Charles Town is a racetrack and gambling establishment center 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 currently owned by Gaming and Leisure Properties, and the day-to-day operations are overseen by the Penn National Gaming. They purchased the facility back in 1997.

Charles Town is home to among the smallest racetracks in the US, with a six-furlong oval track typically resulting in races held over the four-and-a-half and 5 furlongs. It is referred to as conventional dirt, and there are presently no plans to build a turf course.

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

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

There is likewise a 153-room hotel on-site. The track also has a turf confined grandstand and clubhouse, with the previous being able to seat up to 3,500 spectators.

Racing happens all-year-round at Charles Town with live race-days usually occurring Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. The track takes a brief 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 strategies to present Quarter Horse contests.

The track holds a variety 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 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 betting 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 invested $160,000 in order to get the venue up to scratch and to ensure that the West Virginia venue was fit to stage winter season racing. Despite a variety of naysayers suggesting that Charles Town would struggle to get visitors through the door, the track saw numbers increase over the first years despite the perilously cold conditions.

Hall of popularity jockey Bill Hartack was a regular at the track throughout the early days, and he set a number of track records - 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 wife went to the track in 1960 as part of their presidential 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 amazing career and was invited back to the track in 2019 to mark the anniversary of the event.

The track closed for 2 weeks in 1979 with all horsemen asked to vacate the facilities, although racing soon recommenced, with Sunday being contributed to the calendar right 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 handbag 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 built 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 available to older horses running over a mile and one eighth. Researcher won the very 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 quick (which occurs throughout the majority of the summer season), this frequently prevents closers. The quick dirt at Charles Town tends to permit frontrunners to get enough utilize to win wire-to-wire, and this is an essential aspect of summer racing in West Virginia.

Frontrunners typically struggle 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 suggest that there is a fairly even divided when it comes to post positions. In sprint races, the inside positions have the edge, with stalls one and two producing 15.8 and 15.9 percent of the winners, respectively.

Stalls 3 and 7 were also fairly efficient, with 14.4 and 14.6 percent of horses starting here entering the winner's enclosure, respectively.

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

In route races, the inside stalls also produced the highest 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 bad return of just 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 began 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 little break for the holiday before racing returns at the beginning of the calendar year. Racing normally takes place 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 consist of the Charles Town Mile and the West Virginia Breeders' Classic.