For Nancy and Eric Rizer – and for Robbie Bailes and Jevian Toledo – this year’s 40^th Maryland Million day had a storybook quality.

On Oct. 11 at Laurel Park, the Rizers’ familiar blue-and-yellow silks twice flashed under the wire first on Maryland Million Day. First came the narrow, heart-pounding victory by Slewperstitus in the Lassie for 2-year-old fillies. Then, later in the card, stablemate Slam Notion stormed home to capture the Maryland Million Sprint.

For the Rizers, who registered their first winner in 2002, the wins were their first Maryland Million triumphs.

Both runners were bred and owned by the Rizers, trained by longtime Maryland horseman Robbie Bailes, and ridden by Jevian Toledo, who added a historic milestone of his own. Toledo’s three-win day made him the all-time leading jockey in Maryland Million history with 21 victories, breaking his tie with Hall of Famer Edgar Prado.

“It’s hard to sum this day up,” said Eric Rizer afterward. “It’s really just been a fantastic day. The connections and everybody we have involved just make horse racing so enjoyable right now. I don’t think we’ve ever had more fun in this game than today.”

Slewperstitus, a homebred daughter of Great Notion out of the Slew City Slew mare Slew of Bullets, showed the tenacity of her sire’s best offspring in the Lassie. She dug in fiercely in the final yards, wearing down the ultra-game Gary Capuano trainee Doc’s Miracle to prevail by a neck, earning her second win in four starts. The 2-year-old filly now boasts a record of two wins and two seconds with $152,500 in earnings.

“She’s still learning,” Bailes said afterward. “Gary’s filly ran super, and I knew we had to have our running shoes on against Gary [Capuano]. She just dug in when it mattered.”

Toledo, who was riding Slewperstitus for the first time, admitted the trip wasn’t perfect — but the filly’s class made up for it.

“I felt like I had too much horse,” Toledo said. “I had to go around because I didn’t want to get stuck in traffic. She kind of scared me a little bit — I thought I was going to go by so easy, but she waited on the other horse. When I hit her a couple times in a row, she picked it up and showed her class.”

Bailes believes more distance is in the filly’s future. “She’s never shown me anything that says she can’t handle going longer,” he said. “That’s the plan — we’ll keep pointing that way.”

If Slewperstitus was the spark that lit the day, Slam Notion provided the fireworks. The 3-year-old gelding by Great Notion out of the Grand Slam mare Balestra followed with a victory in the Maryland Million Sprint, his sixth win from 11 starts. He now sports earnings of $294,770.

For the Rizers, it was the ultimate affirmation of a breeding program they’ve been building for more than two decades.

“You never think you’ll get this far when you start,” said Eric. “But I was telling Robbie — we’re just getting started right now. Our best foals are still to come. Our job as breeders is to bring the trainer the best product we can, and we’ve worked hard to do that.”

Northview Stallion Station’s Great Notion, the sire of both the Rizers’ winners, is the leading active Maryland Million sire with 25 career winners. All-time leader Not For Love sired 38 Maryland Million victors.

“What a stallion,” Eric said of Great Notion. “He just gets better as he gets older. He’s just phenomenal. And I can’t say enough about Northview Stallion Station. They’re wonderful.”

For Bailes, who saddled his first winner in 1989 and famously sent out Scrappy T to finish a memorable second, behind Afleet Alex, in the 2005 Preakness, days like this are what keep you going.

“A very exciting day,” Bailes said after the Lassie. “This is how we wanted to start it off — and hopefully keep it going.”

And keep it going they did.

By day’s end, the Rizer-Bailes-Toledo team had become one of the defining stories of the 40th Maryland Million: an overnight success 20 years in the making. With, they hope, plenty more to come.

“So I told Robbie, he missed out on the Preakness with Scrappy T,” Eric Rizer said. “That’s kind of a salty wound that he has. I said, hopefully we can remedy that. My job is to bring him a product to where he can fulfill his dreams, as well.”