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America’s Day At The Races Plans Weeklong Coverage Of Belmont Park, Churchill Downs

America's Day at the Races, the acclaimed national telecast produced by the New York Racing Association, Inc. (NYRA) in partnership with FOX Sports, will air 25 hours of coverage Thursday through Tuesday, with stakes action from Belmont Park, Churchill Downs and Santa Anita Park.

Presented by America's Best Racing and Claiborne Farm, America's Day at the Races will broadcast live racing action this week, including a special half-hour show on Tuesday, June 1 from 11-11:30 a.m. that will air the draw for the 153rd running of the Grade 1, $1.5 million Belmont Stakes presented by NYRA Bets on Saturday, June 5.

Broadcast schedule for America's Day at the Races (all times Eastern):

Thursday, May 27
FS2: 5 – 8:30 p.m.

Friday, May 28
FS2: 12:30 – 5:30 p.m.

Saturday, May 29
FS2: 12:30 – 6 p.m.

Sunday, May 30
Bally Sports SoCal: 3 – 5:30 p.m.
FS2: 4 – 4:30 p.m.

Monday, May 31
FS2: 12:30- 8:30 p.m.

Tuesday, June 1
FS2: 11-11:30 a.m. [Draw for the Grade 1 Belmont Stakes presented by NYRA Bets]

Thursday will feature Churchill's eight-race evening card from the Louisville, Kentucky track, offering a 5 p.m. first post. Belmont Park will not conduct racing on Thursday.

Friday will see live racing action at both Belmont and Churchill, and the two tracks will also offer compelling Saturday slates, with the Grade 2, $200,000 Pennine Ridge for 3-year-olds and up going 1 1/8 miles on the turf highlighting the Belmont card. Churchill's packed Saturday card will feature the Grade 3, $125,000 Matt Winn for 3-year-olds going 1 1/16 miles; the Grade 3, $125,000 Regret for 3-year-old fillies at 1 1/8 miles on the turf; the $125,000 Aristides for 4-year-olds and up sprinting six furlongs; the $125,000 Blame for 4-year-olds and up going 1 1/8 miles; the $125,000 Shawnee for fillies and mares 4-years-old and up contested at 1 1/16 miles; the $100,000 Audubon for sophomores going 1 1/8 miles on the turf; and the $100,000 Douglas Park for 4-year-olds and up.

Sunday will see the $100,000 Paradise Creek for sophomores competing at seven furlongs on the Belmont turf.

A special Memorial Day Monday card at Belmont will feature New York Breeders' Showcase Day, offering six stakes races for New York-breds. A pair of $200,000 races – the Commentator for 3-year-olds and up going one mile and the Critical Eye for fillies and mares 3-years-old and up going the same distance, highlight the card. Other stakes for state-breds will include the $125,000 Mike Lee for sophomores going seven furlongs; the $125,000 Mount Vernon for older fillies and mares at one mile on the turf; he $125,000 Kingston for 4-year-olds and up on the turf; and the $125,000 Bouwerie for sophomore fillies going seven furlongs.

Monday's telecast will also feature live coverage of a trio of graded stakes from Santa Anita Park, including the Grade 1, $300,000 Shoemaker Mile on the turf for 3-year-olds and up; the Grade 1, $300,000 Gamely at nine furlongs on the turf for fillies and mares 3-years-old and up; and the Grade 3 Hollywood Gold Cup at 1 1/4-miles for 3-year-olds and up.

Tuesday's half-hour show will air the draw for the Belmont Stakes presented by NYRA Bets, the third leg of the Triple Crown known as the “Test of the Champion” for its famed 1 1/2-mile distance. Among the expected entrants for the American Classic is Grade 1 Preakness-winner Rombauer, Eclipse Award-champion 2-year-old Essential Quality and Grade 2 Louisiana Derby-winner Hot Rod Charlie. The draw will take place from Belmont Park.

America's Day at the Races is also broadcast on NYRA's YouTube channel which boasts more than 70,000 subscribers. Fans can subscribe to NYRA's channel and set a reminder to watch the show on YouTube Live. NYRA's YouTube channel also hosts a plethora of race replays, special features, America's Day at the Races replays and more.

Free Equibase-provided past performances are available for races that are part of the America's Day at the Races broadcast and can be accessed at https://www.nyra.com/belmont/racing/tv-schedule.

