Charles Town is a racetrack and gambling establishment facility which is located in Charles Town, West Virginia. It is around 60 miles from Baltimore and roughly 10 miles from the historic Harpers Ferry.

It is presently owned by Gaming and Leisure Properties, and the everyday operations are managed by the Penn National Gaming. They bought the center back in 1997.

Charles Town is home to among the tiniest racetracks in the US, with a six-furlong oval track frequently leading to races held over the four-and-a-half and 5 furlongs. It is referred to as traditional dirt, and there are presently no plans to develop a grass course.

The primary track has a width of 60 feet and has a four-and-a-half furlong chute, which allows path races to be held at CharlesTown.

The track has an advanced gambling establishment, which was the very first to be integrated in West Virginia. Sports wagering has actually been offered at this place since August 2018.

There is likewise a 153-room hotel on-site. The track also possesses a turf confined grandstand and clubhouse, with the previous being able to seat up to 3,500 spectators.

Racing happens all-year-round at Charles Town with live race-days generally occurring Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. The track takes a brief break around the holiday season before recommencing in mid-January. It was the very first East Coast track to hold live racing during the winter season.

Charles Town just hosts Thoroughbred racing at the track. There are currently no plans to introduce Quarter Horse contests.

The track holds a variety of important stakes races throughout the season, with the West Virginia Breeders Classic being the standout contest. This event pays over $500,000 to the winning connections, while the total bag for the day has actually recently risen above the million-dollar mark.

Charles Town Racetrack History

Charles Town opened in 1933 and ended up being the very first pari-mutuel wagering track in West Virginia. The very first live race-day was staged on December 2 and was arranged by Albert Boyle of the Shenandoah Valley Jockey Club.

The owners invested $160,000 in order to get the place up to scratch and to make sure that the West Virginia venue was fit to phase winter racing. Despite a number of naysayers recommending that Charles Town would have a hard time to get visitors through the door, the track saw numbers increase over the first years regardless of the perilously cold conditions.

Hall of popularity jockey Bill Hartack was a regular at the track during the early days, and he set a number of performance history - numerous of which still stand today. He once rode 24 winners during Charles Town's 24-day winter fulfill.

John F. Kennedy and his better half checked out the track in 1960 as part of their governmental project.

In 1969, Barbara Jo Ruben became the first female jockey to win a pari-mutuel race in the US, with the 19-year-old guidingCohesion home by half-a-length. She went on to have an amazing profession and was invited back to the track in 2019 to mark the anniversary of the event.

The track closed for two weeks in 1979 with all horsemen asked to leave the premises, although racing quickly recommenced, with Sunday being added to the calendar not long after the re-opening.

The very first running of the West Virginia Breeders' Classic was held at the track and was arranged by NFL Hall of Famer Sam Huff.The inaugural prize handbag included $100,000 and was won by local raider Onion Juice.

The track was purchased by Penn National Gaming in 1997, and they carried out a $175,000,000 upgrade of the facilities.They developed new barns and opened a multi-million dollar simulcast center.

The Charles Town Classic was held for the first time in 2009, with inaugural race open up to older horses running over a mile and one eighth. Researcher won the very first 2 renewals of this contest.With a prize handbag of over $1 million, the race continues to draw in a top quality field and is among the wealthiest contests in the US.

Charles Town Track Configuration and Bias

When the track trips fast (which occurs throughout the bulk of the summer season), this frequently impedes closers. The quick dirt at Charles Town tends to allow frontrunners to get enough take advantage of to win wire-to-wire, and this is a key aspect of summer racing in West Virginia.

Frontrunners typically struggle when the rain has come down, and the track is riding careless.

There has been plenty of racing at CharlesTown in 2019, and the stats recommend that there is a relatively even divided when it comes to post positions. In sprint races, the within positions have the edge, with stalls one and 2 producing 15.8 and 15.9 percent of the winners, respectively.

Stalls 3 and 7 were also relatively productive, with 14.4 and 14.6 percent of horses beginning here going into the winner's enclosure, respectively.

Stall 9 was the poorest beginning position, with just 11 of the 169 runners being attracted this slot managing to secure triumph (6.5 percent).

In route races, the within stalls likewise produced the highest variety of winners. Stall two had 18.6 percent of the winners, while the inside position yielded 17.6 percent of all winning thoroughbreds. Stall five showed a fairly poor return of simply over 10 percent, while only one of the 12 runners starting in stall 9 got in the winner's enclosure.

Neither of the two horses who started in stall 10 were initially to pass the post.

Charles Town Racing Season

Charles Town is one of a handful of tracks in the US to host year-round racing. The West Virginia venue takes a small break for the holiday before racing returns at the beginning of the calendar year. Racing generally happens Thursday-Sunday although they typically stage additional cards on Thanksgiving and Labor Day.

There are a variety of stakes races held at the track and these command decent-size purses. The standout races consist of the Charles Town Mile and the West Virginia Breeders' Classic.