Last year's leaders, Trombetta and Paco Lopez, back for meet opener
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Colonial Downs will begin its 2026 summer meet with an eight-race card Thursday that includes a pair of second-level allowances on dirt and turf that will serve as co-features. As in past meets, the New Kent, Va., track has attracted an eclectic mix of Mid-Atlantic runners and shippers from Florida and Kentucky.
In 2025, no trainer shipped more horses to Colonial than Michael Trombetta, who directed most of his Maryland operation toward Virginia and won his third straight summer training title with 30 wins from 125 starts. He has 13 horses entered in the first four days of this year’s meet.
“We’re going to try to do something similar to what we did last year,” Trombetta said. “Obviously, every year’s a new adventure, but our plans are to try to run as many as we can in the appropriate spots. We have a lot of turf horses, so Colonial’s a big help to us.”
The first race on Thursday is a Virginia-certified maiden special weight for 2-year-olds, where Trombetta has entered the juvenile gelding Fission. He will be among five first-time starters going up against X G Man, a second-time starter and one of many horses shipping up from Florida for trainer Mary Lightner.
Trombetta said he is already considering several horses for stakes action at Colonial in the coming weeks, namely Noquestionaboutit, last year’s winner of the $125,000 Glenn Petty who will try to repeat on July 11.
Trainer Robert Bailes will try to maintain momentum after enjoying one of the best Colonial meets of his career in 2025, having won 8 of 39 starts. Even with Laurel Park still racing this week, Bailes has entered nine horses across the first three cards at Colonial, including runners in both stakes Saturday.
Last year, Slam Notion won the $125,000 Star de Naskra for Bailes, his first stakes victory at the track since 2013, while the juvenile filly Slewperstitus notched a pair of runner-up finishes in the $100,000 Keswick and $125,000 Dolley Madison.
“Last year was really special,” Bailes said. “That really kicked us in pretty strong for the rest of the year. The horses really came out of here and did good for us back home at Laurel. We have some of the same faces and some different ones this year. We hope to have a good meet.”
Paco Lopez, the leading rider at Colonial last summer, will get right back to business this week. Despite his 45 percent win rate at Monmouth Park this year, he will travel to Virginia with mounts in 30 of the track’s first 33 races.
On Aug. 1, the track will host the Grade 1 Arlington Million for the fourth straight year, carrying on the legacy of Arlington Park’s historic event. The stakes will be the feature on a card that also will include the Grade 2 Beverly D., Grade 2 Secretariat, and five listed stakes, all of which will offer a combined $2.6 million in purse money.
Graded stakes action will return to Colonial on Labor Day, Sept. 7, when the track hosts the Grade 3, $500,000 Old Dominion Derby on a six-stakes card that also will feature the $250,000 Old Dominion Oaks. That card will conclude racing at the track for the year.
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