Thanksgiving week saw a dozen Virginia-Certified horses reach the winner circle at Mid-Atlantic tracks including a stakes winner at Laurel and a pair of maiden special weight winners at Aqueduct and Charles Town respectively. Of the twelve wins, six were by Maryland-breds, five by West Virginia-breds and one by a New York-bred.

Air Token captured the $100,000 Concern Stakes at Laurel November 28 where he won by a neck over betting favorite Francatelli in a thrilling finish. The Maryland-bred was fresh off a pair of solid efforts at Laurel — an allowance win November 7 and a second in the Maryland Million Turf Starter Handicap October 24. Sent off at 16-1, Air Token and jockey Horacio Karamanos wore down frontrunning Francatelli and rider Trevor McCarthy on the outside to capture his fourth win from 11 starts this year. The 3-year-old Golden Lad gelding has earned $145,122 for Corrales Racing. Air Token spent his six-month Virginia residency at Horseshoe Hill Farm in Ashland.

Air Token (outside) wins the $100,000 Concern Stakes at Laurel over Francatelli. Photo by Jim McCue.

JP Racing Stables’ Perfect Munnings impressed in his lifetime debut, winning a $70,000 maiden special weight at Aqueduct by two lengths. The 2-year-old Munnings colt is trained by Todd Pletcher and was ridden by Jose Ortiz. The winner, out of Our Perfect Ten by Medaglia d’Oro, spent six months in Virginia at Ingleside Training Center in Montpelier Station.

Perfect Munnings was best in a $70,000 maiden special weight at Aqueduct. Photo by Adam Coglianese.

Heretodaygonmanana captured the other maiden special weight, a $27,000 seven-furlong race, November 26 at Charles Town. The 2-year-old Creative Cause filly, a West Virginia-bred, won for the first time in four starts. The Jeff Runco trainee was bred by O’Sullivan Farms which co-owns the horse with Huntertown Farm LLC. She spent her residency at Bel Boi Farm in Berryville.

A pair of Crystal Pickett West Virginia-bred trainees reached the winners circle at Charles Town last week. Hypothesis won a $32,500 allowance race while Buff N captured an $18,000 claiming event Thanksgiving night. The former is a 3-year-old Algorithms gelding who has been a model of consistency this year. He has three wins, four seconds and a third from nine starts. Hypothesis, who spent his residency at Whiskey Creek Farm in Berryville, has provided owner Jill Daniels $93,109 in purse winnings and three Certified bonus checks. The latter is a 3-year-old Buffum filly that has recently found her groove. She won by a nose on turkey day and in her last five outs, has a pair of wins and runner-up finishes. Buff N is owned by Eight Stone Stables.

Air Token spent his six month Virginia residency at Horseshoe Hill Farm in Ashland.

Another pair of Certified horses each won their third race of 2020 holiday week at Charles Town. Maryland-bred You Made It rebounded from sixth at the top of the stretch to reach the winners circle in a 4 1/2 furlong claiming race, her seventh lifetime triumph. Owned by Wasabi Ventures Stables, the 4-year-old Congrats filly has purse earnings of $149,002. She was bred by Larry Johnson and qualified for residency status at his Legacy Farm in Bluemont. Take Time, a 3-year-old Charitable Man gelding, was best in a seven-furlong, $19,000 claiming race. Owned, trained and bred by John Casey, Take Time resided at James Casey’s Rt. 340 Farm in Boyce prior to racing.

Other winners included Maryland-breds Tunstall, who prevailed in a $18,000 claimer for owner/trainer by Greg Viands, and Ken’s Lady, who won a 2-year-old filly maiden claimer for owner/trainer John Salzman. Merry Mery Mojo got his picture taken in a 1 1/16 miles claimer for Blue Streak Racing while Sojourner was tops in a $10,800 claimer at Penn National for owner Larry Rabhold.

Stakes participants last week included Never Enough Time, who finished second in Laurel’s Primonetta Stakes. Juba Train and Strolling Through were third and fourth respectively in the Eleanor Casey Memorial at Charles Town. Princess Theorem finished fifth in the Grade 2 Golden Rod Stakes at Churchill and She’s Crafty was third in Mahoning Valley’s First Lady Stakes.

The VTA’s Certified program rewards horse owners who send their babies to Virginia to spend a minimum six-month residency prior to December 31st of its 2-year-old year. Once they begin racing, owners receive a 25% bonus for wins at tracks in the Mid-Atlantic region. A complete list of Certified farms and program specifics is at vabred.org.

