Come Dancing Returns to Belmont for Vagrancy

It's been a while since Come Dancing showed some fancy moves in a graded stakes.

That happened some nine months ago when she captured the Sept. 22 Gallant Bloom Handicap (G2), a 6 1/2-furlong dash at Belmont Park, and was a leading candidate to win an Eclipse Award as champion female sprinter—horse racing's version of the Mirrorball Trophy on "Dancing with the Stars."

Since then, the 6-year-old daughter of Malibu Moon  finished sixth on a quirky track at Santa Anita Park behind division champ Covfefe in the Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Sprint (G1), followed by a change of heart by her connections that postponed her life as a broodmare and brought her back to the racetrack for one final year.

Unfortunately, that pirouette proved to be awkward at first as she was tested around two turns for the first time in a difficult spot, the April 18 Apple Blossom Handicap (G1) at Oaklawn Park, and she faded to 12th in a field of 14.

Intent on putting those missteps behind his mare, trainer Carlos Martin has choreographed some familiar moves by bringing Come Dancing back to the racetrack and a distance she should relish, running her in the 6 1/2-furlong, $100,000 Vagrancy Handicap (G3) for fillies and mares June 27 at Belmont Park.

"I'm hoping that with some home cooking, we'll see the real Come Dancing and she can show how good she really is," Martin said.

Blue Devil Racing Stable's Come Dancing certainly looked like her prima ballerina self in her two works on the track for the Vagrancy. With jockey Javier Castellano aboard for a June 15 drill, she zipped five furlongs in a dazzling :57.94, which came on the heels of a four-furlong :47 work June 8.

"If you didn't see the workout, you would have thought she was at a high cruising speed, and I was worried at first by the time. But when I watched the video of it, I could see she was doing it easily," Martin said about the June 15 work. "I think the track had a lot to do with it, but there was no whipping, no driving, just Javier sitting on her like glue on a stick. You see her afterwards and you wonder if she even worked. She just galloped and went that fast. I've never seen anything like her and doubt if I ever will again."

Looking back, Martin admits running in the Apple Blossom turned out to be a mistake, but it was made at a time when New York racetracks were closed due to COVID-19 and there was no telling when they would reopen.

"It wasn't an easy spot with nearly six months off at two turns. We thought it was an OK spot, but those were tough fillies," Martin said. "We took a gamble and it didn't work out."

Temporarily turned over to Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas for the Apple Blossom, Come Dancing was given a short break at Fair Hill before returning to Belmont, where she has three wins and a second in five starts.

The winner of the Ballerina Stakes (G1) in 2019, Come Dancing has won eight of 15 starts with earnings of $1,066,283. Bred by her owner, Marc Holliday, out of the Tiznow  mare Tizahit, she is the lone stakes winner for her dam.

Come Dancing, the 124-pound highweight and 7-5 morning-line favorite, will spot between two and eight pounds to her six rivals.

First Row Partners and Parkland Thoroughbreds' Royal Charlotte will tote 122 pounds while searching for a second graded stakes win at Belmont Park. The winner of the Victory Ride Stakes (G3) at Belmont Park and Prioress Stakes (G2) at Saratoga Race Course during a 3-year-old campaign in 2019 when she won five of seven starts, the daughter of Cairo Prince  was second in her lone start at 4, the Harmony Lodge Stakes on a muddy track June 5 at Belmont Park.

"I thought she could have won the Harmony Lodge if she got outside of the winner in the stretch," trainer Chad Brown said. "She seemed a little hampered down inside in the stretch, but she ran well. She's running back in three weeks and we'll give it a shot, but I wish I had more time."

Mother Mother (120 pounds), trained by Bob Baffert, remained in New York after finishing fourth in the Harmony Lodge. Owned by Gainesway Stable, Barry Hall, Barry Lipman, Mark Mathiesen, and Andrew Molasky, the 4-year-old Pioneerof the Nile filly has three wins and three seconds in nine tries on a dry track, including a second in the 2018 Del Mar Debutante Stakes (G1).

The race also features the 2020 debut of 2018 Filly and Mare Sprint runner-up Chalon (121 pounds). The 6-year-old daughter of Dialed In  owned by Lael Stables and trained by Arnaud Delacour was last seen finishing fourth Oct. 5 as the 2-1 favorite in the Thoroughbred Club of America Stakes (G2) at Keeneland.