By T. D. Thornton
Allison De Luca will be the Colonial Downs racing secretary for the upcoming 15-date summer meet. After six years of closure, the Virginia track will reopen under new ownership in 2019, staging an Aug. 8-Sept. 7 season.
De Luca has worked as the Tampa Bay Downs racing secretary since 2006. Prior to that she was the assistant acing secretary at Churchill Downs from 1996 to 2006. She has also served as the Keeneland Race Course stakes coordinator and has worked as an official for the Breeders' Cup.
When De Luca was hired in 1987 for a five-year stint as the racing secretary at now-defunct Sportsman's Park in Illinois, she was reported to be the first woman in the country to be named racing secretary at a commercial track.
A graduate of the Race Track Industry Program at the University of Arizona, De Luca has been involved in the horse racing industry in official capacities at racing jurisdictions in Arizona, California, Florida, Illinois, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey and Pennsylvania since 1978.
“I am looking forward to being part of Virginia racing at Colonial Downs and the efforts to bring competitive horse racing back to the commonwealth,” De Luca said in a Colonial press release. “This will be an exciting endeavor as we attract preeminent races to New Kent, including the Virginia Derby, the pinnacle of Virginia horse racing.”
Purse levels and a stakes schedule are pending, but Colonial has already targeted Aug. 31 as the return date for the Virginia Derby, which was previously a Grade II stakes.
Colonial's 600-unit historic horse racing operation, which will fuel purses, is on schedule to go live at the refurbished venue in mid-April. The 1,000-stall stable area opens July 25.
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