Exercise rider for Joe Sharp dies in training accident

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Callie Witt, an exercise rider for Joe Sharp for nearly a year, died early Friday in an accident on the training track at Keeneland. She was 20.

Sharp said the accident occurred when the 2-year-old that Witt was riding “did a kind of side-step in mid-gallop and fish-tailed,” throwing the rider into the outer rail or a concrete section underneath a railing.

Sharp, who was working elsewhere, said “it’s my understanding she lost consciousness” and that numerous attempts to revive her by medical personnel were unsuccessful.

Witt’s parents were en route to Kentucky from their Nebraska home Friday upon learning of their daughter’s death.

“I had to inform her dad on the phone,” said Sharp, “and it’s the hardest thing I’ve ever done.

“We are all devastated, just gutted,” he added. “We had taken such a liking to her since she started working for us nine months ago. She was in New Orleans with us all winter. What a great young lady she was.”

Keeneland issued a statement Friday morning saying the track’s on-site medical team was on the scene within six minutes. Witt was transported to the University of Kentucky Emergency Department, where she was pronounced dead from blunt-force injuries.

“We are heartbroken by this tragic loss,” Keeneland president Shannon Arvin said in a prepared statement. “Our hearts go out to Callie’s family, friends, and our collective racing community at this difficult time.”

Witt was a graduate of the North American Riding Academy based at the Thoroughbred Training Center in Lexington and had aspired to eventually ride races, said Sharp, adding she was enrolled in a local community college.

Just two years ago, Witt was a state high-school wrestling champion in her weight division in her native Nebraska.

The Polytrack training track at Keeneland is five furlongs in circumference.