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Marc Holliday Elected Chairman of NYRA Board of Directors

The New York Racing Association's Board of Directors has unanimously elected Marc Holliday as chairman following Thursday's regularly scheduled meeting of the board. Holliday replaces Michael Del Giudice, who retired from the NYRA Board in November.

Appointed to the NYRA Board in 2014, Holliday has chaired the NYRA Equine Safety Committee since 2015. He is the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of SL Green Realty Corp, which is New York City's largest owner of office properties. A graduate of Lehigh University, Holliday earned a master's in real estate development from Columbia University.

“I am honored to succeed Michael Del Giudice and grateful for his work returning NYRA to a period of sustained excellence and financial stability,” said Holliday. “Michael skillfully guided the association through a time of uncertainty, and NYRA today is as strong as any point in its history. Horse racing is an engine for the New York economy and deeply intertwined in the cultural fabric of the state. It is a privilege to play a role in the future of the sport I care so deeply about.”

A prominent horse owner and breeder, Holliday founded Blue Devil Racing Stable in 2006. Most notable among a number of Blue Devil stakes winners is the homebred Come Dancing (Malibu Moon), who won the GI Ketel One Ballerina S., GII Ruffian S., GII Gallant Bloom H. and GIII Distaff H. in 2019 on the NYRA circuit. The popular mare added the GII Honorable Miss S. to her ledger last year and is now in foal to Into Mischief.

“NYRA is in a strong position for continued success thanks to the commitment and leadership of the board of directors,” said NYRA President & CEO Dave O'Rourke. “On behalf of the entire organization, I thank Michael Del Giudice for his dedicated service and congratulate Marc Holliday on his new role.”

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‘Grit And Toughness’ Have Propelled Come Dancing To Breeders’ Cup Swansong

Ending a career by winning a championship is a goal for many athletes, though only a select few have been able to conclude their career with a historic effort.

The ones who do stand out. Joe DiMaggio ending his career after winning his ninth World Series with the Yankees in 1951 is near the top of any going-out-on-top moments. Rocky Marciano capped his career the way he ended every single one of his professional bouts, with the then 32-year-old walking away after posting a 49-0 record and holding the heavyweight championship for nearly four years. Across other sports, from NFL Hall of Famer John Elway winning back-to-back Supers Bowls to NHL superstar Jean Béliveau winning his 10th Stanley Cup and taking off the sweater in 1971, there have been special finales.

On Saturday, Blue Devil Racing Stable's Come Dancing will run the 19th and final race of a storied career that has already featured five graded stakes wins. The Carlos Martin trainee will look to give her connections one final memory when she competes in Saturday's Grade 1, $1 million Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Sprint going seven furlongs on Keeneland Race Course's main track.

The 6-year-old daughter of Malibu Moon has given owner Marc Holliday, and New York racing fans, plenty of thrills, starting with her 7 ¾-length romp in the 2019 Grade 3 Distaff at Aqueduct Racetrack, earning a 114 Beyer Speed Figure. From there, she dominated the Grade 2 Ruffian, winning the one-mile contest over a sloppy track by 6 ¾ lengths in May 2019. Her next start saw her run second to eventual Eclipse Award Champion Older Dirt Female Midnight Bisou in the Grade 1 Ogden Phipps on Belmont Stakes Day.

Not to be deterred, Come Dancing then rattled off back-to-back wins in the Grade 1 Ballerina in August 2019 at Saratoga Race Course before winning the Grade 2 Gallant Bloom back at Belmont. She capped her campaign with a sixth-place effort in the Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Sprint at Santa Anita. In this year's edition, she will face divisional contenders Gamine and Serengeti Empress among a formidable nine-horse field.

Martin said she handled the ship well from New York to the Bluegrass State, where she posted a three-furlong blowout in 36 seconds flat over Keeneland's main track on Sunday.

“She seems like she's handling her time at Keeneland and she's enjoying herself. Her coat looks great,” Martin said. “My team has done a great job helping me to get her to this point, so I'm really happy about everything.”

A great career almost was derailed after her winning debut as a juvenile in November 2016 at the Big A. Working toward her potential stakes debut in the Grade 2 Demoiselle she suffered a fractured pastern in her right front leg. Come Dancing did not race again until 13 months later, when she bested allowance company in December 2017 at Aqueduct.

That came as a relief to Holliday, who is a NYRA Board Member and the Chairman and CEO of SL Green Realty Corp, a New York City commercial real estate firm.

“I was fairly optimistic that she would race again,” Holliday said to the Thoroughbred Daily News last year. “The question was would she race up to her potential because we knew she had a ton of potential. She had a brilliant first race. To do what she's done since the injury is a testament to her grit and toughness and her ability to rebound from that injury.”

Come Dancing not only rebounded from that setback, she thrived, and that success continued in her current campaign, which included a second-place effort in the Grade 3 Vagrancy over a Belmont track rated good on Belmont Stakes Day in June and her first win of 2020 last out with a three-quarter-length score in the Grade 2 Honorable Miss Handicap over Lady's Island in the six-furlong sprint at Saratoga on September 6.

The millionaire mare will retire to become a broodmare following Saturday's race, but she has one more chance to compete at the highest level during the Breeders' Cup World Championships. She drew post 3 with jockey Irad Ortiz, Jr., who was aboard for the Honorable Miss, back in the irons. She is listed at 8-1 on the morning line with Gamine from post 2 the 7-5 favorite.

