Witty victorious in the Jim McKay Turf Sprint May 17 at Pimlico (Jim McCue/Maryland Jockey Club)
Keith McCalmont/NYRA Press Office
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – The well-traveled Witty will make his first visit to Saratoga Race Course when he looks to double up on stakes scores in Friday’s Listed $150,000 Harvey Pack, a 5 1/2-furlong Mellon turf sprint for older horses on Day Two of the July 4th Racing Festival.
The Harvey Pack is slated as Race 11 on a stacked Independence Day card headlined by the Grade 1, $750,000 Belmont Derby Invitational in Race 9. The program is supported by the Grade 2, $400,000 Suburban presented by Subourbon in Race 10; the Grade 3, $200,000 Manila in Race 8; and the Listed $150,000 Schuylerville in Race 2. First post is 1:10 p.m. Eastern. Statistics for the 37-day Belmont at the Big A spring/summer meet will include the July 4th Racing Festival at Saratoga Race Course.
Bred, trained and co-owned by Elizabeth Merryman in partnership with Qatar Racing and Marc Detampel, the Pennsylvania-bred Witty, a 6-year-old Great Notion gelding out of the Congrats mare Zeezee Zoomzoom, is a half-brother to dual Grade 1-winning millionaire Caravel [26-15-1-3, $1,983,327].
Witty [post 10, Dylan Davis, 124 pounds] has banked $801,782 via a 31-10-11-1 record that has seen the hard-knocking grey win at four of the 10 tracks he has visited. He arrives from a rallying 3 1/4-length score in the Listed Jim McKay Turf Sprint on May 17 at Pimlico Race Course where he overcame a troubled start to close from last-of-7 and 11 lengths off the pace over good going in the five-furlong sprint. The winning effort registered a 94 Beyer Speed Figure – just two points shy of his career-best 96 from a runner-up effort in last year’s Grade 2 Highlander at Woodbine.
“He always breaks slowly and comes running late,” Merryman said. “He usually fires but once in a while he doesn’t if the turf is firm. He’s never been the quickest leaving the gate. There was a lot of speed at Pimlico and the turf was very soft so that definitely played into his hand.”
Witty will make his first foray to Saratoga – where his sister, Caravel, captured the 2021 Grade 3 Caress and 2022 Listed Smart N Fancy. Merryman said Witty should have no trouble handling the tight turns at Saratoga due to the similarity with Pimlico where the grey has a 4-2-2-0 record, including a win in the restricted Ben’s Cat in 2023 and a close runner-up effort in last year’s Listed Jim McKay Turf Sprint.
“I think he should be OK there, Pimlico has fairly tight turns also,” Merryman said. “He’ll like it if it has some give – the softer the better for Witty, he doesn’t like it hard.”
Witty has alternated through periods of racing with blinkers. He first added them in July 2023 and utilized them for an eight-race stretch that included four wins, ending with his runner-up effort in the 2024 Jim McKay. He then went four winless outings without blinkers before successfully returning to the equipment in November.
“I like to change it up with him sometimes. I think blinkers helps them get away a little bit better,” Merryman said. “When he was a 3-year-old, he almost lost an eye at Parx so after that I put the blinkers on because he seemed happier in them with the protection. Last year, in the Jim McKay, I felt like he didn’t see the horse coming on the outside, so I took them off for a bit. But I decided he was needing focus again, so I put them back on.”
Merryman said the hard-trying Witty is a barn favorite and noted that a half-brother will be available at the upcoming Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Yearling Sale.
“Witty is just a lovely, eye-catching horse with a lot of class and a lot of personality. He’s very cool,” Merryman said. “He has a lovely half-brother that is going to be in the Saratoga yearling sale by Justify – he’s bay, not grey, and a big, rangy horse but one of the most beautiful movers I’ve ever seen.”
KatieRich Stables, Christopher Connors and Lawrence Appel’s dual stakes-winning New York homebred Works for Me [post 6, Flavien Prat, 122 pounds] will look to double up on turf sprint scores at Saratoga for trainer Joe Lee.
