Liz Merryman. (MJC Photo)
Breeder of Three-Time Dirt and Turf Stakes Winner Witty
David Joseph/Maryland Jockey Club
LAUREL, Md. – Largely thanks to her 5-year-old Grade 2-placed homebred Witty, a three-time stakes winner at Laurel Park, owner-trainer Elizabeth Merryman is a finalist to win a second straight national award from the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association.
Merryman, a member of one of Maryland’s most successful, diverse and respected racing families that spans generations, joins Joe Fafone and Amy Moore as finalists for TOBA’s 2023 National Small Breeder of the Year.
Based at the Fair Hill Training Center in Elkton, Md., Merryman was also named Pennsylvania’s champion breeder for 2022 at the ceremony held annually the following fall. TOBA’s 39th Awards Dinner is scheduled for Sept. 7 in Lexington, Ky.
“I was really excited last year to go down and participate,” Merryman said. “I was really floored to win. I was the top breeder for the state of Pennsylvania, and they tell you that ahead of time, but [the national] one they just announce that you’re a finalist and they only announce the winner at the dinner. I was thrilled. It was really fun.”
Merryman’s national TOBA award came on the strength of Caravel, who won five stakes in 2022, three graded, capped by the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint (G1) at Keeneland. The Mizzen Mast mare was retired following the 2023 Breeders’ Cup with 15 wins and $1.98 million in purse earnings from 26 starts.
“She’s in England now and she’s in foal to Frankel, so that will be great for the family, too. It’s very exciting,” Merryman said. “I remember when I shipped her out to Presque Isle Downs myself when she won the [2020 Lady Erie] and I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, this going to do so much for my mare’s pedigree,’ and then she became a Breeders’ Cup winner. She was a really incredible filly that could beat the boys like she did multiple times.”
Also, out of the mare Zeezee Zoomzoom, Witty is Caravel’s younger half-brother. He had three wins and five seconds from 11 starts in 2023, facing stakes company seven times with victories in the Ben’s Cat at historic Pimlico Race Course and Laurel’s Maryland Million Turf Sprint last fall.
“The mare has been pretty amazing,” Merryman said. “She’s definitely a dream come true kind of mare. All her babies come out just big and gorgeous and correct. They’re really cool horses.”
Overall Witty owns three stakes wins each on grass and dirt, including Laurel’s April 20 King T. Leatherbury in his 2024 season opener. He has been second in three straight subsequent stakes – Pimlico’s Jim McKay Turf Sprint May 18, the Highlander (G2) June 29 at Woodbine and Van Clief Aug. 11 at Colonial Downs.
“He ran very well the other day,” Merryman said. “He is a character. He is such a cool horse. We love him.”
Merryman is pointing Witty to the $2 million Turf Sprint (G2), a ‘Win and You’re In’ qualifier for the Breeders’ Cup, going six furlongs at Kentucky Downs Sept. 7 – the same day as the TOBA Awards Dinner, approximately a three-hour drive away.
“I have a little conflict this year which is kind of stressing me out. Witty is supposed to run at Kentucky Downs that same day,” Merryman said. “I really think he’ll like the six furlongs and the uphill stretch and all that. Hopefully that gives him the added ground he needs, but you never know. It’s going to be such a tough race. You’ve got horses that want to go longer trying to shorten up and horses who want to run shorter trying to stretch out. It’s kind of hard to tell what’ll happen, but we’re going to give it a go.”
Merryman is the youngest of six children from late multiple stakes-winning breeders and owners John and Kitty Merryman, all but one of which became trainers. Other six-figure earners she bred include Incisive Strike, who banked $325,597 in 57 starts; 12-time winner Scarlet’s Number, who raced 67 times; Kitty’s Right and Quick Thinking.
