Racing
The track features an autumn harness racing meet. Colonial Downs is the only 1 and 1/4 mile track in North America with harness racing and features a one turn mile. The horses start from a chute on the backstretch. Harness racing times at Colonial Downs are the fastest in racing. On October 11, 2008, the world trotting record was set during the $100,000 Patriot Invitational. It was set by Enough Talk. The trotter became the first in harness racing history to break the 1:50 barrier with 1:49.3.
The following graded stakes are run at Colonial Downs:
- Grade 2 Virginia Derby
- Grade 3 All Along Stakes
- Grade 3 Virginia Oaks
The Colonial Turf Cup and the Virginia Derby make up two legs of the Grand Slam of Grass.
Read more about this topic: Colonial Downs
Famous quotes containing the word racing:
“Upscale people are fixated with food simply because they are now able to eat so much of it without getting fat, and the reason they don’t get fat is that they maintain a profligate level of calorie expenditure. The very same people whose evenings begin with melted goat’s cheese ... get up at dawn to run, break for a mid-morning aerobics class, and watch the evening news while racing on a stationary bicycle.”
—Barbara Ehrenreich (b. 1941)