It took 26 starts but 4-year-old Page McKenney got his first stakes win in Penn National’s Robellino. Moved from turf to dirt, the field reduced to five starters and the Eavesdropper gelding bred by Dr. James Bryant and Linda Davis kicked away to his eighth win for owner Adam Staple and trainer Mary Eppler.

That was Page McKenney’s stakes debut – he would race exclusively in stakes the rest of his career, another 32 starts. When he retired in 2018 he had 15 stakes wins, 14 stakes-placings, was a multiple graded winner and earned $1,905,940. 

The Big Beast rocketed from maiden to Grade 1 winner in three starts for Alex and JoAnn Lieblong and trainer Tony Dutrow. Unraced at 2, the 3-year-old Maryland-bred won at Belmont in June, a Saratoga allowance in July, and that track’s Grade 1 King’s Bishop in August. The Yes It’s True colt was foaled at his breeders’ Ron and Carolyn Green’s Green Willow Farm in Westminster. Named for his oversized frame and rollicking attitude, he took time to mature and tested the patience of Dutrow.

Exiting the King’s Bishop with an ankle chip, The Big Beast returned an allowance winner the following March, placed in two Grade 1 sprints at Saratoga and was retired. However, that was enough to earn titles as 2015 Maryland-bred Horse of the Year, champion older horse and sprinter, to go with his 3-year-old divisional championship. 

Three Tapit sons were scheduled to join the 2015 ranks of regional stallions: graded winner Bandbox at Northview Stallion Station and stakes-placed Tritap at Heritage Stallions in Maryland; and stakes winner Winchill at Pointer Farm in Pennsylvania.

Hardest Core, trained on the hills and fields and roads of Chester County, Pa., won the Arlington Million-G1 in an upset for owner Andrew P. Bentley Racing – the stable name of Bentley and his parents Greg and Caroline – and trainer Eddie Graham. 

The son of Pennsylvania-bred star Hard Spun was purchased as a 3-year-old for $210,000 at Keeneland November in 2013. Gelded soon after, Hardest Core nearly died during emergency surgery at New Bolton Center to remove several feet of intestine. He recovered to win a stakes that summer at Delaware Park before his connections aimed high for his graded stakes debut in the Million.

Down Town Allen recorded her fourth win in Charles Town’s Sadie Hawkins Stakes for breeder/owner/trainer John A. Casey, and 20th stakes win of her career. The 7-year-old West Virginia-bred daughter of West Virginia sire Windsor Castle bested the field of eight by 4 lengths.