The following appeared in The Paulick Report. VTA Executive Director Debbie Easter is a co-owner of 3-year-old Munnings filly, Finite, who captured a nice Grade 3 stakes win November 21 at Churchill Downs. With the win, Finite’s bankroll stands at $757,869 from 11 career starts. Easter is one-fourth owner of the filly. 

Favored Finite closed into a swift pace, moved into contention around the turn and ran down Sanenus (CHI) near the top of the stretch to comfortably win Saturday’s 35^th running of the Grade 3, $100,000 Chilukki Stakes at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky., by 2 1/2 lengths at odds of 6-5.

Finite, ridden by Ricardo Santana and trained by Steve Asmussen, clocked one mile over a fast track in 1:35.53 to beat eight other fillies and mares. It was the 3-year-old filly’s fifth stakes win of her career and first against elders.

Risky Mandate led the field in the one-turn mile through swift fractions of :22.75 and :45.59 with Finite tracking in seventh down the backstretch. As she moved into contention circling around the field, Sanenus (CHI), who was sitting just off the pace-setter, grabbed the lead and crossed the six-furlong marker in 1:10.81. But the closing Finite quickly forged an advantage in upper stretch and willingly drew off thereafter.

Finite, co-owned by VTA President Debbie Easter, wins the 35th Chilukki Stakes. Photo by Coady Photography.

“We had a great trip rating behind the pace,” Santana said. “I think at this stage of her career she is just getting better. She’s only 3-years-old and today was her first time against older horses. We went one-turn today but she’s maturing and going to be really nice at longer distances, too.”

Finite banked the $59,520 first prize for owners Winchell Thoroughbreds (Ron Winchell),Thomas J. Reiman, William Dickson and Deborah A. Easter. She rewarded her backers with $4.40, $3.40 and $2.40. Sanenus (CHI), ridden by Rafael Bejarano at odds of 10-1, paid $7 and $3.80. Whoa Nellie was another 1 ¼ lengths back in third at 6-1 under Joe Rocco Jr. and returned $4.20.

Gold Standard, Grand Cru Classe, Risky Mandate, New Roo, Crazy Sexy Munny and Unique Factor completed the order of finish.

Prior to the Chilukki, Finite was the narrow runner-up finisher behind Venetian Harbor in last month’s $200,000 Raven Run (G2) at Keeneland.

Overall, Finite has won six of 11 starts and $757,869. Her previous stakes scores came in the $122,097 Rags to Riches and $300,000 Golden Rod (G2) at Churchill Downs as a 2-year-old and the $148,500 Silverbulletday and $294,000 Rachel Alexandra (G2) earlier this year at Fair Grounds.

Following her fourth-place effort in the $400,000 Fair Grounds Oaks (G2) in March, Finite underwent minor ankle surgery but returned to Asmussen’s stable a few months later.

“She’s a really quality filly,” said Asmussen, who also won the 2007 Chilukki with Rolling Sea. “We had a really nice win last year at Churchill in the Golden Rod (G2) and going one-turn in the Rags to Riches. I think she had five wins in a row at one point last year. It was a disappointing race in the Fair Grounds Oaks (G2) and after that is when this year was sort of turned upside down. We gave her some time off after that race and she didn’t really handle the going in her start at Kentucky Downs. In the Raven Run, she ran really well against some nice fillies that day.”

In an attempt to land a Grade 1 win to her resume, Asmussen plans to send Finite to California’s Santa Anita for a start in the $300,000 La Brea (G1) for 3-year-old fillies over seven furlongs on Dec. 26.

Finite is a chestnut daughter of Munnings out of the Tapit mare Remit and was bred in Kentucky by Winchell Thoroughbreds LLC.

Known as the Churchill Downs Distaff from 1996-2004, the Chilukki was renamed in 2005 to honor Stonerside Stable’s graded stakes-winning filly who was trained by Bob Baffert. The daughter of Cherokee Run made four starts at Churchill Downs, all of which were victories. Chilukki won the 2000 edition of this race in what would be her final start with a final time of 1:33.57 – a track record at the time.

Racing at Churchill Downs resumes Sunday with a nine-race program that begins at 1 p.m. ET. The carryover in the Single 6 Jackpot, which covers Races 4-9, is up to $162,270.

The following appeared in the Prince William Times on 11/17/2020 and was written by Jill Palermo.

Work has begun at the Triangle Shopping Center on the new Rosie’s Gaming Emporium, which is now slated to open in early January, according to its parent company the Colonial Downs Group.

