Witty winning the 2023 MM Sprint. (Jim McCue/MJC)
In $100,000 Maryland Million Turf Sprint
Band Camp Chasing First Stakes Win in $100,000 Sprint
Champions, Stakes Winners Line Up in $100,000 Distaff
David Joseph/Maryland Jockey Club
LAUREL, Md. – Already a three-time stakes winner on both grass and dirt, 5-year-old gelding Witty can become just the second member of an exclusive club by capturing Saturday’s $100,000 Maryland Million Turf Sprint at Laurel Park.
The 5 ½-furlong Turf Sprint for 3-year-olds and up is the ninth of eight stakes and four starter stakes on the 39th Jim McKay Maryland Million program and the last of five scheduled for the Dahlia turf course layout. First race post time is 11:30 a.m.
Bred and trained by Elizabeth Merryman, who also shares ownership with Qatar Racing and Marc Detampel, Witty is looking to join late Mid-Atlantic legend Ben’s Cat as the only repeat winner of the Turf Sprint. First run in 2004, it was suspended from 2013-19 after Ben’s Cat dominated the race three straight years (2010-12) and returned to the Maryland Million lineup in 2020.
Witty shares a unique connection with Ben’s Cat, a multiple graded-stakes winner of 32 races, 26 stakes and more than $2.6 million in purses that died of complications from colic surgery at age 11 in 2017. Witty’s first turf stakes victory came in the 2023 Ben’s Cat at historic Pimlico Race Course and he opened 2024 by winning Laurel’s King T. Leatherbury, named for Ben’s Cat’s breeder, owner and Hall of Fame trainer.
“My goal is that he stays sound and runs until he’s 9, so we’ll see. He’s a great big, dappled, gray horse, so people see him and think, ‘Oh, wow.’ He’s a big presence,” Merryman said. “Winning this race last year was very special. It would be very special to win it again.”
A younger half-brother to retired Grade 1-winning millionaire mare Caravel, Witty has been first or second in 18 of 25 career starts, eight of them wins, the most recent coming in the Leatherbury. He followed that by finishing second in Pimlico’s Jim McKay Turf Sprint, the June 29 Highlander (G2) at Woodbine and Colonial Downs’ Aug. 11 Van Clief before a disappointing showing in the Kentucky Downs Turf Sprint (G2) Sept. 7 going six furlongs over the unique, European-style course.
“He really didn’t care for it. I don’t think he likes starting downhill, and then when he got so far behind, he had the rough ground on the turn and it was kind of like party over,” Merryman said. “He’s definitely thrown in a few of those clunkers over the years. Hopefully he bounces back.”
Witty rallied from last of 12 to win last year’s Maryland Million Turf Sprint by 1 ¼ lengths as the favorite and is the top choice again on the morning line at odds of 7-5. Jevian Toledo returns to ride from Post 8 in a field of 13 that includes Maryland-bred also-eligible S.S. Sinatra.
“He kind of gives it his all every time,” Merryman said. “I think he likes six furlongs better than the 5 ½, and last year there was a ton of rain on Maryland Million day and the ground was very soft, which kind of works to his favor a little bit. This year it looks like it’s going to be very firm, so I hope he’s OK with that. I think he should be.”
Ken Ramsey’s Whenigettoheaven emerged from a three-way photo for second in last year’s Turf Sprint in third, a neck behind runner-up Tidewater, beaten 1 ½ lengths. The 5-year-old gelding won the Ben’s Cat July 14 at Laurel and exits a three-quarter-length loss when second to Determined Kingdom in the 5 ½-furlong Meadow Stable Handicap Aug. 31 at Colonial.
Joel Politi homebred Bosserati ran third in the 2022 Maryland Million Lassie on dirt and has three wins and three thirds from nine starts on the grass including a victory in last summer’s 5 ½-furlong Stormy Blues at Laurel. Maryland’s champion 3-year-old filly of 2023 has been third in three of her last four stakes attempts, beaten two combined lengths, and will be facing boys for the first time.
Great Idea and Had to Have Him, third and fifth respectfully to Whenigettoheaven in the Ben’s Cat; Fun Notion, Benny Havens, Tiz No Clown, Sue Loves Barbados, Beltane, Blame the Tux and Katie’s Notion complete the field.
Maryland Million Turf Sprint Field
Band Camp Chasing First Stakes Win in $100,000 Sprint
At this time last year, Rising Sun Racing Stables, Inc. and Annette Eubanks’ Band Camp was on the sidelines as his connections opted to give the gelding some time ahead of what they hoped would be a solid 4-year-old campaign.
The 2024 season has been more than they could have imagined. Band Camp is tied for the third-most wins of any horse in the country with seven from 10 starts, having put together a five-race streak from April to August that came up a neck short of being six.
Band Camp, trained by Eubanks and co-owned and bred with her son, Dan, will get a chance to start a new streak in Saturday’s $100,000 Maryland Million Sprint for 3-year-olds and up going six furlongs.
