Charles Town’s stakes schedule highlighted by Classic,
newly upgraded Oaks
The Grade 2, $1.5 million Charles Town Classic and Grade 3 Charles Town Oaks,
which last week became the track’s second ever graded race, headline the 2014
stakes schedule at Charles Town.
The 2014 stakes action at Charles Town kicks off on April 19 with the
centerpiece of the track’s season — the Charles Town Classic — as well as five
other stakes on the evening’s 13-race program. With its $1.5 million purse, the
Charles Town Classic continues to occupy its position as the richest race in the
United States outside of the Kentucky Derby and Breeders’ Cup.
Most recently, the 2013 Charles Town Classic provided the race’s most
memorable finish to date with winner Game On Dude, runner-up Clubhouse Ride and
third-place finisher Ron the Greek separated by just a half-length on the wire.
The most lucrative race on the April 19 undercard will again be the $200,000
Sugar Maple for fillies and mares going seven furlongs. The Sugar Maple has been
run on the Charles Town Classic undercard since the inaugural running of both
races in 2009 and was won in 2013 by Dance to Bristol, who would go on to win
the Ballerina for trainer Ollie Figgins III. Joining the Sugar Maple will be the
$100,000 Robert Hilton Memorial, $50,000 Webb Snyder Charles Town Dash as well
as the $50,000 Original Gold and Confucius Say for accredited West Virginia-breds.
The Charles Town Oaks stands alone as the main event for the September 20
Race for the Ribbon card that includes seven stakes. In addition to its newly
minted grade, the Charles Town Oaks received a purse increase to $500,000 for
2014. With its $500,000 purse, the race joins the Test at Saratoga as the
richest sprint for three-year-old fillies in the country.
“Between being graded for 2014 and how productive the Charles Town Oaks has
been to date, we felt moving the purse to $500,000 should give us a true,
marquee race that we can build a better event around,” Vice President of Racing
Erich Zimny said. “As a $500,000 graded race in late September, it’s our hope
that the Charles Town Oaks can have some Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Sprint
implications going forward.”
In 2011, Bobby Flay’s Her Smile competed in the Charles Town Oaks prior to
running third in the Breeders Cup Filly & Mare Sprint fewer than seven weeks
later. The runner-up in the race’s 2011 edition — Groupie Doll — won the Filly
& Mare Sprint in both 2012 and 2013.
Joining the Charles Town Oaks on the Race for the Ribbon card is a trio of
unrestricted stakes, each worth $100,000. The Researcher for three-year-old
sprinters takes a purse decrease from the $400,000 it has stood at since 2010,
while the Wild & Wonderful and Pink Ribbon each got bumped up into six-figures.
Three $50,000 stakes for West Virginia-breds — the Rachel’s Turn, Henry Mercer
Memorial and It’s Only Money — round out the Race for the Ribbon day stakes
action.
Including the five restricted stakes conducted on the Charles Town Classic
and Race for the Ribbon days, 16 stakes for West Virginia-breds, totaling
$800,000 in purses are currently scheduled in 2014.
Not included in that figure is the Tri-State Futurity, open to horses bred in
West Virginia, Maryland and Virginia.
Also not included in those totals is the third of Charles Town’s event days
— West Virginia Breeders’ Classics XXVIII, which is tentatively slated for
October 18. The races and purses for the day showcasing the top West
Virginia-bred horses in training will be released at a later date. In 2013, West
Virginia Breeders’ Classics XXVII comprised nine races and more than $1.1
million in available purse money. The evening’s signature race, the $500,000
West Virginia Breeders’ Classic, was won by Ed Krishack’s Fred High over
two-time race winner Russell Road.
All told, the 2014 Charles Town Stakes schedule is made up of 25 races worth
a total of $3.55 million, excluding the West Virginia Breeders’ Classics whose
purses have not yet been finalized.
Charles Town’s live racing schedule was announced
following approval from the West Virginia Racing Commission at its meeting
Monday morning.
The schedule includes 220 live racing dates beginning with
Charles Town’s January 2 card, with four live days per week from May through
October and five live days the remaining six months.
In building on their
transition to Tuesday night racing over the past few years, Charles Town will
run all of its cards during the evening in 2014, with racing being conducted
Tuesday through Saturday when five days of live racing are held and between
Wednesday and Saturday when there are four performances per week.
Post time for
the first race on all of Charles Town’s 2014 live programs will be its standard
evening start time of 7:15 p.m. (ET), with the only exceptions being Charles
Town Classic Day on April 19 and Race for the Ribbon Day on September 20,
both of which get underway at 5 p.m. and feature 13 races.
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