Colonial Downs

Colonial Downs has postponed Monday's opening card due to forecasted dangerous heat conditions with heat index forecasts over 100 degrees. Monday's races will be re-carded for Sunday, Aug. 2 and horsemen will need to re-enter Tuesday, July 28. Colonial Downs's revised opening day features a nine-race card planned for Tuesday, July 28 with a post time of 5:30 p.m. ET.

Colonial Downs Group, a subsidiary of Peninsula Pacific Entertainment, announced it will alter course from hosting limited spectators to a "spectator-free" racing program for the 2020 race meet, which kicks off July 27. As a result of the pandemic, the decision was made at the request of the Virginia Racing Commission (VRC) and the Virginia Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association. According to Colonial Downs officials, the changes are intended to focus additional care on key operating areas, including jockeys' quarters, paddock supervision, the racing office and stable area. The 2020...

Colonial Downs is slated to open for its 18-day stand Monday, July 27, and the turf-centric oval announced Friday that it will cap attendance at 1000 spectators in accordance with third phase of Virginia's COVID-19 re-opening plan. Spectators will be limited to outdoor areas of the track apron and grandstand; will receive temperature checks upon arrival; must maintain six feet  of distance from other attendees; and will be required to wear masks indoors and encouraged to wear them outdoors. "With the advancement into Phase 3 of Virginia's reopening plan, and...

Colonial Downs Group, which includes the Virginia racetrack that reopened last summer and Rosie's Gaming Emporiums at three other in-state locations, announced Wednesday that it will transition its closed restaurants to provide 20,000 free "grab and go" meals for police officers, doctors, nurses, firefighters, grocery store employees and other workers on the "front lines" of the response to the coronavirus pandemic. The company closed its facilities on Mar. 15. The meals will be provided starting Apr, 1, with day-before ordering requested. Groups of 10 or more are encouraged to sign...

The GIII Virginia Derby, the marquee event of the Colonial Downs season, highlights the New Kent oval's 2020 stakes schedule. The turf event for 3-year-olds anchors the 18-day meeting's closing day Saturday, Aug. 29. Also featured on Virginia Derby Day: the Virginia Oaks, Rosie's S. and Kitten's Joy S. The 2019 Rosie's winner Four Wheel Drive (American Pharoah) went on to win the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint. The 2020 season kicks off July 23 with live racing days over a six-week period will run every Thursday, Friday and...

Dr. Alfred C. Griffin Jr., the co-chair of the Virginia Gold Cup who played a key role in keeping pari-mutuel racing alive in his home state during Colonial Downs's closure, was elected president of the National Steeplechase Association at Friday's NSA Board of Directors meeting. The Warrenton, Va. orthodontist succeeds Guy J. Torsilieri, who was elected as the NSA's chairman. Torsilieri, who served as the NSA's president for 11 years before declining to seek another term, was elected as the NSA's chairman. He succeeds Beverly R. Steinman, who retired from...

The popular Mid-Atlantic Thoroughbred Championships Series (MATCH) has been renewed for 2020, with an expanded schedule and an increase in owner, trainer and breeder bonus money thanks to new partner racetracks, horsemen's groups and breeder associations, the Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association announced Tuesday. The Series, which returned in 2018 after a 16-year hiatus and works toward the larger goal of coordination in a region with the largest concentration of daily racing in the United States, has grown to 35 stakes at eight tracks with a combined $3.75 million in purses for...

For many, the impending return of structured racing to Virginia at Colonial Downs in New Kent evokes stirring memories of a horse culture firmly embedded in the Commonwealth's history. On a personal level, I cannot help but harken back to my days as a track and field athlete at the College of William and Mary in the heart of Colonial Williamsburg, when I would routinely pair 18-mile training days with evening trips to a musty OTB down the road in Hampton to bet Penn National and Charles Town. I'd often...

Colonial Downs, in conjunction with the Virginia Racing Commission, announced Monday a comprehensive set of elevated safety and horse welfare procedures and protocols for its upcoming 15-day meeting, running from Aug. 8 through Sept. 7. The protocols will encompass Pre-Race Examinations, Medication, Test Barn Procedures and Race Time Inspections, among many initiatives to be executed for the meet by the Colonial Downs racing department and the VRC. "We are proud of our program of safety protocols and procedures which have been developed for the current meeting," said Allison De Luca,...