Jari Villanueva is not just any Baltimore boy: he is a renowned bugler who has sounded Taps at thousands of military ceremonies and thrilled racing fans at multiple racetracks since 2018.

His unique career has taken him from the Peabody Institute at Johns Hopkins to his home city’s classrooms to the solemn spaces of Arlington National Cemetery and finally to Maryland’s most celebrated day at the races, the 150^th Preakness. Villanueva will once more sound the call to the post and may then step aside for the next bugler up.

Villanueva, who grew up in Baltimore as a resident alien, celebrates the day he became an American citizen – May 17 – the same day as Preakness 150.

Raised just ten miles from Pimlico, Villanueva professed that he did not go to the races much growing up “because I wasn’t really into racing, and I was studying trumpet.” He started with the trombone in fifth grade and then moved to the trumpet the following year when he heard his “next door neighbor playing cornet. And I said, ‘Gee, the cornet gets all the melody.’ So, when I hit sixth grade, I decided to switch to the cornet and trumpet.”

In high school, Villanueva participated in several Baltimore city summer enrichment programs which led him to the opportunity to attend the Peabody Institute. From there, he graduated with a music education degree while also studying with other trumpet players who mentored him along the way.

After a stint teaching in Baltimore, he joined the Air Force as a ceremonial trumpeter, playing at Arlington National Cemetery for 23 years and then serving as the Director of Military Funeral Honors for the State of Maryland for another decade. He also was the force behind Taps Across America, an effort to honor fallen military heroes that started during the COVID-19 pandemic and has grown into a much bigger tradition. Each year, at 3 pm on Memorial Day, thousands of Americans play Taps to honor those who gave their lives in service to their country.

His work on behalf of the veterans also led him to advocate for those who served in World War I, whose Washington D.C. memorial opened in 2021, more than a century after the war’s end. Villanueva has recruited and coordinated a bugler, clad in a WWI-era uniform, to play Taps at the Memorial each day at 5 pm. He also serves as executive director of the Doughboy Foundation, which supports efforts to educate Americans about the country’s role in World War I.

In addition to his military duties, Villanueva also had been playing at racetracks “on and off throughout my career, substituting here and there, but never on a regular basis until about 2018, when the Timonium racetrack called me to play at the state fair.” That led to his chance to play the call to the post at tracks like Laurel, Monmouth Park, Charles Town, Yonkers, Parx, and of course, Pimlico, a role that he has treasured over these past few years.

“I’ll tell you, it’s part of a tradition. Racing has been a tradition here in America, and of course, other countries, too,” Villanueva shared. “But it’s important [and] very meaningful to do something like this.”

His days at the races have seen him not only play in the horses on a regular race day but also on the Old Line State’s signature days like Maryland Million and on both Black-Eyed Susan and Preakness Days in 2022 and 2023. Ahead of the 150th, the last here at Pimlico, Villanueva says this one will be his last, as retirement is around the corner – maybe.

“I think I’ve been saying that for the past 10 years. But I’m going to turn 70 this year. There are incredible trumpet players out there who I would love to see move up into positions like playing here at the track and doing other stuff that I’m doing,” the bugler shared. “It’s important that when you reach an age, it’s time to mentor those folks so that they can step up. I don’t want to be the ancient mariner, as it were, but I enjoy doing it. I’d love to see other folks do it, too.”

As we prepare to say goodbye to this iteration of Old Hilltop and await Pimlico’s rise from the ashes, it’s a reminder that change can mean renewal, even rebirth. For Old Hilltop, it’s definitely time. For Jari Villanueva? Here’s hoping he’ll stick around for a few more Calls to the Post.