Horses and People to Watch

Virginia Equine Alliance

Colonial Downs Receives 2023 Race Date Approval that Features a Thursday, Friday, & Saturday Schedule

Colonial Downs race dates for 2023 were approved at the Virginia Racing Commission’s December meeting, and the 27-day, 9-week meet features a move to partial weekend racing after several years of operating on a Monday-TuesdayWednesday afternoon schedule.

The summer campaign will run from July 13 through September 9 with racing every Thursday, Friday, and Saturday at 1:30 PM. The 20th running of the $300,000 Grade 3 Virginia Derby is scheduled for closing day, Saturday, September 9. The 2023 live race meet will be the first at Colonial Downs under the operation of new owners, Churchill Downs Incorporated (CDI).

“There were many considerations taken into account to arrive with this schedule,” said Jack Sours, VP of Gaming for CDI. “The long-term goal of Churchill Downs is to offer racing on weekends. We feel racing on Thursday, Friday and Saturday is a good first step toward that. This will allow more fans to enjoy racing in New Kent and will allow us to run the Virginia Derby on a Saturday.”

The 2021 and 2022 Virginia Derbies were both held on a Tuesday. The ’22 edition attracted an all-time record handle of $6.5 million. The overall ’22 meet itself offered $612,000 in average daily purses, had 8.35 starters per race, and saw 1,382 horses from 321 trainers compete in the 9-week session.

Sours noted that Historical Horse Racing (HHR) handle was on pace for $3.9 billion in 2022, a 25% increase over the prior year. He expects that Colonial will add more HHR terminals in 2023, which could result in additional race dates come 2024. There are currently 2,606 machines in operation between six Rosie’s Gaming Emporium sites. He projects that two more could come on board as early as September next year. The Rosie’s in Emporia will have 150 and the first phase of “The Rose” gaming resort in Dumfries is expected to open with 1,150 terminals.

“More HHR means more race dates,” said Sours. This will allow us to add more dates and possibly race over the entire weekend instead of just Saturdays. We may even explore evening racing in the future.”

Pair of Grade 1 Stakes Will Be Moved to Colonial Downs

After approval from the American Graded Stakes Committee, three internationally-renowned Thoroughbred stakes races will be moved to Virginia in 2023 and contested together at Colonial Downs on Saturday August 12.

The Grade 1 Arlington Million, Grade 1 Beverly D. Stakes, and the Grade 2 Secretariat Stakes will likely provide the biggest day of racing in Colonial Downs’ history. The New Kent track opened in 1997.

The trio of stakes were headline events at Arlington International Racecourse each summer since 1981 until the track closed in 2021. The Million and Beverly D were conducted last year during a unique one-day meet at Churchill Downs. The Secretariat Stakes was not held in 2022.

Colonial Downs has always emphasized grass racing over its one and one eighth miles Secretariat Turf Course, the widest grass racing surface in the country. The Virginia Derby, currently a Grade 3 stakes with a $300,000 purse, had been the track’s most prestigious race.

“It is an incredible honor to continue the legacy of these exceptional races by hosting them in our Commonwealth,” said Governor Glenn Youngkin. “I am deeply committed to growing our equine industry and as we work to revive the rich traditions of this sport in Virginia, these stakes races will accelerate our progress and ignite excitement for the fans.”

“Churchill Downs Incorporated remains steadfast in our goal to increase the relevance of the racing product at Colonial Downs and in Virginia,” said Bill Carstanjen, Churchill Downs CEO. ”Securing these stakes is an important step toward that goal in terms of wagering growth and entertainment value. We are also committed to increasing the flow of purse revenue from historical horse racing to allow for expansion of race dates in the future.”

Next year will mark the 50th anniversary of Secretariat’s historic Triple Crown-winning season. The legendary horse will now be commemorated in the year of this milestone anniversary by debuting the stakes named in his honor on the Secretariat Turf Course at Colonial Downs in the state where he was bred, born, and trained to be a champion.

Secretariat was foaled a short 30-minute drive north of Richmond at The Meadow Farm in Caroline County. In 1973, as a three-year-old, Secretariat became the first Triple Crown winner in 25 years when he swept the Kentucky Derby, Preakness, and Belmont Stakes in astounding fashion.

