McNerney right at home calling at Ellis

Jimmy McNerney checked off yet another box on his racetrack to-do list Friday when he began calling races at Ellis Park, his hometown track.

“It’s a pretty good feeling,” said McNerney, who has been going to the races at Ellis since he was less than a year old.

In recent years, McNerney has been the top jockey agent at Turfway Park and Indiana Grand while raising two young daughters and splitting time between those two tracks. He grew up mostly in Evansville, Ind., just across the state line from Ellis Park in western Kentucky.

“[Before becoming an agent] I did a lot of different jobs on the racetrack – on the backside, in the jocks’ room, in the racing office,” said McNerney, 39. “I only started thinking about being a race-caller when I started hanging around Luke.”

He was referring to Luke Kruytbosch, the Ellis caller who died suddenly in Evansville in July 2008.

One day in 2009 at Hoosier Park, McNerney filled in when regular announcer Steve Cross couldn’t get there because his car broke down. McNerney became more seriously interested and finally got a gig two summers ago calling Quarter Horse races at Fair Grounds.

Ellis owner Ron Geary became familiar with McNerney’s calls and asked him to call the 2015 meet, replacing Keith Nelson, who had commuted the last two summers from the Kansas City area. The 31-day meet began Friday and runs through Labor Day, Sept. 7.

McNerney brings a solid approach to calling by prioritizing accuracy while using an appropriate amount of excitability.

“I’m still learning, but I’d like to think I’ll be welcomed by the fans here at Ellis and in the simulcast market,” he said.

McNerney will continue to work for jockeys Albin Jimenez and Israel Ocampo, both of whom will compete primarily at Indiana Grand.

◗ D. Wayne Lukas is among the Churchill Downs-based trainers running a few horses at Ellis while waiting to ship their best horses to Saratoga, which starts July 24. Lukas has a couple maidens in the Ellis entries for Sunday: first-timer John Q. Public in the fifth race and Dynabeaver, an also-eligible in the ninth-race finale.

Among the Lukas horses preparing to leave are the champion filly Take Charge Brandi, who breezed three furlongs Friday in 36.80 seconds over a sloppy Churchill track, and Mr. Z, the winner of the Ohio Derby on June 20.

The breeze was the second for Take Charge Brandi since she returned from injury. The 2014 divisional Eclipse Award winner is being pointed to the Grade 1 Test Stakes on Aug. 8.

◗ The Sunday card at Ellis starts with a $30,500 first-level allowance, and that’s as big a purse as you’ll see all day. Three maiden special races and a starter allowance also are on tap. First post is 12:50 p.m. Central.

Sundays at Ellis tend to be popular with the locals because of the $1 concessions on sale.