Dick Jerardi: Charles Town has evolved........
Dec 31, 2013 14:56:05 GMT -5
Post by Deleted on Dec 31, 2013 14:56:05 GMT -5
Dick Jerardi: Charles Town has evolved to remain hotter than ever
By Dick Jerardi
When Albert Boyle spent $160,000 in the middle of the Great Depression to build a racetrack in Charles Town, W.Va., that would open in December 1933 becoming America’s first winter race meet not run somewhere warm, he could not have possibly envisioned what the facility would look like 80 years later.
The owner bet that northern fans, starved for gambling action during the winter months, would respond. They did. Trains came from Baltimore, and fans came from everywhere.
Bill Hartack won the Kentucky Derby five times, but he began his career at Charles Town in 1952, winning 24 races during the 19-day meet. He finished with 4,272 wins and a place in the Hall of Fame.
On April 27, 1960, John F. Kennedy spoke at the track while campaigning for the Democratic presidential nomination.
In 1969 at Charles Town, 19-year-old Barbara Jo Rubin became the first female jockey to win a parimutuel race in the United States. Forty years later, she was inducted into the track’s Hall of Fame.
In 1987, Sam Huff and Carol Holden began the West Virginia Breeders’ Classics, modeled after the Breeders’ Cup.
Still, by the mid-1990s, it really looked like the track might not survive. The gambling world had changed, and Charles Town really had not.
Voters approved video lottery machines in 1996, and Penn National Gaming bought the facility in 1997.
As we hit 2014, Hollywood Casino at Charles Town Races has 5,000 slot machines, 5,000 parking spaces, table games, a poker room, a terrific race for older horses each spring, the Charles Town Classic (first run in 2009 and now a Grade 2 worth $1.5 million), and, coming this year, a second graded race, the Charles Town Oaks, which just got a Grade 3 designation.
The facility would not be recognizable – or even imaginable – to the original owner. The Washington suburbs have expanded out toward Charles Town. Baltimore is an easy drive on roads that had not been contemplated in 1933. What seemed like an isolated location when it opened no longer is isolated at all.
It is Charles Town, running all year now, definitely not closing in the winter and really hotter than it has ever been.
Each of the track’s three 2013 event days – Charles Town Classic Day in April, the Race for the Ribbon in September, and the West Virginia Breeders’ Classics in October – attracted record wagering for the day. The Charles Town Classic card got $4.3 million in bets, the Race for the Ribbon $2.2 million, and West Virginia Classic XXVII took in $1.5 million.
By Dick Jerardi
When Albert Boyle spent $160,000 in the middle of the Great Depression to build a racetrack in Charles Town, W.Va., that would open in December 1933 becoming America’s first winter race meet not run somewhere warm, he could not have possibly envisioned what the facility would look like 80 years later.
The owner bet that northern fans, starved for gambling action during the winter months, would respond. They did. Trains came from Baltimore, and fans came from everywhere.
Bill Hartack won the Kentucky Derby five times, but he began his career at Charles Town in 1952, winning 24 races during the 19-day meet. He finished with 4,272 wins and a place in the Hall of Fame.
On April 27, 1960, John F. Kennedy spoke at the track while campaigning for the Democratic presidential nomination.
In 1969 at Charles Town, 19-year-old Barbara Jo Rubin became the first female jockey to win a parimutuel race in the United States. Forty years later, she was inducted into the track’s Hall of Fame.
In 1987, Sam Huff and Carol Holden began the West Virginia Breeders’ Classics, modeled after the Breeders’ Cup.
Still, by the mid-1990s, it really looked like the track might not survive. The gambling world had changed, and Charles Town really had not.
Voters approved video lottery machines in 1996, and Penn National Gaming bought the facility in 1997.
As we hit 2014, Hollywood Casino at Charles Town Races has 5,000 slot machines, 5,000 parking spaces, table games, a poker room, a terrific race for older horses each spring, the Charles Town Classic (first run in 2009 and now a Grade 2 worth $1.5 million), and, coming this year, a second graded race, the Charles Town Oaks, which just got a Grade 3 designation.
The facility would not be recognizable – or even imaginable – to the original owner. The Washington suburbs have expanded out toward Charles Town. Baltimore is an easy drive on roads that had not been contemplated in 1933. What seemed like an isolated location when it opened no longer is isolated at all.
It is Charles Town, running all year now, definitely not closing in the winter and really hotter than it has ever been.
Each of the track’s three 2013 event days – Charles Town Classic Day in April, the Race for the Ribbon in September, and the West Virginia Breeders’ Classics in October – attracted record wagering for the day. The Charles Town Classic card got $4.3 million in bets, the Race for the Ribbon $2.2 million, and West Virginia Classic XXVII took in $1.5 million.
