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CAROL HOLDEN and SAM HUFF: A Classics Story
CAROL HOLDEN and SAM HUFF: A Classics Story
By Bill Cauley
While Sam Huff may have been largely responsible for the success of what is now considered to be the premier horse racing event of the year in West Virginia, he never wanted full credit for its startup and success.
Huff, an NFL Hall of Fame linebacker who died in 2021 at age 87, always insisted the success of the West Virginia Breeders’ Classics races was mostly due to the efforts of his longtime partner, and the love of his life.
“This couldn’t have taken place without Carol Holden, my partner and my friend,” Huff once said.
On the other hand, Holden still insists the credit must go to Huff, a West Virginia native, saying he was the true mover and shaker when it came to getting the Breeders’ Classics off the ground.
“No, Sam was the real power behind it,” Holden said. “He had the influence and important contacts to get it done.”
Still to this day, Holden remains the driving force behind the annual fall racing event at Hollywood Casino at Charles Town Races. It’s her passion and serves as a legacy to Huff, considered by many in West Virginia horse racing circles as the man who, almost single-handedly, saved the sport in the Mountain State.
Holden has been around horses all of her life. Her father was in the horse racing business. She’s now president of the Breeders Classics and spends countless hours at her office in Ranson, West Virginia, with her faithful Jack Russell Terrier, Sammy, usually at her side.
Much of her time is spent putting together the racing card, overseeing the many corporate sponsors and supervising staff members who work as one functioning unit.
“I typically come into the office each day around 10 a.m.,” said Holden, who travels almost every work-day to Ranson from her home in Middleburg.
“Theresa Bitner (secretary and events coordinator) is usually here before I am,” Holden said. “She gets things going at the start of the day.”
From there, Holden sets about her many daily tasks. This usually involves spending time on the computer, making telephone calls, sorting through emails and doing much research on potential thoroughbred partcipants. Preparations for the Classics are ongoing all year.
Holden and Huff shared a genuine love of horses, and horse racing in general. Both owned and were certified breeders of horses.
“When I first met Sam, I was clueless as to who he was,” Holden said of that first encounter around 1985.
They fell in love and began a partnership lasting more than 35 years.
Huff spent many hours away from Holden during the pro football season. He was a vice president with the Marriott Hotel corporation and teamed with Frank Herzog (later Larry Michaels) and Sonny Jurgensen in a broadcast as part of the Redskins’ (now Commanders’) Radio Network.
Yet, Holden said she never minded the extra workload. She just threw herself into the task at hand.
Her Ranson office is filled with photos, newspaper clippings, portraits of the many horses who have won Breeders’ Classics events over the past 37 years, and other memorabilia relating to the event.
It all began around 1986. She and Huff were returning from the Maryland Million that year and saw how successful it was for the racing industry in Maryland.
Knowing the potential Charles Town, and the rest of West Virginia, had for far more horse racing, and on a larger scale, the pair developed a vision of a series of races, featuring some of the best horses in West Virginia, at the Charles Town track.
It took about three months to organize, and their expectations were limited at first considering the complexity of putting together a major sports event. But they found a way to make it happen.
Funding was arranged. Horses were secured and the first West Virginia Breeders’ Classics was held in 1987, featuring a five-race card. Union Juice was the featured winner that first year and the initial purse was $100,000.
Since that time, the Breeders’ Classics has had purses totaling $32 million. It’s what Huff and Holden had dreamed of 35 years ago, and the tradition goes on, thanks mostly to the efforts of Carol Holden.
