Tag: charles town races

Two Runaway Charles Town Winners DQ’d For Bath Salts; Positives Due To ‘Environmental Contamination’

On Sept. 17 at Charles Town Races in West Virginia, a pair of odds-on favorites won their respective races by open lengths. According to the Thoroughbred Daily News, both horses have since been disqualified after showing trace levels of the synthetic opioid fentanyl and eutylone, a stimulant known as “bath salts.”

However, Charles Town stewards will not seek further punitive measures for the positives against the two horses' trainers, explaining in a ruling dated Oct. 22 that the test rules were likely due to environmental contamination. The standard penalty for a first offense Class 1, Category A positive test would be a one-year suspension and a $10,000 fine.

The Jack Hurley-trained Morality Clause (2-5 odds) won the second race on Sept. 17 by 15 1/2 lengths, and the Timothy Kreiser-trained Take Me Home (7-10 odds) won that day's fourth race by 7 1/2 lengths. Due to COVID restrictions, the ruling said, Kreiser shipped his horse into Hurley's barn to run, and both horses were handled prior to their races by the same stable employee.

“Mr. Kreiser could not enter the backside so Take Me Home ran out of the barn of Jack Hurley,” the ruling said. “Mr. Kreiser and Mr. Hurley were not acquaintances but were brought together by a mutual owner.”

That stable employee, unidentified in the ruling, refused a drug test and has since been summarily suspended.

Read more at the Thoroughbred Daily News.

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Twice Ain’t Nice: Charles Town Bars Horse After Pair Of Mid-Race Incidents

River Crossroad RVF became an internet sensation the first time on July 10, when the 3-year-old gelding ran in Charles Town's seventh race. He was in the lead but made a sudden right-hand turn at the top of the stretch, heading back toward the stable area, reports beyondtheflag.org.

The Jeff Runco trainee made it onto SVP's Bad Beats with Scott Van Pelt and Stanford Steve on ESPN. Though River Crosroad RVF broke his maiden in his next start, he pulled his signature stunt once again on Sept. 10. Charles Town stewards have now barred the horse from competing at the West Virginia track.

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Math Wizard, Runnin’toluvya Top Nominees For Aug. 28 Charles Town Classic

Led by 2019 Pennsylvania Derby (G1) winner Math Wizard, defending race champ Runnin'toluvya and 2019 Frizette (G1) heroine Wicked Whisper, a total of 141 nominations were received for the $600,000 Charles Town Classic (G2) and $200,000 Charles Town Oaks (G3) which closed this past Friday. When the two races are run together on Friday, August 28, it will mark the first time Hollywood Casino at Charles Town Races will hold both of its graded stakes on the same day. The 12th running of the Charles Town Classic, postponed from its original April 18 date following the track's closure due to the COVID pandemic, and the Charles Town Oaks, moved up from its September 19 spot on the calendar are only two of seven total stakes races on the card totaling $1,250,000 in purse money.

Steve Asmussen, who trained Four Gifts to a win in the inaugural running of the Charles Town Oaks in 2009, led the way with 15 nominations for the two races, with the Charles Town Classic brigade headlined by 2019 Pimlico Special (G3) victor and 2018 Preaknesss (G1) runner-up Tenfold who scratched out of Sunday's Alydar Stakes at Saratoga.

Trainer Brad Cox looks to send out his first runner in the Charles Town Classic and has a trio of older horses to choose from in Night Ops, a winner of the Cornhusker Handicap (G3) in his last start, multiple graded stakes winner Owendale and Warrior's Charge, most recently a good fourth behind Vekoma, Network Effect and Code of Honor in the Metropolitan Handicap (G1) at Belmont Park.

Much like Cox, Bret Calhoun would be saddling his first Charles Town Classic starter and appears possible to do so with Mr. Money, a winner of four straight graded stakes events as a three-year-old, including the West Virginia Derby (G3), before seeing that winning streak snapped by a close-up second place effort in the Pennsylvania Derby. Calhoun also has the multiple graded stakes winning six-year-old Silver Dust nominated to the Classic.

Others nominated to the Charles Town Classic include 2019 race runner-up Diamond King, 2019 Woodward (G1) runner-up Bal Harbour, Monmouth Cup (G3) winner Global Campaign, Santa Anita Handicap (G1) second place finisher and expected starter Multiplier, Challenger (G3) victor Trophy Chaser and War Story, a winner of more than $3.2 million over his career that includes three previous efforts in the Charles Town Classic.

While Math Wizard stands as his lone Charles Town Classic nomination, trainer Saffie Joseph was well represented amongst Charles Town Oaks nominees with four sophomore fillies, including the multiple graded stakes winner Tonalist's Shape and Loriloupies, an impressive winner in consecutive starts earlier this year at Gulfstream.

Others nominated and possible for the Charles Town Oaks include Boerne, winner of the Azalea in her last start at Gulfstream, Hopeful Growth, most recently victorious in the Monmouth Oaks (G3) and Project Whiskey, who scored in the Delaware Oaks (G3) at odds of nearly 40-to-1.

Entries for the August 28 Charles Town Classic card will be taken on Tuesday, August 25.

Nominations for three more unrestricted stakes all run at seven furlongs – the $150,000 Dance to Bristol for older fillies and mares, the $100,000 Russell Road and the $100,000 Robert Hilton Memorial for three-year-olds – close this upcoming Friday, August 14.

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Aftercare Of Charles Town: Doing Right For More Than Just The Horses

Charles Town Races is home to an aftercare organization all its own: Aftercare of Charles Town (ACT). Founded in 2013, the purpose of the nonprofit organization is to rehome, repurpose and retire Thoroughbreds that have raced or trained at the West Virginia track.  ACT operates with a volunteer board and no employees.

Georgiana Pardo is a general practice lawyer and the volunteer president of ACT, which assisted 43 horses in 2019. Georgiana explained to the Daily Racing Form how ACT works. To enter a horse in the ACT program, she says, a horseman must file paperwork showing that the horse has raced at Charles Town. Charles Town assesses a paddock fee per start; as much of the ACT funding comes from that fee and from the Charles Town Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association, ACT's focus is on assisting horses that have raced specifically at that track.

The retiring horse must also come with vet records that allow ACT to determine what sort of second career may be most appropriate for the horse. Once accepted into the program, the horse will go to a placement partner where it is rehabilitated, retrained and adopted out. The placement partner receives a stipend and ACT pays for any vet care needed to get the horse comfortable for his second career. Placement partners are experienced nonprofit organizations that provide follow up on the horses that were under their care and will take the horse back should it be returned.

Georgiana notes every racehorse deserves a quality life after racing. She believes that track funding for aftercare is achievable, and that it assists more than just the horse: it helps the owners, trainers and the horse's adopters, as well. It's a situation in which everyone wins.

Read more at TDN.

More information on Aftercare Charles Town can be found here.

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