Colonial Downs meet starts Wednesday with strong fields
The summer race meet at Colonial Downs gets underway with big fields on Wednesday for a 41-day season that will run 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. EDT. On Fridays, a twilight card gets underway at 4:00 p.m. EDT. This Thursday’s card also includes three steeplechase races with an early post of 10:45 a.m. EDT.
Wednesday’s opening day card attracted 85 entrants plus six also-eligibles for an eight-race program that concludes with a trio of open company allowance affairs. First post on Wednesday is 12:30 p.m. EDT.
Entries for Thursday and Friday were similar in number with 86 horses plus 12 also-eligible entrants in the eight flat races on Thursday, with flat races starting in race 4. 85 entries plus four also eligibles came in 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 5 1/2 furlongs attracted a dozen, headlined by 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. All four grass races are part of the Pick 6 sequence.
Thursday’s headliner, a first-level allowance affair going one mile on the turf, comes in the penultimate race on the 11th card. 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 Elysian Field and Dancing N Dixie figure prominently in the field of nine distaffers. Both are proven stakes horses. Elysian Field won the Maple Leaf (G3) at Woodbine. Dancing N Dixie won the 2024 edition of the Tepin Stakes at Churchill Downs and more recently was second in the Powder Break at Gulfstream Park.
2025 wagering menu
The Old Dominion 6 returns for 2025. It is a classic Pick 6 wager with a 15% takeout, and 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, that money will carry 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 wagers on all flat races, plus two Pick 4 bets daily.
Three National Steeplechase Association races will be held on select Thursdays with those programs getting underway at 10:45 a.m. EDT. There will be a $1 Pick 3 starting with Race 1 to cover the jump 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.