Colonial Turf Cup, Virginia Derby highlight Colonial
summer meet
Colonial will kick off its 13th annual Thoroughbred racing season on June 12
and continue an eight-week, forty-day meet thru August 4. Racing will take place
on a Friday thru Tuesday basis with a three tiered post time schedule. Friday
cards will begin at 6 p.m. (EST), Saturday/Sunday programs will go to post at
12:55 p.m. and Monday/Tuesday programs will kick off at 5 p.m.
“We bumped Friday cards back an hour from (5 p.m. to 6 p.m.) to give our
racing fans a chance to get off work and still make it out here in time for the
early part of the card,” Director of Racing Tyler Picklesimer explained.
Highlights of the meet are the fifth running of the Colonial Turf Cup (G2),
slated for June 20, and the 12th edition of the Virginia Derby (G2), scheduled
four weeks later on July 18.
This is the first year the Colonial Turf Cup will hold Grade 2 status. It was
a Grade 3 event in 2007 and 2008, when Summer Doldrums (Street Cry [Ire]) and
Sailor’s Cap (Distant View) won those respective editions. The Turf Cup also
kicks off the Grand Slam of Grass four-race series, where a horse who sweeps the
quartet would win purse and bonus monies in excess of $5 million.
The Virginia Derby, the second leg of the Grand Slam series, keeps Grade 2
status for a fourth straight year. The Virginia Derby got its grade bump in
2006, and Go Between (Point Given), Red Giant (Giant’s Causeway) and Gio Ponti
(Tale of the Cat) have won those respective Derbies since.
Stall applications are now being accepted for the 2009 summer season. They
are available at colonialdowns.com or by calling Rhonda Davis at 804-966-7223 or
1-888-482-8722. The applications are due by May 1.