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

It is presently owned by Gaming and Leisure Properties, and the are overseen by the Penn National Gaming. They purchased the center back in 1997.

Charles Town is home to one of the tiniest racetracks in the US, with a six-furlong oval track typically resulting in races held over the four-and-a-half and five furlongs. It is described as traditional dirt, and there are presently no plans to develop a turf course.

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

The track has a state-of-the-art casino, which was the first to be integrated in West Virginia. Sports betting has been available at this location considering that August 2018.

There is likewise a 153-room hotel on-site. The track likewise possesses a grass confined grandstand and clubhouse, with the previous being able to seat as much as 3,500 viewers.

Racing takes location all-year-round at Charles Town with live race-days normally happening Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. The track takes a brief break around the vacation 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 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 event pays over $500,000 to the winning connections, while the overall bag for the day has just 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 very first live race-day was staged on December 2 and was organized by Albert Boyle of the Shenandoah Valley Jockey Club.

The owners invested $160,000 in order to get the venue approximately scratch and to make sure that the West Virginia venue was fit to phase winter season racing. Despite a number of cynics suggesting 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 fame jockey Bill Hartack was a routine at the track during the early days, and he set a variety of performance history - numerous of which still stand today. He when rode 24 winners throughout Charles Town's 24-day winter season fulfill.

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

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 incredible profession and was welcomed 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 premises, 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 arranged by NFL Hall of Famer Sam Huff.The inaugural reward handbag included $100,000 and was won by regional 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 very first time in 2009, with inaugural race available 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 draw in a premium field and is among the richest contests in the US.

Charles Town Track Configuration and Bias

When the track rides quick (which takes place throughout the majority of the summer season), this typically impedes closers. The quick dirt at Charles Town tends to enable frontrunners to get enough take advantage of to win wire-to-wire, and this is a crucial facet of summer racing in West Virginia.

Frontrunners typically have a hard time when the rain has actually come down, and the track is riding careless.

There has actually been a lot of racing at CharlesTown in 2019, and the stats recommend that there is a relatively even split when it comes to publish 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 7 were likewise fairly efficient, with 14.4 and 14.6 percent of horses beginning here getting in the winner's enclosure, respectively.

Stall nine was the poorest starting position, with simply 11 of the 169 runners being attracted this slot managing to protect success (6.5 percent).

In path races, the within stalls likewise produced the greatest variety of winners. Stall two had 18.6 percent of the winners, while the within position yielded 17.6 percent of all winning thoroughbreds. Stall five revealed a fairly poor return of simply over 10 percent, while just one of the 12 runners starting in stall 9 entered the winner's enclosure.

Neither of the two horses who began 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 vacation season before racing returns at the start of the calendar year. Racing normally occurs 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 bags. The standout races include the Charles Town Mile and the West Virginia Breeders' Classic.