Walters brothers eye big CT Classic night
At a Premium, Barbadian Runner both live in graded events
Ted Black
August 26, 2026
Decades after they began competing against one another at Charles Town for miniscule purses, brothers David Walters and Henry Walters will each be saddling a horse in consecutive, lucrative graded stakes worth a combined sum of $1.75 million Friday night.
Trainer David Walters, who’s based at Charles Town, will send out the undefeated, immensely-talented West Virginia-bred filly At a Premium in the Grade 2, $750,000 Charles Town Oaks for three-year-old fillies. Roughly 40 minutes later his older brother Henry Walters, whose training home is Maryland’s Laurel Park, will saddle Barbadian Runner for the Grade 2, $1 million Charles Town Classic for older males traveling the three-turn distance of one mile and one-eighth over the strip.
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When their careers began nearly 50 years ago, Charles Town had been a haven for $1,500 and $2,500 claimers competing for modest purses at best. David sent out his first runner in 1978, and Henry followed suit in 1980.
Both Walters brothers recall watching an entire, three-day weekend of live racing at Charles Town in which the combined purses of the 27 races carded rarely exceeded $80,000. This Friday the same tandem will saddle horses in consecutive races worth $1.75 million on a night when the entire 13-race card carries roughly $3 million in purses.
“I can still remember bringing a horse to Charles Town to race for $1,500,” said Henry Walters, who saddled his first winner in 1981, when his runners earned a modest $7,479 for the entire year. Last year he saddled eight winners who banked a career-best $860,000, led by Barbadian Runner, who accounted for roughly $733,000 of that sum. “I can remember many a night when we shipped horses to Charles Town and Shenandoah Downs to compete in $2,000 claimers and maiden $3,000 claimers. Back then, it was nothing like it is today.”
Statistically speaking, David Walters has enjoyed a more successful career than his older brother, Henry, but the gap has narrowed in recent years. While David has recorded 1,626 winners from 8,893 runners with earnings of nearly $16.8 million heading into Friday’s card, Henry has saddled 302 winners from 2,586 runners with earnings of $5.8 million. Barbadian Runner, however, has single-handedly made things a little more interesting in the comparisons.
A modest $5,000 yearling purchase, Barbadian Runner became last year’s champion Maryland-bred three-year-old male when he posted a 6-4-1 slate from 12 starts with six stakes wins, including the $500,000 Robert Hilton Memorial at Charles Town followed immediately by nine-furlong, six-figure stakes victories at Laurel Park in the Maryland Million Classic and Richard W. Small Memorial. A fourth-place finish or better would push Barbadian Runner’s career earnings past the $1 million mark, which would be unprecedented for either Walters brother.
“He’s always been strong on the turns,” Henry Walters said of Barbadian Runner. “Earlier in his career he was always getting in trouble in his races. Most of it was self-inflicted. Once he got his head straight, he’s been an incredibly honest horse. [Jockey] Forest [Boyce] fits him perfectly. She’s very good at letting him settle into stride and then getting in position early. She’s been an integral part of his success the past two years.”
Barbadian Runner is 9-2 on the morning line. Skippylongstocking, a prior two-time winner of the Classic who earlier this year earned his first Grade 1 triumph in the Pegasus World Cup, is the 3-1 favorite.
At a Premium, a sophomore daughter of Great Notion that David Walters trains for owner-breeder Jill Daniel and co-owner Michael J. Miller, has been nothing short of sensational in her four local starts against West Virginia-bred fillies. She graduated at first asking in a one-turn maiden special weight dash on March 26 and then won a pair of state-bred allowance races before capturing the $75,000 Sylvia Bishop Memorial Stakes by 8 ¼ lengths, all with regular pilot Jeiron Barbosa aboard. Her wins have come by a combined total of 41 ¼ lengths.
“This is definitely going to be her acid test,” David Walters said of At a Premium, who will break from post nine in the Charles Town Oaks with Barbosa in the irons. “Honestly, I haven’t looked at the past performances for the other fillies in there. I know my filly loves the track and she’s going to break well from out there and be forwardly placed on the first turn. There just are not too many chances to run for this type of money, especially on your home track.”
While Walters expects At a Premium to be genuinely tested for class in her first outing against open company, only one of her rivals in the Charles Town Oaks, Luv Your Neighbor, owns a graded stakes victory. A sophomore daughter of Constitution trained by Michael Stidham, Luv Your Neighbor won the Grade 3 Delaware Oaks in June and was the runner-up in two Grade II stakes and third in another. Tessellate, Irish Jig and Little Miss Curlin all own stakes victories in restricted company.
Luv Your Neighbor is 8-5 on the morning line, while At a Premium is 9-5.
For the Walters brothers, it will be both a chance to run for big money on a track with which they’re familiar – and to root for each other.
“It will be great to see Henry saddle his horse for the Classic right after my filly runs,” David Walters said. “His horse always runs well, and he won here last year so those turns are not going to bother him any. Sometimes the lack of experience over the track, with the tight turns and being under the lights, is tough for horses to handle the first time they come here. This is home for my filly. She trains here and she’s run four times here, and I think she’ll give a good account of herself on Friday.”
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