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

It is currently owned by Gaming and Leisure Properties, and the day-to-day operations are supervised by the Penn National Gaming. They purchased the facility back in 1997.

Charles Town is home to one of the smallest 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 described as conventional dirt, and there are presently no plans to build a grass 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 cutting edge casino, which was the first to be built in West Virginia. Sports wagering has actually been available at this venue considering that August 2018.

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

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

Charles Town just hosts Thoroughbred racing at the track. There are presently no plans to present 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 event pays over $500,000 to the winning connections, while the total bag for the day has actually just recently increased above the million-dollar mark.

Charles Town Racetrack History

Charles Town opened in 1933 and became the very first gaming house betting 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 as much as scratch and to ensure that the West Virginia location was fit to phase winter season 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 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 variety of performance history - a number of which still stand today. He when 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 campaign.

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 profession and was invited 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 premises, although racing quickly recommenced, with Sunday being contributed to the calendar soon 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 bag consisted of $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 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 purse of over $1 million, the race continues to bring 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 quickly (which occurs throughout the bulk of the summer season), this frequently hinders closers. The fast dirt at Charles Town tends to allow frontrunners to get enough utilize to win wire-to-wire, and this is a key facet of summer season racing in West Virginia.

Frontrunners often struggle when the rain has actually come 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 publish 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 entering the winner's enclosure, respectively.

Stall 9 was the poorest starting position, with simply 11 of the 169 runners being attracted this slot handling to secure success (6.5 percent).

In route races, the inside stalls likewise produced the greatest 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 relatively poor return of simply 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 one of a handful of tracks in the US to host year-round racing. The West Virginia venue takes a small break for the before racing returns at the beginning of the fiscal year. Racing typically happens Thursday-Sunday although they often stage extra cards on Thanksgiving and Labor Day.

There are a number 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.