Pimlico Special matches Commissioner, Top Billing

BALTIMORE – Sixteen months ago, Commissioner and Top Billing finished a neck apart in a first-level allowance race at Gulfstream Park that had many thinking that both could be players on the Triple Crown trail.

Top Billing got hurt before he could make the Triple Crown. Commissioner didn’t make the Kentucky Derby, but he nearly pulled off a 28-1 shocker in the Belmont Stakes, finishing a neck behind the winner, Tonalist.

Fast forward a year, and Commissioner and Top Billing loom as major players in Friday’s Grade 3, $300,000 Pimlico Special, the final race on a 14-race Pimlico card that begins at noon Eastern.

Ten were entered for the Pimlico Special, run at 1 3/16 miles, but Tapiture, a four-time stakes winner, and Albano, a three-time stakes winner, will scratch, according to their trainers.

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Those two scratches could help Commissioner, who drew the outside post. Commissioner, trained by Todd Pletcher, is coming off a neck victory at Gulfstream in the Grade 3 Skip Away at the Pimlico Special distance, earning a career-best 109 Beyer Speed Figure.

“Figure-wise, the Skip Away was his strongest race so far,” said Pletcher, who won this race last year with Revolutionary. “Maybe he’s rounding into his best form, hopefully.”

Top Billing makes his third start off a layoff after being out a year due to a cracked cannon bone suffered last March. In his last start, Top Billing was beaten a nose at Keeneland by Noble Bird, who came back to run second in the Grade 2 Alysheba Stakes at Churchill Downs.

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Cat Burglar, third in the Pimlico Special last year, is back for another try for Bob Baffert. Page McKenney, an 11-time winner and most recently third in the Charles Town Classic, will try to score one for the home team as the lone Pimlico-based runner in the field.

KEY CONTENDERS

Commissioner (Last 3 Beyers: 109-94-95)

◗ He worked a solid five furlongs in 1:00.83 in company with allowance horse Anchor Down last Saturday at Belmont, getting the final three-eighths in 35.63 seconds.

“The Pimlico Special is attractive because of the distance and the timing,” Pletcher said. “He’s training like he’s sitting on a good one.”

◗ Already this year, Pletcher has won six graded stakes in the older male division, including two each with Protonico and Race Day and one with Commissioner.

Top Billing (Last 3 Beyers: 93-84-97)

◗ He makes his return to graded stakes competition for the first time since he ran third in the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth in February 2014.

◗ He has a fourth and a second in two allowance races this year.

“His first race off the layoff is a throw-out,” trainer Shug McGaughey said. “I was too timid with him coming off the injury. I’ve seen progression from the Keeneland race to this race, and I’m excited about running him.”

◗ He could get a good pace setup in a race that has several runners who want to be forwardly placed.

Page McKenney (Last 3 Beyers: 98-96-98)

◗ Claimed for $16,000 in 2013, this Pennsylvania-bred gelding is a four-time listed stakes winner who has run seven consecutive Beyers between 93 and 98.

◗ He comes off a third in the Charles Town Classic at 1 1/8 miles.

“I think he’ll like the distance,” trainer Mary Eppler said. “He’s always coming on the last part, the last quarter-mile. He’s doing just wonderful. You couldn’t ask for him to be doing any better.”