New York-bred Step Dancer stretches out in $1 million Jockey Club Derby Invitational

Hayward Pressman, Diamond M Stable and Donna R. Pressman’s New York-bred Step Dancer will step into elite company in Saturday’s $1 million Jockey Club Derby Invitational, a 12-furlong test on the Widener turf at Belmont Park.

The Jockey Club Derby is slated as Race 10 on Saturday’s lucrative 11-race card which will also feature the 1 3/8-mile $700,000 Jockey Club Oaks, the concluding leg of the Turf Triple series for 3-year-old fillies, in Race 9; and the 1 5/8-mile $300,000 Grand Prix American Jockey Club Invitational in Race 4.

Trained by Barclay Tagg, Step Dancer showed promise as a juvenile posting a 24-1 debut win traveling 1 1/16 miles on the Saratoga turf last September before finishing third in the Grade 2 Pilgrim in October at Belmont Park. The War Dancer bay completed a solid campaign with a three-quarter length score against open company in the 1 1/16-mile Awad over yielding Belmont turf on October 31.

Tagg said he appreciates Step Dancer’s willingness to compete.

“I’ve watched a lot of horses over the years. Everything you see about him in the morning gives you confidence. He’s an athlete,” said Tagg.

Bred in the Empire State by Sugar Plum Farm and Richard Pressman, Step Dancer launched his sophomore campaign in March with an off-the-board effort in the Cutler Bay at Gulfstream Park ahead of a close third in a 1 1/16-mile New York-bred allowance optional claimer on May 13 at Belmont Park.

Step Dancer was a late-closing second in the seven-furlong NYSSS Spectacular Bid on June 19 at Belmont and will enter Saturday’s test on a high note after overcoming a troubled start in the one-mile NYSSS Cab Calloway on July 28 at the Spa, rallying four-wide down the lane to defeat his fellow eligible New York-sired rivals.

Jockey Dylan Davis has never finished off the board in five starts piloting Step Dancer and will retain the mount from post 5 in a field headlined by European raiders Bolshoi Ballet and Yibir.