NYRA Bets is the official wagering platform of Belmont Park, and the best way to bet every race of the spring/summer meet. Available to horseplayers nationwide, the NYRA Bets app is available for download today on iOS and Android at www.NYRABets.com.

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‘More Ups Than Downs’: Jockey Xavier Perez Nearing 1,000-Win Milestone

Maryland-based jockey Xavier Perez is closing in on his 1,000th career victory, not that the popular and personable rider needs a reminder.

“I've been counting,” Perez, 33, said. “I told my wife, 'Look I'm getting close. It's coming. It's coming.' She was like, 'Don't start thinking about it.' So I said, 'I'm superstitious and I'm going to count it because I've been counting since I had 50 left and it's been working out for me.”

According to Equibase statistics, the count stands at 995 wins with mounts in four of nine races when live action returns to historic Pimlico Race Course Friday to kick off a Memorial Day weekend program that includes a special holiday card Monday, May 31. Perez also had one mount in Delaware Park's 10th race finale Wednesday.

Perez would be the second jockey to reach 1,000 wins in Maryland this year, following Carol Cedeno Jan. 2 at Laurel Park. Perez and Cedeno grew up together in Puerto Rico and were classmates at the country's famed Escuela Vocacional Hipica, graduating in 2006 and beginning their professional careers in 2007.

“We are childhood friends. It meant a lot to me that she got that milestone, and now that I'm getting close to it I'm getting anxious. I just want to do it,” Perez said. “A thousand wins is a big milestone. It means a lot for every rider in the country and the world.”

Perez rode the winter and spring of 2007 in Puerto Rico before coming to the U.S. that summer, registering his first career winner aboard Danger Quest Aug. 25, 2007 at Charles Town, where another former classmate, Arnaldo Bocachica, had urged him to start.

“He is one of my best friends and he contacted me when I started riding. He told me he was talking to his agent and was telling him about me,” Perez said. “He said I didn't have to bring anything, just my tack. I had a place to stay and a fresh start. That meant a lot. I'm blessed that he's in my life. He's been an amazing brother and amazing friend to me.”

Represented by agent J.D. Brown, Perez rode 3 ½ years at Charles Town – winning the $500,000 West Virginia Breeders' Cup Classic in 2010 with 57-1 long shot Sea Rescue – before moving to Maryland at the start of 2011. That fall, he won a total of 32 races for 20 different trainers at Laurel with an average win mutuel of $14.75.

The first big horse of Perez's career was Susan Wantz's Dance to Bristol, trained by Ollie Figgins III. During the winter, spring and summer of 2013 they won seven consecutive races including the Skipat at Pimlico, Bed o'Roses (G3) at Belmont Park, and Honorable Miss (G2) and Ballerina (G1) at Saratoga – the jockey's first graded triumphs. They would end the year finishing sixth in the Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint (G1) at Santa Anita.

Perez's most memorable ride came earlier that year, gaining national attention for a mid-April trip aboard Spicer Cub that saw the gelding blow Pimlico's far turn while on the lead, then bolt suddenly to the outside fence and around the parked starting gate before making a mad dash to the wire and finishing second by a nose. Perez lost both his irons in the process.

“That pushed me to have the campaign that I had. After Spicer Cub, a lot of trainers and owners were asking for me, and me and my agent were really busy. We were going to New York, Monmouth Park, Philadelphia, Colonial Downs, Charles Town. We were riding everywhere on the East Coast. It was a great year,” Perez said. “Still people talk about it. It makes me feel good. I got famous for something that was crazy. It was a jump start for me.”

Perez finished 2013 with 133 wins and $3.8 million in purse earnings, both of which remain career highs. He won his last graded-stakes with Bandbox in the 2014 General George (G3) at Laurel, and in recent years has been part of a formidable team with trainer John 'Jerry' Robb that has put him aboard multiple stakes winners Anna's Bandit and Street Lute as well as Anna's Bandit's 2-year-old half-sister, Bandits Warrior, a debut winner May 23 at Pimlico.

Street Lute has raced 10 times with seven wins, six in stakes, and Perez has been aboard for each of her last seven races including five of her stakes victories. Anna's Bandit owns 17 wins from 36 starts and Perez has accounted for 14 of her wins and 10 of her 11 stakes triumphs, riding in 30 of her last 31 races.

