him. We just kind of felt out some things. We want to be extra careful with him."