Casse, DeVaux, Stidham, McCaughey, Trombetta and more enter multiple runners

Opening Day of the 2024 Colonial Downs live racing season is Thursday, July 11, and the card has been drawn. The 12-race program features an average field size of 10.4, as 125 entries were taken with six of those sitting on the also-eligible list. Beginning with three National Steeplechase Association (NSA) races, first post on Thursday is 11:45 a.m. (all times Eastern).

The Old Dominion 6, a classic Pick 6 with a $1 minimum, includes five legs which are overdrawn or full at 12 runners. The Late Pick 5 with a 12% takeout is equally as flush with an average field size of 11.4. Eleven of the 12 races are scheduled for the Secretariat Turf Course. The lone dirt affair comes in Race 4, one of three events on the card for 2-year-old fillies. Leading freshman sire by earnings Complexity will be represented on the card, as will fillies from the first crop of Tiz the Law and McKinzie.

Last year’s top barns come out firing on Thursday. The 2023 top conditioner Michael Trombetta leads all with five entries. Michael Stidham enters three; Kelsey Danner, four. Mark Casse and Shug McGaughey are represented with two apiece.

In her first meet stabled at Colonial Downs, Cherie DeVaux enters three. Zartownis and Norwich will face off in the turf sprint allowance feature, which goes as Race 8, and Prouver enters the turf route allowance feature one race later.

Select Thursdays throughout the nine-week meet will begin with three steeplechase races, a hallmark of Colonial Downs racing. When Steeplechase races are carded, first post on Thursdays is 11:45 a.m. The flat contests begin at 1:30 p.m. on both Thursday and Saturday. New this year is later afternoon racing every Friday with a first post of 4:30 p.m.

STAKES RACING KICKS OFF SATURDAY, JULY 13

The first three stakes races of the season – the $125,000 Million Preview, $125,000 Beverly D. Preview and $125,000 Boston – will be drawn on Saturday, July 6. All three races will be run over Colonial’s renowned Secretariat Turf Course on Saturday, July 13.

The Million Preview is for older horses at 1-1/8 miles; the Beverly D. preview is for older fillies and mares at 1-1/16 miles; and the Boston, which serves as a prep for the G2 Secretariat Stakes, is for 3yo’s traveling one mile.

2024 WAGERING MENU

New Carryover Rule for Pick 5; Takeout Remains at 12% New for 2024, when there is a carryover in either 50-cent Pick 5 – whether Early or Late – that money will be carried into the following day’s Late Pick 5. The Early Pick 5 will cover the first five flat races on the card and the Late Pick 5 will cover the final five races each day. Takeout remains at a bettor-friendly 12%.

The Old Dominion 6 returns for 2024, a classic $1 Pick 6 wager with a 15% takeout covering the final six races daily. If nobody correctly selects all six winners, 25% of the net pool will be paid out to those selecting the most winners while 75% will be carried over to the following program.

The remainder of the wagering menu consists of the standard $2 Win, Place and Show; $1 Exacta, 50-cent Trifecta, and 10-cent Superfecta. There will be Rolling $1 Daily Doubles and $1 Pick 3’s on all flat races, plus two Pick 4 bets – one on the first four flat races and the other on the final four events.

Also new this year is the opportunity for horseplayers to link up their multi-race opinions in the National Steeplechase Association (NSA) races, which will be held on selected Thursdays. There will be a $1 Pick 3 starting with Race 1 to cover the (NSA) races and $1 Daily Doubles coupling Races 1-2 and Races 2-3. Each steeplechase race will offer the standard $2 Win, Place and Show; $1 Exacta, 50-cent Trifecta, and 10-cent Superfecta wagering.

OPENING WEEKEND HIGHLIGHTS

Live racing gets underway Thursday, July 11 with an 11:45 a.m. post time. The first three races will be NSA steeplechase events which include wagering. The flat racing portion of the card will start at approximately 1:30 p.m. It will be the first Thirsty Thursday of the season with $3 draft beer refills every Thursday all season long with the purchase of a souvenir cup.

Friday, July 12 will be Party at the Downs featuring happy hour beer and wine specials from 4 p.m. until 7 p.m. and live entertainment in the Trackside Tent. Post time every Friday is 4:30 p.m.

In addition to the inaugural editions of the $125,000 Million Preview, $125,000 Beverly D. Preview, and the $125,000 Boston, Saturday, July 13 features a giveaway of an 18-month calendar loaded with photos of the stars of the 2023 season at Colonial Downs.

Colonial’s races will be prominently featured on FanDuel TV all season long. Additionally, FanDuel TV will be on-site for coverage of the Festival of Racing on August 10.

Racing fans are encouraged to wager on racing from Colonial Downs via www.TwinSpires.com, the official advance-deposit wagering service for Churchill Downs Incorporated and its family of racetracks. TwinSpires.com boasts an improved wagering experience and mobile app combining the latest technology with the ability to wager on virtually every quarter,
harness and thoroughbred horse race from venues around the globe. TwinSpires.com also offers access to unmatched insight and analysis from our horse racing experts, handicappers, insiders, educators and Bloodstock Research Information Services (Brisnet).