“Dance to Bristol was a special horse to me because it gave me my first graded races,” Perez said. “I didn't have the chance to get on her in the morning like I do with these three mares. I'm there at 5:30 in the morning with Jerry's horses. I take my time with Anna. I take my time with Street Lute. I take my time with Bandits Warrior, and it's paying off. It means so much to me to get the chance to ride such amazing animals.”

Perez had 58 wins in Maryland in a coronavirus pandemic-shortened 2020, 41 of them in 157 starts (26 percent) for Robb – the most of any jockey-trainer combination on the year – including Robb's 2,000th career victory with Stroll Smokin at Laurel. This year they are 19-for-63 (30 percent) together at Laurel and Pimlico.

“He's at the barn every morning, he's getting on them, he knows the horses. I think that means a lot, especially with young horses,” Robb said. “He gets on all the horses. He doesn't get on them all every day, but he gets on all of them at one time or another and he knows them. I think that plays a big role in it.”

Other top horses for Perez have included multiple stakes winners Sensible Lady and Talk Show Man and 2015 Maryland Million Distaff winner Lionhearted Lady. Perez's mounts have earned more than $25.6 million in purses.

“It would mean so much if I get to do it in Maryland, because the people in Maryland have been so great to me,” Perez said. “I have to say thanks to all the trainers that have supported me, riding me the 11 wonderful years I've been in Maryland. My agent has always been right there with me keeping me on the right path. He knows me well. Jerry and the whole team, they've been so amazing to me. They are like family to me. Me and my wife are so blessed and thankful to have such great people around us. I hope it stays like that for a while.”

Perez credits his wife, Jessica, for helping his maturity on and off the track. They met in 2009 when she was ponying the horse he was riding to the starting gate at Colonial Downs and have been together since.

“Thank God I have my wife beside me, 24-7. She's always supported me and she never lets me get too down when I have bad days,” Perez said. “It's been a great journey. There's been ups and downs, but there's been more ups than downs and I'm just grateful for that.”

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Bloodlines: Northern Dancer’s Small Stature And Long Shadow

There is much to be said for pausing and considering how much the sport and the breed owes to the great sire Northern Dancer (by Nearctic).

The great little bay, who stood 15.1 hands when he was feeling especially perky, was foaled 60 years ago, on May 27, 1961, and he overcame every barrier placed before him by nature or man.

Northern Dancer, it was said, was too small a yearling to be much good; he was a May foal and would need a lot of time to be any good; he was too small to be a classic horse; he did not have the pedigree to race effectively at 10 furlongs; he was too small to make a stallion; he was foaled in the wrong country; he was by an unimportant sire; he was standing in the wrong place to have a chance to succeed at stud.

With a toss of his dramatically striped head and a flourish of his thick, black tail, Northern Dancer proved all those comments wrong. Every one.

A winner in 14 of his 18 starts, Northern Dancer had a first-rate race record, but there have been horses with even more exemplary records who were, shall we say, less successful at stud. To the contrary, Northern Dancer was even more successful, even more influential, and even more pervasive as an influence at stud.

The greatest of the good sons by Nearctic, Northern Dancer was too big to stay in Canada; mares needed access to the horse, and owner-breeder E.P. Taylor obliged by developing Windfields Farm in Maryland, which became for a time the most important breeding operation in the world due to one stallion.

The demand for the offspring of Northern Dancer had to be seen to be believed, and in the sultry weather of the July select yearling sales in Kentucky especially, the money that his stock would bring in the heady days of the 1980s bloodstock boom would make anyone swoon.

And, if a single offspring of Northern Dancer would be chosen as the wellspring of the sire's reputation and the early star of his importance to the breed, that colt would be Nijinsky.

A big, stretchy bay rather unlike his sire, Nijinsky sold as a select yearling at the Ontario yearling sale in 1968. He was from his sire's second crop and was yet an excellent representative of the Northern Dancer type in body mass and racing enthusiasm.

Trained by Vincent O'Brien and racing for Charles Engelhard, Nijinsky won his first 11 races, including the only English Triple Crown from Bahram's in 1935 to the present. That the dashing, grand colt lost his last two races was unfortunate, but it wasn't the end of the world. Nijinsky retired, as planned, to stud at Claiborne Farm and became Northern Dancer's first great son at stud.

Many others followed, and that in itself is the greatest anomaly in all the exceptions to the norm that Northern Dancer flouted.

