Meet opener has 11 turf races, and one on dirt

Sure, the horses still run left-handed around a flat oval track there, but Colonial Downs marches to a drummer hitting the off beats.

The rural Virginia racecourse opens a 27-day racing season Thursday – with three steeplechase races.

In late June, Colonial sent out a press release urging horsemen to investigate the Virginia status of their stock: Colonial’s first condition book includes 46 races categorized as “Virginia-restricted,” races open to any horse that spent six months in the state before they turned 2, an unusual eligibility condition.

During its 2023 season, Colonial ran 213 of its 266 races on turf, the inverse of most American racecourses, and 11 of Thursday’s 12 are carded for turf. Colonial utilizes inner and outer turf courses – check your past performances.

A bevy of well-known trainers either ship to run at Colonial or have stalls on the backstretch, among the latter group the top four trainers from 2023: Michael Trombetta, Michael Stidham, Kelsey Danner, and Mark Casse.

Shug McGaughey, who ships his runners, finished fifth in the 2023 standings, going 9 for 18. Cherie DeVaux opened a Colonial string this summer.

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Thursday’s nightcap, a maiden special weight, includes entrants trained by Christophe Clement, Casse, Jimmy Toner, Arnaud Delacour, Stidham, Ignacio Correas, McGaughey, and Brittany Russell. Yet in the previous race one finds entrants from Moises Yanez, Jefferey Zook, Elizabeth Voss, Scott Acker, and Leanne Hester, who during 2024 have sent out a combined 57 runners on the flat.

Oh – and Colonial has risen from the dead. The track closed in 2013 and didn’t reopen until 2019, hosting just 144 races that season as “Colonial Rosies” after a group called Peninsula Pacific Entertainment leveraged Virginia’s racing history to open the state’s only casinos, including a “gaming emporium” at the track. Churchill Downs Inc. liked what they saw, bought Peninsula’s assets, and assumed control of Colonial in November 2022. The casinos subsidize a solid enough purse structure, with open maidens like Thursday’s finale going for $60,000.

The stakes schedule, which launches with a trio of races Saturday, includes 27 races worth $4.7 million. The meet’s high point is the Aug. 10 program anchored by the Arlington Million, Colonial’s lone Grade 1. Also on that program, transplanted from the late Arlington Park, are the Grade 2 Beverly D. and the Grade 3 Secretariat. The Virginia Derby, Colonial’s signature race before the Million’s relocation, comes Sept. 7.

Each card offers two pick fives with 12 percent takeout, while the rake on win, place, and show bets comes in at 18 percent, most exotics at 22 percent. Colonial will take bets this year on steeplechase races, but multi-race wagers won’t link jump races and those on the flat.

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Bettors will find some bang for their bucks especially in turf races, which averaged 8.5 starters during 2023.

Race weeks comprise Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. Thursday steeplechase races begin at 11:45 a.m. Eastern, the flat portion of the card at about 1:30, the same as Saturdays. Friday first post is 4:30.

It’s not Saratoga, not Del Mar – just a race meet running concurrently with those, bopping along to its own rhythm.

A previous version of this article misstated that Colonial Downs offers a jackpot-style pick six wager. The track only offers a traditional pick six with no jackpot provision.

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