In a series that began Wednesday (here), we’re focusing on the inaugural class of the Maryland Thoroughbred Hall of Fame, whose achievements will be celebrated at Pimlico on Saturday, May 11, prior to the first post.
Our final two inductees are Twixt and Vertex, the former a rock-hard filly who made 70 starts in four years, the latter a brilliant but unsound colt who made his mere 25 starts count.
TWIXT
With Twixt, the Merrymans kept it all in the family.
Bred and by John and Kitty Merryman and owned by them in partnership with Mrs. John Franklin, Twixt was broken by their son Edwin Merryman and trained by their daughter, Katy Merryman Voss, who was also the exercise rider.
Family businesses don’t always work out, but Twixt was a family affair that worked for everyone. Sired by Restless Native out of the Quarter Deck mare Eveleen, Twixt won 18 stakes among her 26 career victories, earned more than $600,000, and finished her career as the top Maryland-bred mare by earnings and the top Maryland-bred of either sex by stakes wins.
Twixt, on the outside, gets up to win the Milady at Hollywood Park. Photo from Maryland Thoroughbred Hall of Fame.
Twixt didn’t reach the races until her three year-old season, but she made up for lost time. In her four racing years, she never made fewer than 16 starts or won fewer than two stakes. She earned at least $76,000 each year, with her last three years all topping $100,000. Though her five year-old season may have been financially and statistically her best — with four graded stakes wins and over $200,000 in earnings — she earned her long Grade I triumph as a six year-old, in the Top Flight.
She won one or another Maryland-bred championship all four years of her career, including back-to-back Maryland-bred Horse of the Year awards in 1973 and 1974. Twixt’s life ended where it began, at the Merryman’s Orebanks Farm.
Learn more at the Maryland Thoroughbred Hall of Fame website.
VERTEX
Vertex wasn’t the soundest of horses — but, when sound, could he ever run.
A son of The Rhymer out of the Case Ace mare Kanace, Vertex was another family affair. He was bred by Frank Piarulli, owned by him in partnership with J.J. Brunetti, and trained by his son Joe Piarulli. Vertex won 17 of his 25 career starts and earned north of $450,000.
From the fall of 1958 until May 1959 — when an injury ended his career — Vertex made his case for top handicap horse in the country. Indeed, turf writer Joe Estes opined, “Vertex left
Vertex, said one writer, had no rival “on the morning side of the Rocky Mountains.” Photo from Maryland Thoroughbred Hall of Fame.
horsemen wondering what he might have done if he had been sound. . . what he lacked in soundness and good luck was compensated by his class and courage. . . At the end of May, when an injury terminated his career, he had no rival on the morning side of the Rocky Mountains.”
During that stretch, Vertex won nine of 10 starts, including the Pimlico Special, John B. Campbell, and Gulfstream Park.
In his last two races, he was saddled with 130+ pound imposts, conceding all of his rivals at least 11 pounds, yet prevailed in both. After the second, the Camden Handicap at Garden State, he returned lame and never raced again.
Vertex retired to stud and in his second crop sired Lucky Debonair, Kentucky Derby winner and Big ‘Cap champion.
Learn more at the Maryland Thoroughbred Hall of Fame website.
(Featured photo is Twixt recording her 18th and final stakes victory, in the Geisha at Pimlico. Photo by Double J Photography.)
