Wit's turf works make him a player in Hall of Fame Stakes

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – If Wit handles the turf as well in the afternoon as he has in the morning, he figures to be dangerous in Friday’s Grade 2, $200,000 National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame Stakes going one mile at Saratoga.

A graded stakes winning sprinter on dirt at 2 and 3, Wit was no match for Jack Christopher in the Grade 1 Woody Stephens at Belmont Park on June 11. With Jack Christopher pointing to the Grade 1 H. Allen Jerkens here on Aug. 27, it didn’t make sense to point Wit in that direction.

Trainer Todd Pletcher worked Wit twice over the Oklahoma turf course. On July 22, he went a half-mile in 47.47 seconds, the fastest of 63 works at the distance, and galloped out six furlongs in 1:12.97. On July 30, he went a half-mile in 50.29, again with a strong gallop-out.

“I’d be optimistic based on the way he’s trained, he seems like he really took to it,” Pletcher said.

Pletcher has already had success this year switching surfaces with a 3-year-old as Emmanuel, third in the Grade 1 Blue Grass Stakes on dirt, won the Pennine Ridge at Belmont in his turf debut on June 4.

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Whereas Emmanuel had some turf breeding being a son of More Than Ready, Wit’s turf pedigree is lacking. Wit is a son of Practical Joke out of the unraced Medaglio d’ Oro mare Numero d’Oro. Neither of her previous foals have won on the turf.

Double Clutch, trained by Rusty Arnold, comes into the Hall of Fame Stakes off a second-place finish behind the Pletcher-trained Annapolis in the Manila Stakes at Belmont on July 4. Double Clutch is making just his fourth career start, but only because of difficulties finding a proper race in Kentucky this spring on turf.

In the Manila, Double Clutch got away a bit slow and jockey Manny Franco had to swing six wide after failing to find room between horses around the turn.

“He waited as long as he could, then swung to the outside,” Arnold said. “I don’t know that we could have beat [Annapolis], but it was a very good race. I expect him to come back even better on Friday.”

Franco has the return call from post 7.

Both Wit and Double Clutch would benefit from some pace in the race. Chanceux, who was part of the pace in the Manila, and Dowagiac Chief, who has shown speed and now gets blinkers, are the two most likely front-runners in this field.

Tiz the Bomb shortens to a mile in the Hall of Fame after finishing ninth, 13 3/4 lengths behind his Ken McPeek-trained stablemate Classic Causeway in the Grade 1 Belmont Derby at 1 1/4 miles on July 9. McPeek noted that Tiz the Bomb has already won at the one-mile distance having taken the Kentucky Downs Juvenile Turf Mile last September.

Stolen Base would be looking to bounce back from a last-place finish in the Belmont Derby. Trainer Mike Maker said he had no excuse for that performance and is simply drawing a line through it. Stolen Base won the Grade 2 American Turf at Churchill Downs following a seventh-place finish in the Jeff Ruby Steaks in his race prior to that.

Maker did say that Stolen Base would be cross-entered in Saturday’s Saratoga Derby, at 1 3/16 miles, and would wait on the owners to decide in which race to run.

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“I’d say he’s in between [distance-wise], but I’m fine either way, Maker said. “We expect a big performance no matter which race we run in.”

Flavien Prat has the call Friday. Dylan Davis would ride Stolen Base on Saturday.

Read to Purrform finished third in the Manila, a half-length behind Double Clutch. Wow Whata Summer, who upset Annapolis at 83-1 in the Penn Mile run over soft turf, and Celestial City, beaten a head in the Jersey Derby two starts back, complete the field.

The Hall of Fame goes as race 8 on a 10-race card that also includes the Grade 3, $300,000 Troy Stokes for turf sprinters at 5 1/2 furlongs.