The company is holding a hiring fair today, Tuesday, Nov. 17, and plans to hire more than 100 new employees for the Dumfries site.

The company offers a minimum wage of $15 an hour for all positions. The average salary and benefits package is $42,000 for full-time workers. The job fair is being held from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. today, Tuesday, Nov. 17, at 3600 Point Center Court in Dumfries.

Those interested in a job at the new Rosie’s Gaming Emporium can also apply online at www.rosiesgaming.com.

Work is under way to transform an 18,000-square-foot space at the Triangle Shopping Center in Dumfries into Northern Virginia’s first Rosie’s Gaming Emporium. Photo by Jill Palermo.

The Rosie’s Gaming Emporium in Dumfries will be the fifth Rosie’s location in Virginia and the first to open in Northern Virginia. Dumfries voters approved a ballot referendum in November 2019 to allow historical horse-race betting within the town limits.

The Dumfries location is slated to have 150 historical horse-race betting machines, which resemble slot machines, as well as a restaurant that will serve both food and beverages. The operation was estimated to generate about $55,000 a month in local tax revenue, according to earlier estimates.

The new Rosie’s was initially slated to open by the end of 2019 but was delayed because of safety precautions related to COVID-19, according to Mark Hubbard, a Colonial Downs Group spokesman.

The company’s other four locations temporarily closed in compliance with Gov. Ralph Northam’s COVID-19 shutdowns last spring, but all team members were kept on the payroll “during the duration of the shutdown,” Hubbard said.

Now that Rosie’s has reopened its other locations, all are following COVID-19 mitigation strategies that include mandatory face coverings and temperature screenings for all patrons. Tables have also been rearranged for social distancing, and extra cleaning protocols are in place, according to the company’s website.

Earlier this year, the Virginia General Assembly cleared the way for Rosie’s to open a much larger facility in Dumfries with up to 1,650 betting machines. But the company is currently focused on the Triangle Shopping Center location, which will have 150 machines, Hubbard said.

Online betting handle on horse racing continues to flourish in Virginia as handle figures through the first ten months of 2020 were announced this week. The overall handle through October was $116,030,184 compared with $74,076,781 in 2020, good for an astonishing 56.64% increase.

Top handle producer of the four Advance Deposit Wagering (ADW) companies licensed in Virginia was TVG, whose $60,803,794 handle represents a 71.28% gain over last year. In October alone, they accepted $5,796,648 in bets and for the year, TVG is averaging $199,356 in bets per day, highest figure of the four ADWs.

The live simulcast area of Rosie’s New Kent is on the third floor paddock side.

Twinspires was next with $34,006,260, a 31.76% increase over last year’s $25,808,817. Xpressbet experienced a 57.36% boost while accepting $15,612,964 in wagers so far this year compared with $9,921,538 in 2019. NYRAbets, newest of the four online partners, showed a 96.90% increase with a handle of $5,607,165 versus $2,847,688 a year ago.

Over $2.7 million was wagered on horse racing action at Virginia’s seven OTBs — the four at Rosie’s Gaming Centers in New Kent, Vinton, Richmond and Hampton, and the three VA-Horseplay sites in Henrico (Breakers), Chesapeake (Buckets) and Collinsville (The Windmill). Breakers was the top handle producing venue with $617,347 during the month that featured the Preakness Stakes. Buckets was next with $567,883 and the Hampton Rosie’s was third with $411,665.

Buckets Bar & Grill in Chesapeake is one of the three VA-Horseplay OTBs in the state.

November’s handle numbers, still to come, will include the two-day Breeders’ Cup Championships that were held earlier in the month. A number of higher profile races are on tap in the coming weeks including a trio of Grade I stakes on Thanksgiving weekend — the $500,000 Clark Handicap at Churchill November 27, and the $300,000 Hollywood Derby and $300,000 Matriarch Stakes, both at Del Mar November 28 and 29 respectively. On December 5, Aqueduct hosts the Grade I Cigar Mile along with three other graded stakes, the same day Gulfstream hosts the Claiming Crown series.

Key upcoming harness racing events include the $100,000 Potomac Pace at nearby Rosecroft Raceway on Sunday November 15 followed the next week by a big night at The Meadowlands. On November 21, the Big M will give away nearly $3 million in purses between eight championship races — the Fall Final Four and another four Free-For-All events. Dover Downs finishes out the month with the $300,000 Progress Pace (3-Year-Old Open) on November 25.