Charles Town

A compelling Grade I race with year-end title implications and it's not even a Saturday? Such is the magic of Saratoga. Friday's $500,000 GI Personal Ensign S. at nine furlongs has attracted older mare division leaders Nest (Curlin) and Clairiere (Curlin). Both are multiple Grade I winners with stellar records; the two will meet for the third time. Nest, last year's Eclipse champion 3-year-old filly, is the 4-5 choice after besting Clairiere in a bang-up GII Shuvee S. July 23 over track and trip. It was her first start of...

Jockey Carlos Eduardo Lopez, currently third in earnings and fourth in wins at Charles Town Races this year, was fined $1,000 by the track's stewards for losing a win at the wire after his mount was clear by five lengths at the sixteenth pole and he apparently thought he could coast to victory without additional effort. "Jockey Lopez eased his mount, Stylish Paint, coming to the wire in the ninth race on Saturday, Apr. 8, 2023, causing his horse to get beat on the wire," stated the Apr. 14 stewards'...

by Ken Lowe (TDN is re-running this letter to the editor, which originally appeared in Wednesday's newsletter, due to editing errors). There were many empty seats at the table when HISA was invented, that being "Middle America Racing", comprised of almost every jurisdiction between "the moon (California) and New York City (NYJC)." Now, being "blue collar horse folks," we all know it takes three (3) legs for a stool and in this "fixed race" it was Kentucky. Throw kerosene on the flames, when certain trainers were indicted by the Feds...

The Week in Review by T.D. Thornton The annual Claiming Crown races were two weeks ago. But a surprise black-type feast for blue-collar campaigners took place over Thanksgiving weekend, when horses once claimed for tags as low as $10,000 and $16,000 ran away with three of five stakes at Laurel Park, and an 8-year-old gelding bought last year for $10,000 topped a blanket-finish trifecta of previously claimed sprinters in the GIII Fall Highweight H. at Aqueduct. The relic known as the Fall Highweight--in which nominees are assigned weights scaled several...

Mountaineer Park was granted approval on Monday by the West Virginia Racing Commission (WVRC) to race 124 dates in 2023, a six-program reduction from the 130 that the track is scheduled to race this year during its April-through-December meet. Speaking about the loss of race dates, WVRC executive director Joe Moore said, "I'm told that is as a result of the Horse Racing Integrity Authority (HISA) and Horseracing Integrity and Welfare Unit (HIWU) assessments recently received by the commission and the racetracks for calendar year 2023." Mountaineer executives were offered...

Peter Blum's Society (Gun Runner) avenged her lone career defeat to date last time in the GI CCA Oaks with a thoroughly dominating performance in Friday's GIII Charles Town Oaks. Favored on the precipitous drop in class, the beautifully bred chestnut was hustled straight into the lead by Tyler Gaffalione and the duo was pressed along early by 21-1 outsider Chardonnay (Candy Ride {Arg}), with the well-backed Louisiana raider Free Like a Girl (El Deal) not far away in third. Going along easily after four furlongs in a very manageable...

Beverly Park (Munnings) is far from the best horse in the sport. But he's certainly the hardest working. His win Thursday night at Charles Town in a starter allowance came in his 14th start on the year. No other horse has run more than 11 times in 2022. It was also his second start in five days and his fourth in 28 days. That may seem like more than a horse can handle, but it's working. One of the most prolific winners in the sport, Beverly Park has won six...

The West Virginia Racing Commission (WVRC) on Tuesday opted to take no action either way on whether to collect and remit fees on behalf of the new Authority created by the federal Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA). States are facing a May 1 deadline to declare "in or out" middleman status pertaining to the safety portion of the HISA program that will go into effect July 1. This first phase-in of oversight does not include HISA's drug testing and medication control programs, which aren't expected to be up and...

Raymond Joseph "Randy" Funkhouser, II, a longtime member of the Charles Town Horsemen's Benevolent Protective Association (HBPA), passed away Feb. 4. He was 70. Born and raised in Charles Town, West Virginia, Funkhouser returned to Jefferson County after graduating from Stanford University to partner with his mother Ruth and mentor Frank Gall in running O'Sullivan Farms. He was actively involved in the West Virginia Thoroughbred industry and farmland preservation, working tirelessly for decades with legislators and community leaders to protect and enhance the industry in the state. Funkhouser served as...

Minutes after another easy win by Letruska (Super Saver), this time in the GI Juddmonte Spinster S. Sunday at Keeneland, trainer Fausto Gutierrez told reporters that the GI Breeders' Cup Distaff, and not the GI Breeders' Cup Classic, would be next for his 5-year-old mare. That was hardly a surprise. Gutierrez and German Larrea, the Mexican billionaire businessman who owns the horse, are looking to play it safe. Letruska is simply better than every other filly and mare in the sport and shouldn't have any problem winning the Distaff. The...

Although he stopped short of saying that a surface change at Charles Town Races might soon be mandated by state racing regulators, West Virginia Racing Commission (WVRC) chairman Ken Lowe Jr. made it clear during Tuesday's meeting that he will be advocating for a synthetic surface to replace the traditional dirt that comprises the track's six-furlong oval. Lowe's Apr. 20 comments came against the backdrop of 11 equine fatalities at Charles Town so far in 2021. The track is closed for racing Wednesday through Saturday this week to perform maintenance...

Live racing has been cancelled at Charles Town through Nov. 14 after two jockeys tested positive for COVID-19. As a result, the track intends to apply for additional days with the West Virginia Racing Commission. Those days would be Nov. 25, Dec. 2, Dec. 9 and Dec. 16. Live racing is currently slated to resume Nov. 19.