Catching Up With Pike Place Dancer

Pike Place Dancer is enjoying life as a broodmare at Calumet Farm. (Photos by Melissa Bauer-Herzog)
Starting her career late in her two-year-old year, Pike Place Dancer immediately let her presence be known when winning her debut on Dec. 2, 1995 by 6 ½ lengths.
Trainer and co-owner Jerry Hollendorfer ran her back 19 days later and earned another victory this time with a 1 ½-length margin. She suffered her first loss a month later when making her three-year-old debut in the Grade 3 Santa Ynez Stakes, finishing fourth, but the best was to come with this talented filly.
Hollendorfer decided to run her on turf as he extended the distances she ran, a decision that didn’t seem to hurt her. She had a new jockey on her in Chris McCarron for her turf debut in the Opening Bid Stakes at a mile, coming from second-to-last at the third call, 7 ¼ lengths behind the leader at the quarter-pole, to win by a head over Hear the Music.
Pike Place Dancer had regular rider Russell Baze again for her next start, this time going 1 1/16 miles on the turf. Baze kept her a little close to the front in the San Jose Stakes, never letting her fall more than 4 ¼ lengths back throughout the race. Like the race before, she won the race but this time staying closer paid off as she won by three lengths at even-money odds.
Winning four of her first five starts built up the confidence of her connections, and they made a bit of an unusual move for a horse who would eventually run in the Kentucky Oaks.
She stayed on the turf for her final prep race, the Grade 3 California Derby at 1 1/8 miles, and took on males for the first time. The race also involved a new jockey for Pike Place Dancer with Corey Nakatani getting the mount for the first time.
She lined up in the starting gate on April 13 against 10 other horses and again followed the plan of staying no more than 4 1/4 lengths off the leader. Nakatani followed a similar plan to the one used in the San Jose, making sure Pike Place Dancer was within striking distance in the stretch. While it wasn’t quite as big a win as the San Jose, Pike Place Dancer defeated males by 2 ½ lengths with just one horse within four lengths of her.
Less than a month later, Pike Place Dancer’s big moment arrived.
The filly was shipped out of California for the first time in her career, landing at the famed Churchill Downs. But even though she had taken on males, and won, in her last start, she would not meet up with them again under the famed Twin Spires. Instead, she faced five fillies, with three of them having Grade 1 victories to their credit, including 1995 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies winner My Flag.
PIKE PLACE DANCER

Pike Place Dancer settled in the back of the field along with My Flag, at one time nine lengths behind Escena, who was leading the pack. In the final stages of the backstretch run, Nakatani asked Pike Place Dancer to move up and the filly willingly obliged. The pair went wide around the field so they didn’t have to worry about traffic, and by the time the field hit the stretch they were even with the main pack.  The only obstacle standing in the way of Pike Place Dancer and the blanket of lillies was Escena, who had led the race since breaking from the starting gate.
Pike Place Dancer had to use most of the stretch to catch Escena but closed the gap in the final furlong and was a neck ahead at the finish line. The Oaks victory was the second for the trainer-jockey tandem of Hollendorfer and Nakatani, who had also won the race with Lite Light in 1991.
A month later, the Princess Stakes turned into Pike Place Dancer’s career finale.
Like normal, Pike Place Dancer went to the back of the pack at the beginning of the race. But when Nakatani asked her to make her move she didn’t seem to have her normal kick and finished third, six lengths behind the winner.
Pike Place Dancer finished her career with six wins in eight starts, including four stakes victories, and $578,682 in earnings. By Seattle Dancer, Pike Place Dancer won races from six furlongs to 1 1/8 miles and beat a total of 43 horses in her wins.
Pike Place Dancer was sold in January of 1998 to Courtlandt Farm for $1.65-million, the fourth-highest priced horse in the Keeneland January horses of all ages sale. A few months later, Pike Place Dancer was bred for the first time and visited Seeking the Gold. The cross had been successful for Pike Place Dancer’s family as it had produced her graded-stakes-winning half-brother Petionville.
On Feb. 3, 1999, she gave birth to that foal, a colt named Power Connection. While Power Connection never won a stakes race, he raced for six seasons and won eight of 52 starts for $96,888 in career earnings. Pike Place Dancer had another Seeking the Gold colt the following year, this one also winning multiple races for $124,635 in earnings.
Her first filly was born in 2001, a daughter of A.P. Indy named Alexi Dancer. While Alexi Dancer never won a race, she proved to be a good producer with two stakes-placed horses from three foals.
Pike Place Dancer’s 2004 filly by Rahy, named Class Selection, one-upped her half-sister a few years later when she added to Pike Place Dancer’s family. The only one of Class Selection’s three foals to make it to the track, Super Julia, raced in Brazil and won a stakes race in the country and was second in a Group 3 race.
Since Class Selection, Pike Place Dancer has only had three foals to race but her 2008 gelding by Smart Strike has made $137,130 from his 35 starts and is still racing as of Feb. 4, 2015.
In 2009, Pike Place Dancer went through the auction ring again this time selling to Phyllis Adair for $25,000 while carrying a More Than Ready filly. That filly never raced but had her first foal, by Warrior’s Reward, last year.
Pike Place Dancer went through the ring a little more than a year later, carrying a Fusaichi Pegasus colt.  This time she caught the eye of Calumet Farm and its farm manager Eddie Kane purchased the mare for $27,000.
“At the time she was in foal to Fusaichi Pegasus, he was a Kentucky Derby winner, she’s an Oaks winner,” Kane said recently. “How often do you get the chance to buy a Kentucky Derby and an Oaks winner in one package? And that’s probably the basis for [buying her], but we thought maybe for the price that we’d get a few foals out of her and see what happens.”
That Fusaichi Pegasus colt was named Pegasus Protocol and made his debut in 2014 for trainer D. Wayne Lukas and Calumet Farm. He is currently at Calumet’s training center and is doing well.
Pike Place Dancer is now 22 years old and has made the jump to being one of the Calumet Farm favorites.
PIKE PLACE DANCER LOOKING AMAZING AT 22

“She’s doing great. Everyone loves her; she’s the kindest mare. You walk up to her in the field and she walks right up to you and she’s great,” Kane said.
In addition to Pegasus Protocol, Calumet also has a 2-year-old named Q Bee and an unnamed yearling by the mare. Those at the farm are excited about the future with those foals and, while she isn’t pregnant this year, she will be bred this year for a 2016 foal.
“We have a 2-year-old by Quality Road and she’s nice, and we have a yearling colt by Invasor and hopefully we get a runner out of her. We got her for pretty inexpensive. It’s not often you get an Oaks winner for $27,000. We don’t know who we’re going to breed her to yet [for 2015] but pretty soon we will.”
Calumet Farm is steeped in Thoroughbred racing history but having a Kentucky Oaks winner back in the farm’s pasture is still notable. Kane is glad to have her and hopes that the next few years will be lucky for the mare.
“We’re lucky to have her. [Calumet is] a phenomenal place to be with the history here and it’s nice to have a Kentucky Oaks winner on the property. Hopefully, a little good luck will fall her way,” Kane said.