The 4-year-old Daddy Long Legs chestnut picked up his first career stakes win over the Aqueduct Racetrack main track with a head score in the state-bred Notebook in November 2023. He has focused mainly on turf racing since led by a dead-heat for the win with Alogon when facing elders in the Listed Aqueduct Turf Sprint Championship in November to close out his sophomore campaign.
Works for Me has done little wrong in two starts against open optional-claiming company this year, matching up 92 Beyers in a pair of game efforts. He missed by a nose to returning rival Felix in his May 4 seasonal debut at Belmont at the Big A sprinting six furlongs over the outer turf.
Last out, with returning rider Flavien Prat up, he posted a troubled half-length score over course and distance on June 6 where he stumbled at the start and bumped with a rival before being steadied inside the five-furlong marker. Prat angled Works for Me to the inside for the stretch run and bravely surged through a hole to make the front, while holding off a pair of deep-closing rivals to secure the win.
“I was really pleased with how he ran. He ran really well,” Lee said. “I was pleased to see not just his heart and determination, but also just how he ran. He lengthened his stride when he made the front, and I was really pleased. His stride, his movement, his action, all looked to be doing really well to me.”
Works for Me had been under consideration for the state-bred Ashley T. Cole won by Senbei on Saturday at the Big A.
“The Harvey Pack was to give him a little more time in between races,” Lee said. “We would’ve loved to run in the Ashley Cole, but the timing is just better to wait the extra week. This is racing month to month, instead of right back, in other words.
“He definitely is much bigger and stronger this year,” Lee added. “He has filled out a lot, which is kind of what we were hoping for from ages three to four, so I’m really pleased with his physical development. He has matured from three to four, really filled out.”
Works for Me, out of the winning Soldat mare Bella’s Game, has banked $388,955 via a 15-5-3-3 record.
Live Oak Plantation’s Florida homebred Bring Theband Home [post 9, Javier Castellano, 122 pounds] could be the one to show the way in this event for Hall of Fame trainer Mark Casse.
The 5-year-old Into Mischief gelding demonstrated blistering pace in a gate-to-wire state-bred optional-claiming score last January at Gulfstream Park when leading through splits of 20.61 seconds and 42.75 over firm footing en route to a 1 3/4-length score over stakes-winner Xy Speed in a final time of 54.20 for five furlongs.
Bring Theband Home was last seen finishing a neck second in a five-furlong turf allowance on May 1 at Gulfstream Park won by multiple stakes-placed Extendo, who subsequently ran sixth in the Grade 1 Jaipur here.
Casse said Bring Theband Home, who won an optional-claiming event here over course and distance last August, has trained well out of his most recent outing.
“He ran well in his last start. He’s run well already at Saratoga – he won at 5 1/2-furlongs, so we’ll give him a shot,” Casse said.
Bring Theband Home is out of the Street Cry mare Tizatude, a half-sister to Grade 1-winning millionaire Paynter. His second dam, Tizso, is a full-sister to Hall of Famer Tiznow.
A stacked field includes Grade 2-winner Our Shot [post 2, Luis Saez, 126 pounds] for trainer John Terranova; the Linda Rice-conditioned Surveillance [post 3, Kendrick Carmouche, 126 pounds, blinkers ON], a two-time turf winner, who captured an off-the-turf running of the Troy last year at Saratoga that was downgraded to a Grade 3; dual graded stakes-placed Axthelm [post 8, Jose Ortiz, 122 pounds] for trainer Saffie Joseph, Jr.; graded stakes-placed Outlaw Kid [post 5, Manny Franco, 122 pounds] for trainer George Weaver; stakes-winner Mattingly [post 4, Frankie Dettori], who goes to bat for trainer Joe Orseno; dual stakes-placed American Monarch [post 11, Jose Lezcano, 122 pounds] for Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott; stakes-placed Mischievous Angel [post 1, Irad Ortiz, Jr., 122 pounds] for conditioner Jorge Abreu; and recent allowance winner Felix [post 7, John Velazquez, 122 pounds], who makes his stakes debut for trainer Tom Morley. Antonio of Venice is entered for the main-track only.
