By Bill Finley
Churchill Downs Inc. (CDI) is set to go ahead with plans to move the GI Arlington Million, the GI Beverly D S. and the GII Secretariat S. to Colonial Downs, where the races will be run on Aug. 12. CDI acquired the New Kent, Virginia, track in August of this year.
The three races were long-time fixtures at Arlington Park, which closed at the conclusion of its 2021 meet. The Million and Beverly D. and Secretariat S. were all moved to Churchill Downs for the 2022 racing season, but the Secretariat was canceled owing to concerns over the condition of the Churchill Downs turf course.
The move of the races to Virginia was officially announced in a press release released Wednesday by Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin.
“It is an incredible honor to continue the legacy of these exceptional races by hosting them in our Commonwealth,” Youngkin said in the release. “I am deeply committed to growing our equine industry and as we work to revive the rich traditions of this sport in Virginia, these stakes races will accelerate our progress and ignite excitement for the fans.”
Youngkin's release also quoted CDI CEO Bill Carstanjen, who said: “Churchill Downs Incorporated remains steadfast in our goal to increase the relevance of the racing product at Colonial Downs and in Virginia. We appreciate the American Graded Stakes Committee for their approval of this move, which is an important step toward that goal in terms of wagering growth and entertainment value. We are also committed to increasing the flow of purse revenue from historical horse racing to allow for expansion of race dates in the future.”
The move to bring the races to Colonial had been in the making for weeks, but CDI had been awaiting approval from the American Graded Stakes Committee (AGSC), which had to decide whether or not the races could keep their graded status after being moved to a new track. For the AGSC to approve the move was not a formality as the committee's rules call for a race losing its graded status if it is moved from a track in one region of the country to another. Despite that rule, the committee approved the changes.
“The American Graded Stakes Committee has reviewed the unique circumstances around the move of these races and had a lengthy debate about the positives and negatives of allowing the races to maintain their current grades, even after moving regions,” read a press release from the AGSC. After careful consideration the committee voted to allow the GI Arlington Million S., GI Beverly D. S., and GII Secretariat S. to maintain their current grades for 2023 provided all conditions of the races, except region, are substantially similar to previous years after moving to Colonial Downs.”
The move to Colonial will allow the Arlington Million to go back to its traditional distance of a mile-an-a-quarter and the Beverly D. will once again be contested at a mile-and-three-sixteenths.
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