Quick Wit Back on Turf in Saranac

In Sunday's 1 1/8-mile, Grade III Saranac at Saratoga Race Course, Quick Wit returns to the grass after winning an off-the-turf running of the Grade 2 National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame on August 10.

Trained by Dale Romans, the son of Sharp Humor won the Hall of Fame by a nose over Csaba following his close-up fifth-place finish in the Grade 3 American Derby on July 14 at Arlington Park.

Romans has a slew of good 3-year-olds that perform well on grass and Quick Wit was the one who found his way to the Saranac.

“It’s been complicated, which is why I had to run three in the [Grade 1] Secretariat [at Arlington],” said Romans, “but there is a lot of good racing for these 3-year-olds, so I’ve been able to split them up a little.”

Of Quick Wit, a winner of three of 10 starts and the 4-1 third choice in the Saranac, Romans said, “He’s been a dirt horse and he’s just turned a turf horse, and he can still run on the dirt. He’s just getting good now. It doesn’t matter. He can go either way.”

Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas will run Bluegrass Hall’s Skyring, who has competed just twice on the grass, winning the James W. Murphy by a neck on Preakness Day and finishing third by a neck in the American Derby behind Romans’ Cozzetti.

“That’s where he belongs and where his best races have been,” said Lukas of Skyring, 6-1 on the morning line. “This is one of the last 3-year-old grass races left.”

Completing the field are 2-1 favorite Lucky Chappy, second last out in the Grade 2 Virginia Derby; multiple stakes-winning New York-bred King Kreesa; Spring to the Sky, who was third behind Summer Front in the Duluth on July 22 at the Spa; multiple stakes-placed Canadian runner Excaper, and Set the Sail, Shkspeare Shaliyah, Unbridled Command and Starforce. Politicallycorrect was entered Main Track Only.