Colonial Downs meet begins; Arlington Million, Beverly D. on schedule
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Since Churchill Downs Inc. closed Arlington Park after the Chicago-area track’s 2021 race meet, the Arlington population, horses and humans, has spread in various directions. Hard core Illinois horse people still inhabit bare bones Hawthorne Race Course, the last Chicago track, but many others, including most of the final Arlington racing office, migrated southeast to Horseshoe Indianapolis.
Last summer, Colonial Downs drew a host of former Arlington folks, trainers and jockeys alike, and Colonial will have an even stronger Arlington flavor during a 27-day racing season that begins Thursday.
One main reason for that: CDI now operates Colonial having closed last November on a $2.75 billion purchase of Peninsula Pacific Entertainment, parent company of Colonial and its lucrative casino gambling operations. CDI didn’t want Arlington but did decide to keep the Arlington Million around, and after being held last summer at Churchill Downs, the race now is part of a $5.25-million stakes program at Colonial.
The Grade 1 Million, the Grade 1, $500,000 Beverly D., and the Grade 2, $500,000 Secretariat will be run Aug. 12 at Colonial. While closing a revered racecourse but keeping its signature race has rung hollow for many, Colonial is a fine site for Grade 1 turf racing. The track, in rural New Kent, Va., has among the widest grass courses in North America, and the course, from all accounts, is excellent.
Day-to-day racing, offering roughly $700,000 in daily purses (including stakes), is grass-heavy, and the race that used to be Colonial’s most important, the Virginia Derby, is also contested on turf. The Virginia Derby card this summer falls on Sept. 9, closing day.
That’s a Saturday, and Colonial, mainly at the behest of the Virginia Racing Commission, has shifted three-day racing weeks from Monday through Wednesday in 2022 to Thursday through Saturday this year. While CDI officials hope the Friday and Saturday cards find a synergy with major summer meets such as Saratoga and Del Mar, there’s also the chance that the Colonial signal gets lost on racing-heavy Fridays and Saturdays. First post is 1:30 Eastern on all three racing days.
CDI has brought in new racing administration: Frank Hopf, formerly of Sam Houston, is the senior director of racing, while Stanley Shina is racing secretary.
Trainers of note with stalls this season who didn’t stable at Colonial last year include Mark Casse and Teresa Pompay. Steve Asmussen, Kelsey Danner, and Jonathan Thomas are expected to run more in 2023 than during 2022. There will be fewer Illinois horses this year than last, since Hawthorne, which closed its 2022 meet in June, runs through September this year.
CDI has brought two new wagers to the menu, a $1 pick six (not a jackpot) and an early pick five. Takeout on pick five bets remains at 12 percent, while the pick six takeout is 15 percent. Win, place, and show takeout is 18 percent, and takeout on most other exotic wagers is 22 percent.
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