A SAM HUFF LEGACY: The West Virginia Breeders Classic on Oct. 8

A SAM HUFF LEGACY: The West Virginia Breeders Classic on Oct. 8

By Bill Cauley

Sam Huff was the kind of a guy who never took no for an answer.

A Hall of Fame middle linebacker for the New York Giants and Washington Redskins, Huff, who died last year at age 87, had a lot of influence, both in football and in horse racing circles.

Carol Holden, president of the West Virginia Breeders Classics, with West Virginia native and NFL Hall of Famer, the late Sam Huff, co-founded the Classics in 1987 with more than $26 million in purses through the years.

Photo © by Vicky Moon

He loved horses and horse racing. The West Virginia native and son of a coal miner who lived out his final years in Middleburg, was devoted to the sport. He owned horses, and was an influential figure on the horse racing scene at Hollywood Casino at Charles Town Races in Charles Town, West Virginia.

When racing officials there wanted to have a major event centered around the track, Huff took the lead and was instrumental in helping create the West Virginia Breeders Classic racing series, which celebrates its 36th anniversary on Saturday, Oct. 8.

“Sam was the driving force behind its creation,” said Carol Holden, Huff ’s long-time partner and president of the West Virginia Breeders’ Classic. “He and I had gone to the Maryland Million before, and wondered why we couldn’t do this type of event in West Virginia. At the time, I was an administrator of the West Virginia Thoroughbred Development Fund.”

Holden said she told Huff there weren’t enough horses available that were sired by West Virginia stallions to start such a venture. Still, they decided to press on. They reached out to Maryland Million officials in an effort to begin the slow process of establishing a similar event for West Virginia.

“At the time, Sam was a color commentator for Redskins’ radio broadcasts,” Holden said. “He was also involved with the Marriott Corporation. With his connections, he was able to get a lot of people interested with the advertising end of it.”

MUAD’DIB was the winner of the $300,000 2021 West Virginia Breeders’ Classic in Charles Town run over 1-1/8 Miles in 1:55.09, owned by David M. Raim and trained by Jeff C. Runco, with jockey Arnaldo Bocachica.

Photo by Coady Photography.

Arch A. Moore Jr. was the West Virginia governor at the time and familiar with the Maryland Million, Holden said. He and other state officials were soon on board with the idea for a major racing event at Charles Town.

“Everything began falling into place, at the right time, with the right people, the right circumstances” Holden said. “Yes, Sam didn’t know what “no” meant. He just got it all organized.”

The first West Virginia Breeders’ Cup series was held in 1987. There were many questions going forward with this new venture. Would it be a success? Would it last? How much would it cost?

“When we first started, we had no money,” Holden said. “I had said something to Sam about getting a loan. No way was he going to do that.”

The former ownership of the race track did agree to loan the group $10,000, which had to be paid back within 10 days of the race.

“One of the stories I like to tell is I was so happy when we got the sponsorship money that we actually went to the bank and got a checkbook,” Holden said. “I had kept going to the bank and getting cashier’s checks prior to that. We actually got a checking account.”

Onion Juice was the first winner of the West Virginia Breeders Classic in 1987 in a race with a $100,000 purse. The 2022 Classic has a $1 million purse.

“There’s a race now which bears Onion Juice’s name,” Holden said. “He was what they call a ‘Saturday Night Horse.”’ He was one of the regular horses here that would be in the big allowance race on Saturday night.”

That first Classic race was exciting, Holden said. “We didn’t have enough races that year for a full card,” she added.

But that changed over the years as the series gained in popularity and there are now nine races contested that night. Post time for the West Virginia Breeders Cup Races will be 7 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 8.

“You’re going to see a whole lot of good horse racing,” Holden said.All thanks mainly to a man who didn’t know the meaning of the word “no.”