Charles Town’s stakes schedule highlighted by Classic, newly upgraded Oaks

Game On Dude beat Clubhouse Ride (red blinkers) and Ron the Greek (inside) in a fantastic 2013 Classic (Coady Photography)

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.

Grade 1 queen So Many Ways took the 2013 Oaks, which will see a purse hike to $500,000 to accompany its new Grade 3 status for 2014 (Coady Photography)

“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.