Charles Town is a racetrack and casino center which lies in Charles Town, West Virginia. It is around 60 miles from Baltimore and approximately 10 miles from the historic 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 center back in 1997.

Charles Town is home to one of the smallest racetracks in the US, with a six-furlong oval track typically leading to races held over the four-and-a-half and five furlongs. It is referred to as traditional dirt, and there are presently 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 has a state-of-the-art casino, which was the very first to be developed in West Virginia. Sports wagering has actually been readily available at this venue since August 2018.

There is also a 153-room hotel on-site. The track likewise possesses a grass enclosed grandstand and clubhouse, with the former being able to seat approximately 3,500 viewers.

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

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

The track holds a number of important 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 purse for the day has recently increased 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 venue up to scratch and to make sure that the West Virginia place was fit to stage winter season racing. Despite a number of cynics recommending that Charles Town would have a hard time to get visitors through the door, the track saw numbers increase over the very first decade in spite of the perilously cold conditions.

Hall of popularity jockey Bill Hartack was a routine at the track throughout the early days, and he set a variety of track records - 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 better half visited the track in 1960 as part of their presidential project.

In 1969, Barbara Jo Ruben ended up being 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 incredible career and was welcomed back to the track in 2019 to mark the anniversary of the occasion.

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

The first running of the West Virginia Breeders' Classic was held at the track and was organized 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 bought by Penn National Gaming in 1997, and they carried out a $175,000,000 upgrade of the facilities.They built brand-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 two renewals of this contest.With a reward bag of over $1 million, the race continues to draw in a top quality field and is one of the wealthiest contests in the US.

Charles Town Track Configuration and Bias

When the track rides fast (which occurs throughout the bulk of the summer season months), this often hinders closers. The fast dirt at Charles Town tends to permit frontrunners to get enough take advantage of to win wire-to-wire, and this is an essential facet of summertime racing in West Virginia.

Frontrunners often have a hard time when the rain has boiled down, and the track is riding careless.

There has been plenty of racing at CharlesTown in 2019, and the statistics recommend that there is a fairly even split when it pertains 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 seven 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 starting position, with simply 11 of the 169 runners being drawn in this slot handling to protect triumph (6.5 percent).

In path races, the within stalls likewise produced the greatest number of winners. Stall 2 had 18.6 percent of the winners, while the within position yielded 17.6 percent of all winning thoroughbreds. Stall 5 revealed a relatively poor return of simply over 10 percent, while just one of the 12 runners beginning in stall 9 went into the winner's enclosure.

Neither of the two horses who started in stall 10 were first 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 place takes a little break for the holiday before racing returns at the beginning of the fiscal year. Racing normally 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 include the Charles Town Mile and the West Virginia Breeders' Classic.