Charles Town looks to keep momentum going with strong card

Charles Town returned from its pandemic-imposed hiatus in strong fashion last week as it hosted the first live card in the Mid-Atlantic region in nearly two months. The track’s Thursday, May 14, card handled $4,330,203 on a nine-race program, the fifth-highest betting card in the West Virginia track’s 87-year history, trailing only the Charles Town Classic cards of 2013, 2015, 2016, and 2019.

Charles Town looks to keep its momentum going as it opens its second three-day race week since its return on Thursday night with an eight-race card, featuring three allowance races that have drawn decent-sized fields.

The seventh race, a $29,000 allowance going 4 1/2 furlongs for 3-year-olds and up, has drawn three gelded sons of leading West Virginia sire Fiber Sonde, all of whom have consistent records and solid claims to the victory. Dr. Feelgood has won 8 of 10 career starts, all at Charles Town, including last year’s West Virginia Dash for Cash Breeders’ Classic Stakes –with a Beyer Speed Figure of 92 – and Last Enchantment Stakes and the 2018 Robert G. Leavitt Stakes. He is making his 2020 debut for trainer Crystal Pickett, He concluded last season with an 8 3/4-length allowance victory on Nov. 29, with a Beyer of 85, the top last-out number in this field.

Fiber and Emily, trained by William Atkins, and Sagebrush, trained by Tim Grams, were first and second in an allowance race on Feb. 27 at Charles Town before the track shut down in mid-March. Fiber and Emily, who has won 5 of 15 starts at Charles Town, had been second in an allowance-optional claiming event at Laurel to start the season before returning to West Virginia. Sagebrush has made every start of his career at this West Virginia track, with a record of 15-5-5-1. He won an allowance race last November to wrap up his 2019 campaign before returning to finish second to Fiber and Emily.

This field is well matched, as four in the field of nine are coming off victories, and all but one are coming off top-three finishes. Along with Dr. Feelgood and Fiber and Emily, Irish Roar won an allowance in February, while Jamming Cameron was most recently seen winning in July at Indiana. Reform School, also trained by Pickett, has been on the board in 5 of 6 career outings, with the lone aberration coming in an attempt on turf. The colt, stakes-placed at Laurel last out, has won both his outings at Charles Town.

The other two allowances on the card, both with $28,000 purses, are the fifth and sixth races, with fields of 10 and nine.