Ian Wilkes, Simon Bray & Dallas Stewart preview the Travers with Andy Serling on AT THE POST LIVE

By Marina Bui —-

Presented by NYRA Bets

Thursday, August 24 at the Parting Glass Pub from 8-9 p.m. ET

What: Nationally televised NYRA horse racing personality and pundit, host Andy Serling returns to the ESPN airwaves and on location at the Parting Glass Pub for a sixth season of At The Post Live, a one-of-a kind, destination live event programming, where racing and sports personalities, experts, stars and analysts come together around the annual American sports pilgrimage that is summer racing in historic Saratoga Springs.

When: Thursday, August 24, 2017 – 8:00 p.m. ET to 9:00 p.m. ET

Where: LIVE on location at The Parting Glass Pub – 40 Lake Avenue, Saratoga Springs, NY 12866

Airs LIVE on ESPN 104.5 FM “The Team” on Thursday, August 24 from 8:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. ET with encore replays on Saturday, August 26 from 10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. ET and Sunday, August 27 from 10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. ET.

Who:

Ian Wilkes is a multiple-graded stakes winning trainer who started his racing career at 16 as a groom and exercise rider in Australia before coming state-side to work for Hall of Fame trainer Carl Nafzger. Wilkes moves to the United States in 1989 and galloped horses for a year and a half. Among the horses he climbed aboard during that tour with Nafzger was Unbridled, the 1990 Kentucky Derby and Breeders’ Cup Classic winner, who went on to be an important sire. When Nafzger began scaling back his operation in 2005 and moved into semi-retirement in 2006, he turned the bulk of his stable over to Wilkes. Continuing their close association, Wilkes helped Nafzger with the development of 2006 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile and 2007 Kentucky Derby winner Street Sense. Horses that Wilkes has championed include 2012 Breeders’ Cup Classic winner Fort Larned, as well as, graded stakes winners Neck ‘n Neck and Miss Isella. Wilkes won the 2016 Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes with McCraken, a 2017 Kentucky Derby competitor, and contender in Saturday’s Travers Stakes.

Simon Bray is a former trainer and current racing commentator for TVG. He also served as a co-analyst with Andy Serling on FOX Sports 1’s Jockey Club Tour. For most of the 1990s, Bray worked for Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott before training on behalf of Allen and Madeleine Paulson in 1998. The most notable horse that Bray helped Mott condition was Hall of Fame champion Cigar. Once out on his own, he saddled, among others, Startac, who finished 10th in the 2001 Derby before winning Arlington Park’s Grade I Secretariat Stakes on his next time out. Bray trained until the early 2000s, winning 73 races, including the Grade 1 Gamely Stakes at Hollywood Park with Astra. Astra would go on to win three other graded stakes. Bray is a multiple myeloma, cancer survivor.

Dallas Stewart is an elite trainer who spent 12 years working under the tutelage of Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas. During that period, Stewart oversaw world-class horses, Lady’s Secret, Thunder Gulch, Serena’s Song, Timber Country, Tabasco Cat, and many other Grade 1 winners. On his own, Stewart has saddled Grade 1 winners, Unbridled Elaine (2001 Breeders’ Cup Distaff) Lemons Forever (2006 Kentucky Oaks), and Macho Again (2008 Jim Dandy, 2009 Stephen Foster). Stewart has also trained two Kentucky Derby runner-ups—Golden Soul in 2013 and Commanding Curve in 2014. Other notable horses that he has worked with include Lemons Forever’s daughters, full sisters Unbridled Forever (2015 Ballerina) and Forever Unbridled (2016 Apple Blossom H. and Beldame). Forever Unbridled will race in the highly competitive, Grade 1, Personal Ensign on Travers Day that includes rival contender Songbird.

ABOUT AT THE POST LIVE
At The Post Live is produced by Camden Entertainment and is promoted in partnership with ESPN Radio 104.5, presenting partner NYRA Bets and participating partners, Capital OTB, the Daily Racing Form and the Breeders’ Cup World Championships. Proud community partners of the show include the Saratoga Hospital Foundation, Special Olympics New York, Belmont Child Care Association, Brave Will Foundation and the Parting Glass Pub. Follow At The Post Live on Twitter: @AtThePostLive and Facebook: www.facebook.com/AtThePostLive.