Witty takes on solid group in Jim McKay Turf Sprint

BALTIMORE, Md. – The iconic late broadcaster Jim McKay was born in Pennsylvania, but moved to Maryland as a teenager, built his career here, and considered it his home. McKay’s coverage of racing began in 1947 with reporting from Pimlico Race Course, the first live television broadcast in Baltimore. McKay, who became a Thoroughbred owner and breeder himself, was a champion of racing in his adopted home state, including an instrumental role in conceiving and launching the Maryland Million, which now carries his name.

One has to think McKay would appreciate Witty, who runs in another one of his namesake events on Saturday, the $100,000, five-furlong Jim McKay Turf Sprint on the undercard of his beloved Preakness Stakes. Witty was born in Pennsylvania, but is a son of Maryland sire Great Notion, and is now based at Fair Hill Training Center in Maryland for breeder, owner, and trainer Elizabeth Merryman

Witty has tasted the thrill of victory in six stakes, including the Maryland Million Turf Sprint last October at Laurel Park. Most recently, he won his 5-year-old debut off a four-month layoff, rallying from seventh midway on the far turn with an eight-wide sweep to get up by a neck in the King T. Leatherbury Stakes.

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Following that April 20 race, an equine herpesvirus case at Laurel and resulting quarantines prevented Witty from shipping back to his Fair Hill base. Instead, he spent about two weeks at Merryman’s farm in Coatesville, Pa., only about 40 miles north of the training center. Merryman admitted she was nervous about the change in routine, but the break from the track may be a blessing in disguise. On May 9, a refreshed Witty breezed a bullet four furlongs at Fair Hill.

“He got lots of turnout in a 35-acre field with a buddy, [although] the buddy gave him a couple bite marks but otherwise was fine,” Merryman, who also bred Witty’s celebrated half-sister Caravel, told Pimlico. “We rode him there up the hills and through the trails and went on the buffalo farm – we have buffalo, and he loved it. He had a nice couple weeks. He thought everything was fun and games and cool. He came back to Fair Hill and had a nice breeze and seems like he’s in really good form.”

Witty likely wouldn’t be troubled by forecast rain in the area Saturday. The gelding is stakes-placed on turf with some give in it; he is also a stakes winner on dirt, in the event the McKay is forced off turf. Witty, with Tyler Gaffalione replacing injured regular rider Jevian Toledo in the irons, drew post 11 in the large field of 12. The only horse drawn farther outside is also the only horse at lower morning-line odds. Multiple graded stakes winner Beer Can Man is the defending winner of the McKay, but has not won since that outing. The gelding was most recently 10th in the Grade 2 Shakertown at Keeneland, his first start since finishing seventh in the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint for Phil D’Amato.

The field also includes 2022 McKay winner Carotari, a divisional stalwart who is multiple graded stakes-placed. The lineup also includes graded stakes winner That’s Right; graded-placed stakes winner Smooth B; stakes winner Grooms All Bizness; graded stakes-placed Boat’s a Rockin and Surprise Boss; and stakes-placed Charging and Mid Day Image. Grooms All Bizness is making his first start since August, and also his first start since being gelded.

As one of the partnerships 1/ST Racing has established with international entities, the McKay winner will receive automatic entry into the Group 1 July Cup on July 13 at Newmarket in England, along with a travel stipend.

Apple Picker tops Skipat

Apple Picker won one of Laurel Park’s biggest events earlier this year, and seeks another win on a marquee Maryland program as she goes in the $100,000 Skipat Stakes for female sprinters at six furlongs.

Apple Picker became a stakes winner in September 2023, taking the Weather Vane Stakes at Pimlico. She stepped up a level with a rallying score in the Grade 3 Barbara Fritchie Stakes on Feb. 17 at Laurel. However, in her subsequent outing, she raced evenly throughout and finished fourth in the Grade 3 Distaff Stakes on April 6 at Aqueduct.

Trainer Brittany Russell said she can “draw a line through” the Distaff, which had a relatively slower pace. In the Fritchie, Apple Picker was last of seven with three furlongs remaining following an opening half-mile of 45.32 seconds. At Aqueduct, the opening half was more than two seconds slower, at 47.50 seconds.

“Naturally, she’s a closer, so she’s going to need the right pace,” Russell said. “She’s run well at Pimlico, so maybe getting her back home will be what she needs.”

Apple Picker, who has never run on a wet track, should get her preferred setup as she cuts back from seven furlongs to six, a distance at which she is 2 for 3. Disco Ebo set the pace in the Fritchie before finishing fourth, then bounced back for a front-running score in the Primonetta Stakes. Sweet Shild O Mine set the pace in the Heavenly Cause Stakes last month at Laurel before dropping to fourth. Late Frost and Royal Poppy typically press the pace, and could make the fractions even hotter.

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