Lucrative Charles Town Classic Moved to Aug. 28
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Photo: Coady Photography
Runnin'toluvya wins 2019 Charles Town Classic, a race postponed to Aug. 28 this year due to COVID-19
The marquee stakes race at Charles Town, the Charles Town Classic Stakes (G2), has been rescheduled for Aug. 28 following approval by the West Virginia Racing Commission at a June 19 meeting, the track announced. The 1 1/8-mile Charles Town Classic, originally scheduled for April 18 prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, will have its purse cut to $600,000 this year after being run for $1 million in 2019.
Stakes purses at most tracks operating amid COVID-19 have been reduced.
The Charles Town Classic will be one of seven stakes Aug. 28 with a special 5 p.m. ET first post, including the $200,000 Charles Town Oaks (G3) at seven furlongs. The latter race was worth $300,000 last year.
The two graded events will be joined by three other unrestricted seven-furlong stakes: the $150,000 Dance to Bristol Stakes for fillies and mares, the $100,000 Robert Hilton Memorial Stakes for 3-year-olds and the $100,000 Russell Road Stakes presented by Triple Crown Nutrition for horses 3-years-old and up. A pair of West Virginia accredited stakes, the $50,000 Robert G. Leavitt Stakes and $50,000 Sylvia Bishop Memorial Stakes, complete the stakes offerings on the Aug. 28 card.
While the Charles Town Oaks has been moved from its previously scheduled Sept. 19 date and two other unrestricted stakes originally bound for the same day have been canceled, a quartet of West Virginia-bred stakes will still remain Sept. 19 and serve as a springboard to the West Virginia Breeders' Classics held three weeks later Oct. 10.