A celebration of life for Steve Dance, a senior member of Fasig-Tipton’s auction team for five decades, will be held 1 p.m. June 16 at the sales pavilion at the Maryland State Fairgrounds in Timonium.

Dance died at his home in his native Maryland on May 25 at age 78. He had worked the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic 2-year-olds in training sale at the Timonium pavilion just a week prior. Dance became a full-time auctioneer and bid spotter for the company in 1972, and did not miss a single Fasig-Tipton auction over the ensuing nearly half-century.

Front and center on John Fradkin’s Twitter profile is a quote: Everyone should make at least one bet every day; otherwise, you might be walking around lucky and not even know it.

Fradkin has gotten plenty lucky with his bets, both as a handicapper, which was his introduction to the sport of racing, and as an owner and breeder with his wife, Diane. Most recently, a series of lucky breaks over the last year led to the Fradkins campaigning homebred Rombauer to a victory in the Preakness Stakes. The colt looks to add another classic in the Belmont Stakes this Saturday.

Nearly a decade ago, foes Byrama and Charm the Maker made up the exacta in a turf sprint stakes in California. On the opposite side of the country this Saturday, their sons Known Agenda and Rock Your World will meet again in the Belmont Stakes, going 1 1/2 miles on dirt.

Frosted’s first crop of runners is led by multiple graded stakes winner Travel Column, who goes in Saturday’s Grade 1 Acorn Stakes on Saturday at Belmont Park. But the young Darley sire’s second Northern Hemisphere crop has gotten off to a flying start, and it’s that group who could kick-start the weekend at Belmont for their sire, as Baytown Frosty goes in the Tremont Stakes on Friday afternoon.

Tapit is the most successful sire in the modern history of the Belmont Stakes, with three winners of the oldest and longest American classic. As he continues to build his legacy, he will be represented in this Saturday’s renewal with Eclipse Award champion juvenile Essential Quality, who was fourth in the Kentucky Derby.

An Essential Quality win would give Tapit a fourth victory in the Belmont, tying Lexington, one of the greatest stallions in history, for the all-time record.

The stellar broodmare Devine Actress recorded her third graded stakes winner when her son Award Winner, a homebred for John and Jerry Amerman’s Amerman Racing, posted a head upset victory in the Grade 2 Charles Whittingham Stakes at Santa Anita.

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Candy Ride, a perennial leading sire represented by multiple Eclipse Award champions, has accomplished much in his stud career. One of the few things he has yet to check off is siring an American classic winner, and he will get another chance this Saturday, as Rock Your World, a troubled 17th in the Kentucky Derby, returns for the Belmont Stakes.

John Hall, the longtime yearling manager for Taylor Made Farm who worked with a young American Pharoah, died May 22 at his home in Delaware after a battle with cancer. He was 79.

"John Hall meant a tremendous amount to Taylor Made and many in the industry," the Taylor family's Taylor Made operation said in a statement posted on its official social media channels. "Our thoughts are with his family and all those privileged to meet this one of a kind man."

Munnings is quietly crafting a stellar season, both on the racetrack and in the commercial arena. The sire of nine stakes winners in 2021 – including Grade 1 winner Kimari – he is posting a career-best average during this 2-year-old sales season.

Laoban, a breakout success as a freshman sire last season, has died unexpectedly, WinStar Farm announced Monday morning. No cause of death was given for the 8-year-old son of Uncle Mo.