Charles Town Picks

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


It is currently owned by Gaming and Leisure Properties, and the daily operations are managed by the Penn National Gaming. They purchased the center back in 1997.


Charles Town is home to one of the smallest racetracks in the US, with a six-furlong oval track frequently leading to races held over the four-and-a-half and five furlongs. It is explained as traditional dirt, and there are currently no strategies to develop a grass course.


The main 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 modern casino, which was the very first to be constructed in West Virginia. Sports wagering has been offered at this venue considering that August 2018.


There is also a 153-room hotel on-site. The track likewise possesses a lawn enclosed grandstand and clubhouse, with the former having the ability to seat approximately 3,500 spectators.


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


Charles Town only hosts Thoroughbred racing at the track. There are presently 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 recently risen above the million-dollar mark.


Charles Town Racetrack History


Charles Town opened in 1933 and ended up being 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 spent $160,000 in order to get the place approximately scratch and to make sure that the West Virginia location 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 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 track records - many of which still stand today. He once rode 24 winners during Charles Town's 24-day winter satisfy.


John F. Kennedy and his other half went to the track in 1960 as part of their governmental project.


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


The track closed for 2 weeks in 1979 with all horsemen asked to leave 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 organized by NFL Hall of Famer Sam Huff.The inaugural reward purse included $100,000 and was won by Onion Juice.


The track was bought by Penn National Gaming in 1997, and they performed a $175,000,000 upgrade of the facilities.They built 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 purse of over $1 million, the race continues to bring in a top quality field and is one of the richest contests in the US.


Charles Town Track Configuration and Bias


When the track trips fast (which occurs throughout the majority of the summer season), this typically hinders 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 facet of summer racing in West Virginia.


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


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


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


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


In path races, the inside stalls also produced the greatest number 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 showed a fairly poor return of simply over 10 percent, while just one of the 12 runners starting in stall nine entered 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 location takes a little break for the holiday before racing returns at the beginning of the fiscal year. Racing generally takes location Thursday-Sunday although they frequently stage extra cards on Thanksgiving and Labor Day.


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