Page McKenney can pad MATCH stats in Monmouth Cup

OCEANPORT, N.J. – The Haskell Invitational undercard includes a pair of Grade 3 stakes over the main track, the $150,000 Monmouth Cup for 3-year-olds and up and the $100,000 Molly Pitcher for fillies and mares.

The 1 1/8-mile Monmouth Cup is the third of five legs in the long-dirt division of the Mid-Atlantic Thoroughbred Championships.

The 1 1/16-mile Molly Pitcher, which is slotted as the 10th of 14 races, begins a pick five that will guarantee a minimum payout of $250,000 if there is a single winning ticket. The sequence includes the $75,000 Wolf Hill Stakes, the Grade 1 Haskell, a New Jersey-bred optional-claiming race on turf, and a conditioned $12,500 claiming sprint.

Page McKenney won the opening race of the MATCH series long-dirt division, the Grade 3 Salvator Mile, and finished second in the next leg, the Grade 3 Philip Iselin. He is the only Monmouth Cup entrant to have raced in either of the first two legs.

In the series, Page McKenney has 17 points and leads the division by seven. He also is tied for the lead in the overall championship, and will earn from one to 10 points Sunday. Page McKenney is based at Pimlico with trainer Mary Eppler.

Page McKenney was compromised by a short field and lack of pace in the Iselin. Harlan Punch was the lone speed that day and was able to dictate the fractions on an open lead.

To make a race of it, jockey Horacio Karamanos sent Page McKenney after Harlan Punch on the backstretch of the 1 1/16-mile race. Although Page McKenney tried hard, pressing the pace is not his preferred style, and he had to settle for second, 5 1/4 lengths behind Harlan Punch.

The Monmouth Cup only has six entrants, but Remembering Rita and Phat Man both have speed. Look for Page McKenney to settle before launching his bid on the far turn.

A victory by Page McKenney, now 8 and a winner of 22 of 57 starts, would put him within $20,000 of $2 million in earnings.

Phat Man is trained by Joe Sharp and owned by Brad Grady, who scored their most important wins in last year’s Haskell, when Girvin ran down McCraken to win by a nose.

In late June, Phat Man returned from an eight-month layoff to score a front-running win in a second-level optional-claiming race at Churchill Downs.

Luis Saez has the mount

Remembering Rita has improved drastically since trainer Doug Anderson equipped him with blinkers three starts ago at Prairie Meadows. He has since won a maiden race by 11 1/4 lengths, an optional claimer by 11, and the Grade 3 Cornhusker by 1 1/2 lengths at 19-1.

He has raced on the pace in all three of those races. Alex Birzer will be in for the mount.

Zanotti, Name Changer, and Let Me Go First complete the field.

Eight in Molly Pitcher

The eight-horse Molly Pitcher will match Divine Miss Grey against Unchained Melody, who will add blinkers; Iowa Distaff winner Dreamcall; and Berned, who is 2 for 2 at Monmouth.

Divine Miss Grey, who is trained by Danny Gargan, prepped for the Molly Pitcher Stakes by stretching out around two turn in the Lady’s Secret Stakes at Monmouth on June 30. She won by three-quarters of a length.

Her regular rider, Kendrick Carmouche, will be aboard for the Molly Pitcher.

Unchained Melody won the Grade 2 Mother Goose last year at 3, but was pulled up in the Alabama in her next start. Since returning from an eight-month break for trainer Brian Lynch, she has finished fifth in the Grade 2 Ruffian and Grade 1 Ogden Phipps. She should improve markedly with the huge class drop and blinkers.