Walters’s Charles Town winning streak snapped at nine

Trainer David Walters had a nine-race winning streak broken last Saturday when Steel Curtain finished second at Charles Town. It was the first time Walters had been beaten since July 8.

Walters’s streak began July 10. On Saturday, he won the first and third races at Charles Town before Steel Curtain ran in the fourth. During his streak, Walters did run two horses as an entry in a race July 23, with one finishing first and the other fifth.

“It’s not something you plan on,” Walters said. “You win two or three in a row, and you think that’s pretty good. And then it gets to be four or five, but you’re still far away from it really being something.”

In total, Walters won 11 out of 12 races dating to June 26. While aware of the streak, Walters kept entering horses just like he usually would and didn’t make any special attempt to keep the streak alive.

“It’s not something I put a lot of thought into,” he said. “You can’t put pressure on yourself like that or you’ll start making mistakes with your horses just to keep the streak going.”

Walters, 57, has been training at Charles Town since 1982. His wife, Ellen, is the daughter of the late trainer Robert Hilton, a member of the Charles Town Hall of Fame who has a stakes named in his honor on Charles Town Classic Day.

According to David and Ellen Walters, Hilton won nine races in a row in 1980.

David Walters is having an excellent year at Charles Town. One of the winners during his streak was Chrome Mine, a 4-year-old daughter of Mineshaft who is 7 for 9. Walters is third in the Charles Town standings with 25 wins from 81 starters.

His only starter at a track other than Charles Town this year came in March, when he sent D D’s Destiny to Mountaineer for a second-level allowance race. Of course, she won.