The Virginia Equine Alliance’s “Virginia Downs” will kick off its first of six days of live parimutuel racing Sunday at Great Meadow with a six-race card.
A pair of Grade 2 races usually contested in Virginia — the Commonwealth Derby and Turf Cup — will take place at Laurel Park next Saturday.
Horse racing in Virginia will likely turn back to the future with a “country fair” style; proposed venue Morven Park, near Leesburg, fits that perfectly.
Virginia horsemen are moving forward with a plan for racing in the Commonwealth. But a new move by Colonial Downs may keep state OTBs shuttered.
The Virginia Racing Commission endorsed a proposal to run nine stakes — including the G2 Virginia Derby — in Maryland this year. But hurdles remain.
The future remains murky, the Virginia Racing Commission learned, with the present characterized by shuttered facilities, withheld payments, and failed negotiations.
The fog may be lifting and the ice thawing in a Virginia racing dispute that canceled the 2014 Colonial Downs meet.