There were an abundance of highlights to peruse during the year-round racing slate at Charles Town in 2024, but several moments formed an Elite Eight that stood above the rest

Skippylongstocking part 2

Since finding a new home on the calendar in late August, the Charles Town Classic has emerged as one of the premiere events on the East Coast for older horses during the summer.

Following on the heels of recent two-time Classic hero Art Collector, who followed those efforts with Grade I victories in New York and Florida for trainer Bill Mott and a spot in the Breeders’ Cup Classic, as well, Skippylongstocking joined the short list of two-time winners by successfully defending his title last August for trainer Saffie Joseph, Jr. Skippylongstocking concluded his campaign with three wins and nearly $1.5 million from eight seasonal outings. Skippylongstocking joined Imperative (2014, 2017), Art Collector (2021-2022) and Researcher (2009-2010) as the only two-time Classic winners and the latter two as the only three to win it consecutively.

A Saffie double

Skippylongstocking’s Charles Town Classic win this past August gave his trainer, Saffie Joseph, Jr., a clean sweep of Charles’ Town’s two graded races, coming as it did one race after Mystic Lake had won the Charles Town Oaks, itself now a Grade 2 event.

It was the first time, track officials said, that a single trainer had swept both races.

“That’s pretty amazing,” Joseph said. “Charles Town has been good to us, and we brought a full string today that we thought we had good chances.”

As for Mystic Lake, she had previously won the Grade 3 Miss Preakness and later took the Sugar Swirl at Gulfstream Park. In between, she ran fourth in the Grade 1 Cotilloin at Parx Racing.

From CT to the Breeders’ Cup

For the second straight year, Skippylongstocking used the Charles Town Classic to help prepare for the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile but, alas, to no avail. In 2023 he finished third in the Breeders’ Cup, while this year he was sixth.

A horse who had a better result – though not quite a winning one – in this year’s Breeders’ Cup was Society. The Steve Asmussen trainee finished an oh-so-close second in the Filly and Mare Sprint after leading for much of the way.

She’s been to Charles Town twice, winning the 2022 CT Oaks and 2023 Misty Bennett Pink Ribbon. In this year’s Filly and Mare Sprint, she faced 2023 CT Oaks winner Vahva, who finished eighth.

Mystic Lake won five of nine starts and nearly $840,000 in nine seasonal outings and could potentially follow in Society’s footsteps next summer and return for the $500,000 Pink Ribbon Stakes and then make an appearance in the Breeders Cup Filly & Mare Sprint.

Looking like a million bucks

Even with purses enhanced by slot machine revenue over the last 30 years, West Virginia-bred runners eclipsing the $1 million plateau in career earnings have been few and far between. But last fall both Coastal Mission and Muad’dib, both of which boast Sam Huff West Virginia Breeders Classic scores and West Virginia-bred horse of the year honors already on their resumes, surpassed the $1 million plateau in lifetime earnings.

Coastal Mission, the reigning state-bred horse of the year for owner-trainer Jeff Runco, won three of nine starts last year and earned $535,000 and recorded lucrative scores in both the Grade III, $250,000 Forty Niner Stakes at Aqueduct and the $300,000 Parx Dirt Mile, as well as finishing a solid fourth in the Grade II Charles Town Classic in his only local outing.

Coastal Mission now has 14 wins and over $1.1 million banked from 26 career outings.

Muad’dib, the state-bred horse of the year in 2021 and 2022 for Runco and owner David Raim, posted a 3-2-3 slate from nine seasonal tries and actually surpassed the $1 million mark when second in the $75,000-added Randy Funkhouser Memorial before concluding his campaign with a narrow victory in a two-turn allowance. Muad’dib sports 17 wins and just over $1 million from 29 career tries and is expected to return for another season in 2025 at age eight.

A big Breeders Classics

In the weeks leading up to the West Virginia Breeders Classics, trainer Cynthia McKee admitted that she had more than her fair share of anxious moments. McKee, widow of former longtime local owner-trainer-breeder John McKee, was prepared to saddle 2023 WVBC race winners Direct the Cat and No Change, as well as a pair of runners with upset prospects in Overnight Pow Wow and Catch the Humor.

