''Because El Bee Dee is my favourite horse, I'd have to pick him.''
But to be fair, the 9yr-old, who is set for start 112 today in the rating 75 1600m, is racing like an excitable 3yr-old.
McKay even went one year younger when he reflected on the gelding's recent form.
''He's like a 2yr-old,'' McKay said.
''We didn't know how much longer we were going to go at the start of this campaign. But he's put in in every race that he's been in.''
The son of Danzighill has been schooling over fences to mix up his work and the results started to show with a bold run behind Vaporetto at Ashburton last Friday.
''A lot of people would say he's not the best jumper in the world, but he actually enjoys plodding over a few jumps,'' McKay said.
''I've never seen him pull so hard in a race like he did at Ashburton the other day. He just wanted to be there and do his best and the undoing was probably how hard he pulled.''
The heavy10 track at Timaru is not a concern for El Bee Dee, who has won nine of his 11 races on rain-affected ground. His full sister, Miss El Bee Dee (race 3), also flourishes in the wet.
The 7yr-old mare is up to 72 starts once the gates open at 1.25pm today.
''She doesn't know she's had that many starts,'' McKay said.
''She's as tough as the day is long - she went a good honest race at Ashburton [for second behind Gunnadoo]. She was beaten fair and square but she still beat the rest of them.''
McKay's other runner, Mary Burke, has enjoyed a short break after an eighth at Ashburton on March 14.
''We freshened her up and she's back to her pet distance of 1200m.
''She seems to be happy enough. If she gets through the track, and I think she will, we'll see what happens.''
Quest continues
Auckland jockey Matthew Cameron's quest for a national jockeys' premiership continues when he jumps aboard eight mounts at Timaru.
Cameron is on 114 wins for the season, five ahead of Mark Du Plessis.
His agent, Mike Brown, said Cameron had put in a concerted effort to make up a deficit following seven weeks off with an injured knee after the Auckland Cup carnival in early March.
''I think he was leading the premiership by 10, and after the seven weeks I think Du Plessis had got four in front of him, so he's done bloody well to be back leading by five now.
''Matt was very keen to go hard this month. In recent years, it's come down to the last month and it's just win for win.
''If he can get the winners up on the board now, it gives him a break going into the last couple of months.''
The constant trips to the South Island for Friday meetings this month paid immediate dividends when Cameron rode three winners at Ashburton last week, including two for Waikuku trainers Michael and Tarsha Stokes.
''They have been very good to us.
''When we told them Matt was keen to do the next three or four weeks of Fridays, they told us they had a really good team.''
Brown thought Satanya (race 7) was the best of Cameron's eight rides after an ''enormous'' fifth at Ashburton last week.
''It was a big effort to finish as close as it did.''