“It's bittersweet because it's her last dance, but she's been so good to us, so we just want to see her go off on a high note and show the world what she can do on the biggest stage, so we're excited for the opportunity,” Martin said. “I think the post should be fine. She usually breaks pretty well. With Serengeti and Gamine going out there, she should be able to find a spot. I don't think there's a chance of us going up there with them [as a pacesetter], but I'll let Irad ride the race and hopefully have them set the table for us.

“We have a champion jockey and I think the instructions kind of go out the window in a race like this,” he added.

A victory would give both Martin and Holliday their first respective career wins in a Breeders' Cup. It would also allow Come Dancing to follow in the path of past champions with a sunset ride enmeshed in glory.

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Talented Sprinter Come Dancing On Her Toes Ahead Of Saturday’s Vagrancy

Blue Devil Racing Stable's Grade 1-winner Come Dancing headlines Saturday's Grade 3, $100,000 Vagrancy, a 6 ½-furlong sprint for fillies and mares 3-years-old and up at Belmont Park.

The Vagrancy is one of four graded stakes on a loaded 11-race card, highlighted by the Grade 1, $250,000 Just a Game for fillies and mares going one mile on the Widener turf and also featuring the Grade 2, $150,000 True North, for 4-year-olds and up going 6 ½ furlongs; and the Grade 2, $250,000 New York at 1 ¼ miles on Belmont Park's inner turf.

Trained by Carlos Martin, the 6-year-old Malibu Moon mare will look to rebound after a rare off-the-board performance last out in an ambitious spot going two turns in the 1 1/16-mile Grade 1 Apple Blossom on April 18 at Oaklawn Park.

Come Dancing now returns to sprinting, where she excelled in 2019, highlighted by a dramatic come-from-behind win in the Grade 1 Ballerina in August at Saratoga Race Course. At the Spa, she was left at the break but rallied under Hall of Fame jockey Javier Castellano, posting a 3 ½-length score in the seven-furlong sprint.

That was part of a stellar season for the millionaire Come Dancing, who won 4-of-6 starts in 2019 for Martin, including Grade 2 wins in the Ruffian and Gallant Bloom, both at Belmont Park; and the Grade 3 Distaff at Aqueduct.

Come Dancing was prepared for her Apple Blossom effort by Hall of Famer D. Wayne Lukas, after which Martin said the talented dark bay was given some time to recuperate before returning to Belmont Park in May.

Castellano, who also rode Come Dancing to victory in the 6 1/2-furlong Gallant Bloom last September at Belmont Park in an off-the-board finish in the Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Sprint in November at Santa Anita Park, gets the call on Come Dancing again on Saturday, breaking from post 5.

“Javier is one of top jockeys in the world and brings in a lot of experience, that's for sure,” Martin said. “There are certain riders like Javier who are just winners. There are great riders all over the country, but in New York, we have the best in the world.”

Come Dancing enters Saturday with a month of solid work, fortified by two recent bullet workouts on the main track at Belmont: on June 15, going five furlongs in 57.94 seconds and on June 8, going a half-mile in 47 flat.

“We wanted to just keep her fresh,” Martin said. “It didn't look like she was out of a canter. She was just so smooth. It's just one of those things where the track is extremely fast and she came out of it great.”

Lael Stables' 6-year-old Chalon, a winner of seven of 18 career starts, will make her 2020 debut. In her last start, going six furlongs in October at Keeneland, the Dialed In mare finished off the board. Trained by Arnaud Delacour, she will leave from post 3 with Jose Ortiz aboard.

Also looking for redemption is Gainesway Stable's Mother Mother, trained by Hall of Famer Bob Baffert, who last out on June 5 at Belmont Park finished a disappointing fourth in a 6 ½ furlong sprint. One of the youngsters in the field, the 4-year-old has three victories in 13 career starts. The Pioneer of the Nile filly will be ridden by Joel Rosario from post 2.

Looking for redemption in the Vagrancy will be First Row Partners and Parkland Thoroughbreds' Royal Charlotte, who finished three-quarters of a length back to Honey I'm Good in a runner-up effort in the six-furlong Harmony Lodge on June 5 at Belmont Park in her seasonal bow.

“I wish I had a little more time,” said trainer Chad Brown. “I felt she could've won if she would've gone more to the outside on that wet track. It was a good prep for her.”

Royal Charlotte has five wins in eight career starts, including four consecutively in 2019 when she dominated races from 6-to-6 ½ furlongs, capped last July 4 by a convincing four-length win in the 6 ½-furlong Grade Victory Ride on the July 5 Stars and Stripes Day card at Belmont.

Irad Ortiz, Jr. will be aboard Royal Charlotte Saturday, drawing the inside post.

Rounding out the seven-horse field are Jakarta [post 4; Luis Saez], Victim of Love [post 6; Jose Lezcano] and Pacific Gale [post 7; Junior Alvarado].

The Vagrancy is named for the bay mare out of Valkyr by Man o' War, who in 1942 was Champion 3-Year-Old Filly and also the Champion Handicap Mare. Bred and owned by Belair Stud and trained for most of her career by the legendary “Sunny” Jim Fitzsimmons, Vagrancy enjoyed a season for the ages in 1942, winning nine stakes races that included the Coaching Club American Oaks, the Pimlico Oaks, the Delaware Oaks, the Alabama, Gazelle and Test against other 3-year-olds, and the Beldame Handicap and Ladies Handicap against older fillies and mares. Vagrancy raced 42 times in her career, hitting the board in 31 of her starts.

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