Come Dancing High Steps Into Ogden Phipps

To say that Marc Holliday's (Blue Devil Racing) homebred Come Dancing, a 5-year-old daughter of Malibu Moon , is on a roll heading into the $700,000 Ogden Phipps Stakes (G1) would be a serious understatement.

The mare, out of Tizahit, by Tiznow , simply toyed with the field in the Ruffian Stakes (G2) May 5 at Belmont Park, posting a dominant 6 3/4-length tally, while racing the one-turn mile on a sloppy/sealed track in 1.36.54 beneath Manny Franco. 

It was a contest that Come Dancing's trainer Carlos Martin characterized as looking "like a public workout the way she did it."

When Marc Holliday sat down to plan the mare's breeding with David Ingordo, the pair understood exactly what they wanted to achieve.

"We were trying for a good physical match. Tizahit is a big mare with a lot of size, scope and length of leg. We felt Malibu Moon would add muscle and a good hip to Tizahit's frame," said Holliday, CEO of SL Green Reality Corp. "(David) was a big fan of inbreeding to Seattle Slew from Malibu Moon and back through Tiznow's dam sire, and then adding the Fappiano line of Mr. Prospector, which the A.P. Indy line has done well with. We were thinking two-turn, classic distance dirt runner, and wound up with a brilliant sprinter with potential for a lot more."

That "potential" came rising to the surface like an equine tsunami in the $150,000 Distaff Handicap at Aqueduct April 5 as Come Dancing overwhelmed the competition in the seven-furlong event with a 7 3/4-length triumph over a fast track in 1:22.31, earning a 114 Beyer Speed Figure.

Come Dancing, who has won 6 of 10 career starts, was previously sidetracked by physical ailments, including a fractured pastern during her 2-year-old season.  She'll now tackle grade 1 competition, stretching out to a mile and a sixteenth, while still racing around one turn.

"We are absolutely thrilled that Come Dancing will be competing in the Ogden Phipps this Saturday," Holliday said. "We are so proud of the way she has overcome early setbacks in her career to mature into a wonderful race mare. She showed early talent, and we were very patient with her, and now have been rewarded with an opportunity to compete at the highest level of competition on the greatest race day of the year for NYRA. Fortunately, she's going into the race in great condition, as she will be facing a small but select field of very tough competitors. It should be a very exciting race."

The main opposition for Holliday's runner figures to come in the form of Bloom Racing Stable, Madaket Stables and Allen Racing's multiple grade 1 winner Midnight Bisou (by (Midnight Lute ), who is undefeated as a 4-year-old, and will be looking for her fourth consecutive graded victory after taking the April 14th Apple Blossom (G1) at Oaklawn Park by a nose in a driving finish. She's the even-money favorite Saturday.

The Apple Blossom's runner-up, Escape Clause (by Going Commando), owned by Don Schnell, Barry Amason and True North, is also part of the Ogden Phipps field.