McKee would depart with four trophies on Classics night as Direct the Cat, No Change, Overnight Pow Wow and Catch the Humor all triumphed. Overnight Pow Wow had upset Direct the Cat in the Sylvia Bishop then finished a respectable fourth in the Charles Town Oaks. On WVBC night they went into separate events, with Direct the Cat winning the $75,000 Division of Tourism BC for three-year-old fillies and Overnight Pow Wow scoring in the Cavada. No Change successfully defended his title in the Onion Juice and Catch the Humor prevailed sharply in the West Virginia Lottery in only the second start of the year and third of his career.

McKee gave at least some of the credit to her late husband, whose grave she had visited that morning.

“I told him today, I said, ‘I got them to the head of the lane, honey. You’ve got to send them from there,’” she said, biting back the emotions of the moment. “By God, he did it.”

The other Runco wins it

Trainer Jeff Runco bypassed the Sam Huff WV Breeders Classic with his top trainee, reigning West Virginia Bred horse of the year Coastal Mission, who had been fourth in the Grade II, $1 million Charles Town Classic six weeks earlier. But the longtime local trainer won the event with his partial-namesake Runaldo for owner Huntertown Farm (Eric Steinmann) of Star of Night fame. Runaldo, whose name combines those of Runco and jockey Arnaldo Bocachica, prevailed in a thrilling Classic, narrowly beating 1-9 favorite Jubawithatwist and stablemate Muad’dib.

Runco also won three other races on the card. He sent out Annapolis Road to score in the Vincent Moscarelli Memorial for two-year-olds colts; Duncan Idaho, the full-brother to Late Night Pow Wow and Muad’dib, to win the Dash For Cash; and Change The World to capture the Roger Ramey Distaff by two lengths.

Leaders and newcomers

Familiar names topped the jockey and trainer standings.

Among riders, Arnaldo Bocachica won 181 races at a 31% strike rate to win his billionth consecutive riding title (possibly an exaggeration – it’s actually seven straight). Boca’s nearest competitors, Christian Hiraldo and Marshall Mendez, won 80 apiece.

The most notable newcomer, sort of, was Juan Mauricio Nunez, who in his second full year of riding improved from 42 wins in 2023 to 62 in ’24. His 59 wins at Charles Town were tied for fifth most, and his $1.1 million banked was also good for fifth.

In the training ranks, Anthony Farrior, who earned his 1,000th win during the year, led all trainers by wins for the third consecutive year. Farrior won 116 races at CT, nine more than Ronney Brown. In earnings, Farrior ($1.8 million) was second to Jeff Runco, whose charges earned nearly $2.2 million.

If it’s possible to burst quietly on the scene, trainer Stephen Murdock did that. Murdock had won with a solid 11 of 55 lifetime starters entering 2024. In ’24, primarily training for longtime owner Robert L. Cole, Jr., Murdock won at nearly a 50% clip overall, and at CT, he won with 24 of 48 starters, an astonishing rate, while generating purse earnings of over $400,000.

Murdock also registered his first two stakes wins, both by Teachintherelease, who won the Frank Gall Memorial and Randy Funkhouser Memorial, those sandwiching a runner-up finish in the WVBC Onion Juice.

Brother/sister act

A glimpse at the bloodlines of several of the top West Virginia-bred runners in training in 2024 showed a strong correlation to stars of years past.

Siblings Muad’dib, Duncan Idaho and Overnight Pow Wow – all by Fiber Sonde and out of the Indian Charlie mare Holy Pow Wow and bred by the late John McKee — all enjoyed solid campaigns in 2024 and twice all three competed in stakes races on the same night. For good measure, all are also kin to retired multiple graded stakes winner Late Night Pow Wow.

Of the trio, Overnight Pow Wow enjoyed the best season, winning eight of 11 starts and over $285,000 for owner-trainer Cynthia McKee, capped by victories in both the Cavada BC and the Sylvia Bishop Memorial. Duncan Idaho posted four wins in seven starts, including victories in both the West Virginia Dash For Cash BC and the It’s Only Money for Runco and Raim, while Muad’dib continued to deliver respectable efforts in state-bred stakes and eventually eclipsed the $1 million plateau in career earnings.

In other famous relative news, Moonlit Kiss, the first foal produced by former state-bred star Moonlit Song, won six of 11 outings and over $115,000 for trainer Tim Grams. And What’shername, the half-sister to the talented, temperamental, state-bred millionaire Runnin’toluvya, posted a solid 3-4-1 slate and $82,000 banked from nine starts for owner-trainer-breeder and former local jockey Leslie Cromer.

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