By Grade 3 winner Bandbox, Band Camp won at distances from six furlongs to one mile during his five-race run, snapped when he came up short of Search Engine following a stretch-long duel in a second-level optional claiming allowance Sept. 22 at Laurel. It was his first loss since mid-April and just his second in nine starts.
“I would have liked to have come into it with those six straight wins, but he didn’t miss by much. It is what it is,” Dan Eubanks said. “The Sprint is not an easy race by any chance. All you can do is make sure you prepare your horse and make sure he’s healthy going in and hope for the best.”
Band Camp tuned up for the Sprint by working in company with stablemate Brilliant Ice, who is running in the $150,000 Maryland Million Classic. The two were timed in 48.60 seconds for a half-mile Oct. 5 at Laurel, third-fastest of 51 horses.
“They did a little two-minute lick for a half a mile with Brilliant Ice out front and then we picked it up at the half-mile pole. I said to make sure Band Camp switched leads this time and he got his head out in front by the first wire,” Eubanks said. “Then we eased up on Band Camp and let Brilliant Ice gallop out to the second wire, so they’re both sharp and ready.”
Band Camp went unraced at 2 and was winless in four starts at 3 that included a six-month break between May and December. He has steadily climbed primarily through the claiming ranks, graduating Feb. 16 while in for a $12,500 tag.
“I’ve learned over the years to be patient with the horses, and this is a case where it’s never been more prevalent. We gave him three starts last spring, but he was kind of big and he was a late developer. He bucked shins and he wasn’t good, so we gelded him, turned him out and brought him back. It’s paid unbelievable dividends,” Eubanks said. “The amazing thing is how he’s developed from where he was as a 3-year-old and then coming back and watching him. He’s filled out, he’s grown up and he’s thriving.”
There will be plenty of competition for Band Camp, rated at 6-1 on the morning line, led by the defending Sprint winner, Maryland’s 3-year-old male champion of 2023 and Feb. 17 General George (G3) runner-up Seven’s Eleven, as well as fellow multiple stakes winner Alwaysinahurry, third in the 2022 Sprint; 2023 Maryland Million Nursery winner Catahoula Moon, Maryland’s champion 2-year-old male last year; and 2022 Nursery winner Johnyz From Albany.
Take a Hint and Arden’sluckytobe, the respective 1-2 finishers from Laurel’s March 16 Not For Love; two-time stakes-placed Celtic Contender; Freeze the Fire and My Mamba are also entered. Circle P, winner of the 2023 Maryland Juvenile, is the lone Maryland-bred also-eligible.
Champions, Stakes Winners Line Up in $100,000 Distaff
Eight stakes winners including the Maryland’s champion juvenile filly from each of the past two years are among a highly competitive group of horses entered in the $100,000 Maryland Million Distaff for fillies and mares 3 and up sprinting seven furlongs.
Ronald Harris Parker and Todd Beattie’s Malibu Moonshine was Maryland’s leading 2-year-old filly of 2022 and has three wins from four lifetime starts at Laurel, all in stakes – the 2022 Maryland Juvenile Filly and Gin Talking and Jan. 28 Geisha – for previous trainer Charlton Baker. Bred by Parker, the Bourbon Courage filly was claimed for $25,000 out of an Aug. 29 win at Saratoga.
ZWP Stable, Inc. and Non Stop Stable homebred Malibu Beauty has banked $744,699 winning 12 of 39 starts, six of them stakes. Four of the 6-year-old mare’s stakes wins have come at Laurel, the most recent being the one-mile All Brandy Aug. 18. This will be her fourth time racing in the Distaff, having run second in 2021 and 2022 and sixth last year respectively behind Hello Beautiful, Fille d’Esprit and Intrepid Daydream, all of whom went on to be named Maryland’s champion older female.
Narrow Leaf Farm homebred Miss Harriett sprung a 62-1 upset of the 2023 Maryland Million Lassie in her career debut last fall and has won two stakes this year, the Feb. 24 Wide Country and July 21 Miss Disco, both sprinting seven furlongs at Laurel. She has put together back-to-back front-running victories heading into the Distaff, following the Miss Disco with a 3 ¾-length triumph Sept. 27.
Joanne Shankle-owned and trained Kissedbyanangel was third in the Maryland Million Lassie and won the Maryland Juvenile Filly as the favorite during a 2023 season that ended with the state’s 2-year-old filly championship but is winless in six starts at 3 with two seconds including the March 23 Beyond the Wire. Michael Scheffres’ Mavilus was a popular 3 ½-length winner of the 2022 Maryland Million Distaff Starter Handicap and then upset the 2023 Conniver at odds of 26-1, both at Laurel.
Rounding out the field are stakes winners Bourbon Bon Bay, Foxy Junior and Talk to the Judge; multiple stakes-placed Sheilah’s Warcloud; Mattitude, Spencerian, I’m Gittin There, Brzina and Binnie, a winner of three of her four starts including both this year. Maryland-breds on the also-eligible list are Bella Bettina and I Can Do It.
Maryland Million Distaff Field
