Charles Town Picks

Charles Town is a racetrack and casino facility which is located in Charles Town, West Virginia. It is around 60 miles from Baltimore and approximately 10 miles from the historical Harpers Ferry.


It is currently owned by Gaming and Leisure Properties, and the daily operations are overseen by the Penn National Gaming. They bought the facility back in 1997.


Charles Town is home to among the tiniest racetracks in the US, with a six-furlong oval track frequently resulting in races held over the four-and-a-half and five furlongs. It is referred to as standard dirt, and there are currently no strategies to construct a turf course.


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


The track possesses a cutting edge casino, which was the very first to be constructed in West Virginia. Sports betting has been offered at this venue considering that August 2018.


There is likewise a 153-room hotel on-site. The track also has a grass confined grandstand and clubhouse, with the former having the ability to seat up to 3,500 viewers.


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


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


The track holds a number of valuable stakes races throughout the season, with the West Virginia Breeders Classic being the standout contest. This occasion pays over $500,000 to the winning connections, while the overall handbag 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 first live race-day was staged on December 2 and was organized by Albert Boyle of the Shenandoah Valley Jockey Club.


The owners spent $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 cynics suggesting that Charles Town would struggle to get visitors through the door, the track saw numbers increase over the first decade in spite of the perilously cold conditions.


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


John F. Kennedy and his partner checked out the track in 1960 as part of their .


In 1969, Barbara Jo Ruben became the very 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 career 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 abandon the properties, although racing soon recommenced, with Sunday being added to the calendar right after the re-opening.


The 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 reward bag included $100,000 and was won by regional raider Onion Juice.


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


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


Charles Town Track Configuration and Bias


When the track trips quickly (which takes place throughout the bulk of the summer season), this often impedes closers. The quick dirt at Charles Town tends to permit frontrunners to get enough take advantage of to win wire-to-wire, and this is a key element of summertime racing in West Virginia.


Frontrunners frequently struggle when the rain has boiled down, and the track is riding careless.


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


Stalls 3 and seven were likewise fairly efficient, with 14.4 and 14.6 percent of horses starting here going into the winner's enclosure, respectively.


Stall nine was the poorest beginning position, with simply 11 of the 169 runners being drawn in this slot managing to secure triumph (6.5 percent).


In route races, the within stalls also produced the greatest number of winners. Stall 2 had 18.6 percent of the winners, while the inside position yielded 17.6 percent of all winning thoroughbreds. Stall five showed a relatively bad return of just over 10 percent, while just one of the 12 runners beginning in stall nine went into 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 among a handful of tracks in the US to host year-round racing. The West Virginia venue takes a small break for the holiday season before racing returns at the beginning of the calendar year. Racing usually takes place Thursday-Sunday although they often stage additional cards on Thanksgiving and Labor Day.


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