With the first three draws in the books, entries have started strong at Colonial Downs for the first week of the 2025 summer season. Phones in the racing office, under the direction of new racing secretary Dan Bork, were steadily ringing.
The expanded 41-day summer session runs from July 9 through Sept. 13. The 2025 season will be conducted on a four-day-per-week schedule, Wednesday through Saturday, plus the Labor Day holiday Sept. 1. Post time on Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays is 12:30 p.m. On Fridays, a twilight card gets underway at 4:00 p.m. This Thursday's card also includes three NSA steeplechase races with an early post of 10:45 a.m.
Wednesday's opening day card attracted 85 entrants plus six also-eligibles for an eight-race program that concludes with a trio of stacked, open company allowance affairs. First post on Wednesday is 12:30 p.m. (All times Eastern).
Entries for Thursday and Friday were similar in number with 86 horses plus 12 AE's in the eight flat races (races 4-11) on Thursday and 85 entries plus 4 AE's for the nine-race Friday card.
Exciting new additions to the backside at Colonial Downs include Kenny McPeek and Saffie Joseph Jr. Both conditioners are represented on Wednesday's opening day card, which features entries from an influx of Kentucky horsemen, including Brendan Walsh, Ethan West, Tommy Drury, and Ben Colebrook.
Targeting his third straight local title, Mike Trombetta will come out firing on Wednesday, leading all trainers with four entries.
Last year's leading jockey Ben Curtis is back to defend his title and has been named to ride in seven opening day races. Paco Lopez, riding full-time at Colonial Downs in 2025, has calls in all eight races.
The first of three open company allowance races, Wednesday's turf feature comes in race 6. The second-level affair going 5½ furlongs attracted a dozen, headlined by Robert Cotran's Portofino who exits two strong efforts against stakes company at Gulfstream Park for trainer Joe Orseno.
Half of Wednesday's card is scheduled for Colonial's renowned Secretariat Turf Course, and all four grass races come in the Old Dominion 6 sequence. The Old Dominion 6, a classic Pick 6 with a low 15% takeout, will have a reduced 50-cent minimum this year and begins in Race 3 on Wednesday. Both the Early and Late Pick 5 wagers maintain a horseplayer-friendly 12% takeout.
Thursday's headliner, a first-level allowance affair going one mile on the turf, comes in the penultimate race on the 11th card. Speedway Stables' Divino comes in off a Delaware Park maiden score for trainer Mike Stidham and has been installed as the 3-1 morning line choice in the 11-horse lineup.
A three-other-than allowance for fillies and mares with a purse of $80,000 is the seventh of nine races on Friday's twilight program. The Mark Casse-trained duo of Maple Leaf (G3) victress Gary Barber and Team Valor International's Elysian Field and Barber, Rocky Top Stable, and LEMB Stables' Dancing N Dixie, winner of the 2024 edition of the $233,000 Tepin Stakes at Churchill Downs and more recently second in the $75,000 Powder Break at Gulfstream Park figure prominently in the field of nine distaffers.
Entries will continue to be taken one week in advance throughout the season. Colonial Downs' overnights can be found on Equibase.
OPENING WEEKEND STAKES
The first two stakes of the meet will be held over Opening Weekend on Saturday, July 12 are the $125,000 Star De Naskra and its sister stake the $125,000 Miss Disco Stakes which will both go seven furlongs on the main track and are restricted to Virginia/Maryland-bred or -sired 3-year-olds.
2025 WAGERING MENU
The Old Dominion 6 returns for 2025, and the classic Pick 6 wager with a 15% takeout will have a new minimum of 50 cents. Covering the final six races daily, if no wager correctly selects all six winners, 25% of the net pool will be paid out to those selecting the most winners while 75% will be carried over to the following program.
Takeout remains a low 12% for both the Early and Late Pick 5. When there is a carryover in either 50-cent Pick 5--whether Early or Late--that money will be carried into the following day's Late Pick 5. The Early Pick 5 will cover the first five flat races on the card and the Late Pick 5 will cover the final five races each day.
The standard $2 Win, Place and Show; $1 Exacta, 50-cent Trifecta, and 10-cent Superfecta wagering will be available on all races. There will be Rolling $1 Daily Doubles and $1 Pick 3's on all flat races, plus two Pick 4 bets daily.
Three National Steeplechase Association (NSA) races will be held on selected seven Thursdays with those programs getting underway at 10:45 a.m. There will be a $1 Pick 3 starting with Race 1 to cover the (NSA) races and $1 Daily Doubles coupling Races 1-2 and Races 2-3. Each steeplechase race will offer the standard $2 Win, Place and Show; $1 Exacta, 50-cent Trifecta, and 10-cent Superfecta wagering.
Tickets for the entire meet can be purchased online at www.colonialdowns.com
Colonial's races will be prominently featured on FanDuel TV all season long. Additionally, FanDuel TV will be on-site for coverage of the Festival of Racing on August 9.
