Duke of Mischief Wins Charles Town Classic

Duke of Mischief has no problem traveling or trying new racetracks, and the evening of April 16 he found Hollywood Casino at Charles Town Races to his liking. And he picked the right time to stir up some trouble—in the $1 million Charles Town Classic (gr. III), the first graded stakes in the history of the West Virginia track.

With Joe Bravo riding for trainer David Fawkes, who co-owns the horse with Alex and Joann Lieblong and Marilyn McMaster, Duke of Mischief picked up on horses on the backstretch heading into the third and final turn, took over from Game On Dude approaching the top of the lane, and pulled away to win by 2 1/4 lengths.

The winning time for 1 1/8 miles on a sloppy track was 1:51.13. Game On Dude, alert early from post 10 and tracking front-running Tackleberry throughout, ran strongly to finish second, a head in front of Tizway. Tackleberry held for fourth.

Fractions for the race were :24.35 for the first quarter-mile, :48.62 for a half-mile, 1:13.37 for six furlongs, and 1:37.37 for one mile. Duke of Mischief paid $11.40 to win in what turned out to be a wide-open betting race.