Even very good sires rarely get more than one really good son to carry on their male-line, but Northern Dancer had at least a half-dozen very high-class sons. In addition to Nijinsky, Northern Dancer's important sons included Sadler's Wells, Lyphard, Nureyev, The Minstrel, Vice Regent, Northern Taste, Storm Bird, and Danzig. If any of those are objectionable, there are others to fill their spot, such as Dixieland Band, El Gran Senor, Try My Best, Northfields, and Northern Baby.

Son after son sired a champion, a classic winner, or winners at the level in racing around the world.

Yet for all that transformative genetic energy, only a handful of those sons have bred on to the present, as the breed has regressed to the norm of typically only one or no successful sire to carry on for a very important stallion.

Of all the Northern Dancer sons, those male lines today that stand strongest are through Sadler's Wells (especially Galileo), Storm Bird (the Storm Cat crowd, especially Into Mischief today), and Danzig.

The latter is the male-line source through Green Desert for Helvic Dream (Power), winner of the Group 1 Tattersalls Gold Cup at the Curragh over the weekend. Danzig is also source of the broodmare sire line through Danehill, and there are four other Northern Dancer lines in the pedigree of Helvic Dream. Lyphard through the great racer Dancing Brave and Lomond through his G2-winning daughter Inchmurrin do their part, and Nijinsky is twice in the pedigree, first through his son Green Dancer and then through the third dam of Helvic Dream, the winning Cascassi, who is a half-sister to Diminuendo (Diesis), winner of the English, Irish, and Yorkshire Oaks, all G1.

From the perspective of history, the more Northern Dancer we find in a pedigree, the better. Genetically, he's as close as we've come in breeding to something that's all good.

So on this May 27, take moment. Heave a sigh. Think of past glories and the little bay horse who could.

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Longtime Fasig-Tipton Auctioneer Steve Dance Passes At Age 78

Steve Dance, a senior member of Fasig-Tipton's auction team for five decades, passed away suddenly on Tuesday morning, May 25, at his home in Jarrettsville, MD, he shared with his wife Nancy. He was in his seventy-eighth year and it was suspected he suffered a massive heart attack. Steve worked until the last day of his life and the many sellers and buyers at Fasig-Tipton's 2-year-old sale, just a week ago in Timonium, MD, would have seen him plying his lifelong trade in the auction stand at Timonium in his beloved home state.

Hiram “Steve” Dance was born in 1943 in the small, country town of Towson, just a few miles north of Baltimore. The then-struggling Thoroughbred auction company, Fasig-Tipton, in the late 1940's had appointed Humphrey Finney, another Towson resident, as its president. Although Finney left Towson in 1953, Steve's uncle, “Laddie” Dance, Humphrey's son John Finney and Larry Ensor, all subsequent luminaries at Fasig-Tipton and all “Towsonites,” befriended the younger Steve and found a variety of jobs for him at a rapidly expanding number of the company's nationwide auctions.

Honing his horse auction skills under the likes of George Swinebroad, Laddie Dance and Ralph Retler was a daunting task but Steve's hard work, reliability and enthusiasm paid off and he became a full-time auctioneer and bid spotter for the company in 1972.

From that time forward, Steve did not miss a single Fasig-Tipton auction in a career which lasted for an enviable fifty years.

But the glamor and celebrity of the Thoroughbred world did not monopolize Steve as it did with many of his peers. Again, until the day he died, Steve owned and operated the company founded by his grandfather in 1912, the Milton J Dance Auction Company. From the company's present base in Towson, Steve sold everything from pots and pans, to antiques, to multi-million dollar mansions. And, if there was such a thing as spare time, he traveled the length and breadth of the country selling and bid-spotting at celebrated motorcycle auctions from Daytona, FL to Sturgis, ND.

His “metier” was undoubtedly the Thoroughbred horse, but his passion was motorcycles – BMW motorcycles to be precise. Steve was a riding encyclopedia of BMW bikes and owned up to 20 at a time in his busiest years. He rode them all over North America – Alaska to New York to Florida. He converted me to BMW's in the mid 1980's and, without question, our ride together from the two-year-old sale in Miami to the two-year-old sale in Dallas was the greatest road trip two friends could make.

Steve found great happiness in later life, when, in 2011, he married his soul-mate and loving companion Nancy, who survives him in Jarrettsville, MD. Steve is also survived by his two daughters Erica and Whitney, his son Lee, step-daughter with Nancy, Layne, and three brothers, Andy, Scott and Tom.

Notice of funeral arrangements will follow.

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