Hopf named senior director of racing at Colonial Downs
Frank Hopf, the former assistant general manager at Sam Houston Race Park in Houston, has been hired as the senior director of racing for Colonial Downs in Virginia, the new owner of the track, Churchill Downs Inc., announced Tuesday.
Hopf, who had served in a variety of management roles at Sam Houston over the past 13 years, will take a position vacated by Jill Byrne, who announced that she was leaving as vice president of racing operations shortly after Churchill purchased Colonial and its offtrack betting parlors last year. Byrne had served in the position for four years, starting in 2019, when Colonial Downs re-opened after a six-year hiatus.
Earlier this year, Byrne took a position at the Virginia Equine Alliance as its vice president of strategic planning.
As senior director of racing operations, Hopf will oversee “all racing operations, including mutuels, track surface, and racing office personnel,” Churchill said in a press release. He also will liaise with the Virginia Equine Alliance and the Virginia Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association, Churchill said.
Churchill also said that it has promoted Stanley Shina to racing secretary, a position previously held by Allison De Luca. Shina, a former trainer who has 40 years of experience in the racing industry, will remain the assistant racing secretary at Tampa Bay Downs, whose meet does not overlap with Colonial’s.
De Luca had previously been racing secretary at Colonial Downs since 2019, but she resigned as well last year, according to a Churchill spokesperson.
Colonial runs a unique meet that relies on heavy use of a massive turf course. The track has gradually increased its number of live racing days since re-opening, using subsidies from slot machine-like devices operated at Colonial and at its offtrack betting parlors.
Churchill plans to run 27 live racing dates in 2023, from July 13-Sept. 9, on a Thursday-through-Saturday schedule. The company has said that the live race meet at Colonial will gradually increase to 50 dates per year to take advantage of a law that grants the owner of the track the additional operation of 100 slot machines per live race date.
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