About Colonial Downs

Colonial Downs Racetrack, in New Kent, Virginia, hosts live thoroughbred racing on two nationally renowned surfaces – the Secretariat Turf Course, the widest turf course in North America at 180 feet wide and on a 1 1/4-mile dirt track. The Colonial Downs Group, which is owned by Churchill Downs Incorporated (NASDAQ Global Select Market: CHDN), also operates Rosie’s Gaming Emporiums® in Richmond, Hampton, New Kent, Vinton, Emporia, and Dumfries which offer innovative historic horseracing (HHR) gaming technology and full card simulcasting as well as Rosie’s Game Room in Collinsville, which features a limited selection of some of their best HHR titles plus full card simulcasting. The 2024 live racing season, which consists of 27 days from July 11 through September 7, is highlighted by the Grade 1 Arlington Million, Grade 2 Beverly D. and Grade 2 Secretariat Stakes on August 10 and the Grade 3 New Kent County Virginia Derby on

Horsemen across the state and beyond reaping the benefits of Virginia Thoroughbred Association’s innovative Virginia Certified program

Colonial Downs invites horsemen across the country to discover if their Thoroughbred, bred outside of Virginia, qualifies as Virginia Certified; therefore, eligible to enter in the many Virginia Restricted races. Any horse that maintained residency in Virginia for at least a six-month consecutive period prior to December 31 of its two-year-old year qualifies. There are 46 Virginia Restricted races in the first book alone. Across the 9-week 2024 Colonial Downs racing season, over $2.4 million in non-stakes purses are up for grabs. 

“We often hear from owners and trainers who did not know their horse qualifies for our Virginia Restricted races,” said Gary Palmisano, Executive Director of Racing for Churchill Downs. “The rules are unique to what you find in other states in that the groundwork to become eligible is done early in a horse’s career, so horses claimed or bought at auction may in fact be eligible unbeknownst to the current connections. I would just encourage trainers and owners to double check their eligibility so that they can take advantage of this fantastic opportunity.”  

The Virginia Thoroughbred Association has diligently kept track of all Virginia-certified, Virginia-sired, and Virginia-bred Thoroughbreds, and horsemen can reap the benefits by following this link to check if their horse qualifies: https://link.edgepilot.com/s/541590df/YvqvI35q20aypvlj3PzFnw?u=https://www.vabred.org/vbf/searchthoroughbreds/.

“If the horse wasn’t named when we registered it, then it’s not named in the database,” said Debbie Easter, Executive Director of the Virginia Thoroughbred Association. “If they don’t find it by name, then they need to search for it by the dam’s name and the date of birth.”

On the website, one can simply check the box for “Virginia Certified” at the top of the page, then either search by horse’s name, dam’s name and date of birth, or view a list of all registered horses alphabetically. 

Created in 2016 by the Virginia Thoroughbred Association, the Virginia Certified program incentives horsemen to raise and train their Thoroughbreds in the Commonwealth state. It has been integral to breathing life into Virginia’s horse industry. In a recently conducted economic study, it was found that the program has generated $86.2 million in economic benefits for the state.

“What this has done is save our industry’s infrastructure in Virginia,” Easter said. “Our farms were going away. Our training centers and our farms that raise young horses were going away. We were losing veterinarians, blacksmiths, everyone you need for the horse industry. We designed this certified program with hopes of bringing 400 horses to Virginia each foal crop. It is bringing more like 800 to 900. It’s been a huge savior to our farms.”

The Virginia Certified program has awarded $14.6 million to owners since 2016. The Virginia Owner’s Purse Bonus awards owners of Virginia-bred and Virginia-sired horses a 50% purse bonus for horses finishing 1st through 4th in all open races. When a Virginia Restricted horse wins an open company race, the Virginia Developer’s Purse Bonus offers up to a 25% purse bonus to that horse’s developer (the owner of the horse when it makes its first lifetime start). 

“Our Virginia farms are hiring people, they’re making capital improvements, they’re able to raise their rates,” Easter said. “In these 7 years that we’ve been registering certified horses, we’ve gotten over 5,000 horses in our program. These are the beautiful things about what we’re doing.”

Those 5,000 and counting Virginia Certified horses are eligible to enter in the Virginia Restricted races at Colonial Downs, and the purses are run for 15% more than the open company races. 

Opening day at Colonial Downs is Thursday, July 11. The first condition book can be found here: https://link.edgepilot.com/s/4c7cf51a/BXzY6LScskCcswjL_xp8Tg?u=https://www.equibase.com/premium/eqbHorsemenAreaDownloadAction.cfm?sn=CB-CNL-20240711-20240815D.

Listed below is a list of VA- Certified horses that have started in 2024, and are eligible for Va- Restricted races at Colonial Downs.