NOT TO WORRY ... COLONIAL DOWNS RETURNS

 When Churchill Downs, Inc., bought Colonial Downs a year and a half ago … for $2.5 billion in a package of investments that included the vast, statewide group of Rosie’s gambling emporiums … there was some concern expressed by people familiar with the new owners … who – critics said – had a reputation for putting gambling first while squeezing whatever they could out of the track then either selling or shutting it down … Otherwise, how to explain Churchill, home of the Kentucky Derby, buying then closing three … among them storied Arlington Park near Chicago? … If that wasn’t enough to make local Thoroughbred racing enthusiasts nervous, it became known Churchill would join Urban One with plans to put a casino in Richmond … with none of the proceeds being earmarked for racing … Add to the above the 2023 meet at Colonial would be held on Thursday, Friday and Saturday … going in direction competition with heavyweight Saratoga Race Track for the national betting dollars, something previous owners avoided because it was bound to hurt the handle which the horsemen depend on for daily purses … in other words, a no-no under the best of circumstances … Hadn’t Colonial done record business a year earlier operating Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays … when there was no major competition for the parimutuel dollar? What was Churchill Downs thinking? “We could have hit the easy button and run Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday … like every person we talked to told us to do,” Churchill’s executive director of racing GARY PALMISANO told the Virginia Racing Commission at its Dec. 14, 2022 meeting. “I think folks think we are crazy [but] we understand the challenge … [and] all we ask is a year to navigate through the process … make [their first Colonial meet] the best we can make it … [then] reassess and move forward. I know we’re diving in the deep end ...”

Thursday (July 11) the Thoroughbreds return to 

Colonial Downs for another scheduled nine-week, 27-

day meet that ends Sept. 7 … and no no one should be 

questioning Churchill Downs and it’s motives any 

more after last year’s meet did big numbers in several 

key categories … the most important of which 

(naturally) was handle ($71 million-plus) … It helped, 

of course, that with Churchill, the track, closed to 

undergo much-needed renovation, many of the top 

trainers and horses, who otherwise would have raced 

there, came here … and the Grade I Arlington Million 

and Beverly D as well as Gr. II Secretariat Stakes were 

moved to Colonial, too, for a one-day extravaganza of 

racing (record handle of $9.95 million) that attracted a 

crowd of 6,300-plus … In other words, not to worry … 

and the future of the state’s only major parimutuel 

track became even brighter – it says here – when the 

casino twice was rejected by the voting public.

This year’s meet will feature the three major stakes 

Aug. 10. The Virginia Derby is on tap for closing day 

... Opening day will begin with three steeplechase 

races, starting at 11:45 a.m., and, for the first time 

here, there will be wagering on all racing over hurdles 

… Flat competition gets under way at 1:30 p.m., with 

the first of 12 races … all but one over the Secretariat 

Turf Course … Full fields are expected, with average 

number of entrants per race announced as 10.4 … 

Weather could be a factor for what former Colonial 

handicapper “DERBY BLL” WATSON“ dubbed 

“The Meet in the Heat.” … The continental U.S. has 

been gripped by recent heat wave that has sent the heat 

index soaring well into triple digits. Here, we’ve dealt, 

for the most part, with temperatures in the mid-to-high 

90s. For Thursday, the weatherman is calling for a high 

of 93 … with a 50 percent chance of thunderstorms.

Until next time ...