By Ben Massam
With GII Charles Town Classic winner Stanford (Malibu Moon) scratching in favor of the June 11 GI Metropolitan H., local hero Page McKenney (Eavesdropper) may inherit the role of favorite in Friday's GIII Sagamore Spirit Pimlico Special S. Finishing in the trifecta in each of his last 24 starts, the gritty Pennsylvania-bred gelding earned his initial graded stakes success with a rallying tally in the GIII General George S. at Laurel Feb. 15, and recently chased Stanford home in second at Charles Town.
“You can't tire this horse out,” co-owner Adam Staple told the Pimlico notes team. “Everyone is texting me back [at trainer Mary Eppler's barn], saying he's just bouncing off the walls, happy as can be. He knows when he does well and is really proud of himself.”
John C. Oxley's Noble Bird (Birdstone) enters as the most accomplished runner in the field by virtue of his win in the GI Stephen Foster H. at Churchill Downs last June, but the chestnut has gone winless in four subsequent starts. The Mark Casse trainee's 2016 season got off to an inauspicious beginning with a dull sixth-place finish in a Feb. 21 Oaklawn optional claimer, and Noble Bird showed renewed interest when second behind Eagle (Candy Ride {Arg}) in Keeneland's GIII Ben Ali S Apr. 16. The 5-year-old still has many questions to answer, however, on the heels of a last-place finish in the May 6 GII Alysheba S. at Churchill–a race in which he hesitated at the start and never settled off an extremely wide trip.
As is the case with Noble Bird, Pozo de Luna Inc., Jose Luis Guerra and Fernando Fantini's Idolo Porteno (Arg) (Jump Start) looms as a logical contender if he is granted forgiveness for his most recent race, a tiring eighth-place finish over the turf in Keeneland's grassy GII Elkhorn S. Apr. 23. The dark bay, a Group 1 winner on turf and dirt in his native Argentina, made a favorable impression in his North American debut–a third-place run behind Upstart (Flatter) in Oaklawn's GIII Razorback H. Mar. 19. Conditioned by Ignacio Correas IV, who will be making a Maryland homecoming after nearly six years spent as a private trainer for Sagamore Farm, Idolo Porteno signaled his readiness for Friday's tilt with five-furlong breeze in 1:00.80 over the Keeneland main track May 15.
“I've only had this horse for four months, five months,” Correas said of Idolo Porteno. “He's still adapting himself to America. We are trying to get to know him better. But I think that he should run a good race.”
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