Buoyed by that feat, horse racing in Virginia remains a lively and lucrative industry that has benefitted the Commonwealth for decades. A 2021 Economic Impact Study prepared for the Virginia Equine Alliance showed the overall economic impact of Virginia’s horse racing and breeding industry was estimated to be $542 million in 2019 and supported over 5,200 jobs. Additionally, the industry contributed an estimated $26.5 million in tax revenue to the state that same year.

Shenandoah Downs to Usher In its First Spring Meet Beginning April 1 Dates for the first ever spring harness racing season at Shenandoah Downs were also approved by the Virginia Racing Commission. A seven-week meet will start April 1 and continue thru May 14 with racing every Saturday and Sunday at 1:00 PM. Holiday racing will take place on Easter Sunday and on Mothers Day. Since the Virginia Equine Alliance began conducting harness races at the Woodstock oval in 2016, only fall dates had been scheduled, until now.

Moving forward into 2023, a four-day non-wagering meet will be held during the 106th Shenandoah County Fair, from August 30 through September 2. Racing will take place at 12:00 noon Wednesday through Saturday of Fair Week.

The eighth annual Shenandoah Downs fall meet will follow and is slated to run seven weeks, from September 16 through October 29, pending Virginia Racing Commission approval. That meet will mirror the spring schedule, with racing on Saturdays and Sundays at 1:00 PM. Wagering is available during both the spring and fall seasons.

In all, 28 days of pari-mutuel racing will be conducted in 2023. In 2022, 16 race days were held and in 2021, there were 10 race days. More details can be found at shenandoahdowns.com.

Lewis William “Billy” Dodson

April 5, 1946 – December 2, 2022

Some huntsmen become famous on a grand scale by moving from hunt to hunt, state to state, or even country to country. Others achieve major respect on a micro level. So it was with Billy Dodson.

Born and raised in Virginia’s Rappahannock County, he spent his entire working and hunting life among the hills and valleys of his boyhood terrain. It was only natural for him to follow that path. He began whipping-in to his father Ollie, then huntsman for Rappahannock Hunt, at the age of nine. He could have had no better teacher than Ollie. Working with him instilled a lifelong love of hounds and horses, which led to a career as a professional whipper-in for most of his life.

Oliver Brown, MFH, former huntsman for Rappahannock, recalls how much he trusted Billy’s counsel over the years the two of them hunted together. “Billy had a passion for hunting. It was never just a job to him. I always trusted his opinions and I think he made me a better huntsman.”

In addition to serving as a whip for Rappahannock, Billy handled additional duties whipping-in to his brother-in-law Jim Atkins at both Old Dominion Hounds and Warrenton Hunt.

Then, in 1998, Larry LeHew led a split from Rappahannock to form Thornton Hill Hounds and he wanted Billy to serve as huntsman.

The only problem was that there were no hounds. A new pack had to be put together from scratch. Given Billy’s reputation and local connections, that took all of three days. With generous help from Old Dominion, Warrenton, Fairfax, and Mission Valley hunts, Thornton Hill soon had sixteen couple in kennels.

Rappahannock County is considered “The Cradle of the American Foxhound.” But the Penn-Marydel breed was beginning to gain in popularity and that was the way Billy chose to go. He did, however, develop a cross with threequarters PMD and one-quarter American, which he felt created the best of both: the nose and voice of the Penn-Marydel tempered with the steadiness of the American blood.

The Thornton Hill country is known for its steep, mountainous terrain and thick coverts. Hounds with stamina and good voice are needed. And they require a huntsman who knows that country intimately and can let hounds work with little interference. Having spent his entire life, starting in childhood, working with hounds and horses in that environment, those skills came as naturally to Billy as they did to the hounds he bred and hunted.

He was similarly selective with his mounts. The Rappahannock hills require a light, agile horse with lots of stamina, which perfectly describes a steeplechaser. Most of his horses were Thoroughbreds that had raced over fences before transitioning to hunt field service.

By 2015 Billy Dodson had been chasing foxes in Rappahannock County for 60 years. It was time for a well-deserved retirement.

His name may not spring to the lips of many hunt field members in other areas when asked to cite notable huntsmen. But we doubt that would have mattered much to Billy. It wasn’t about fame or a widespread reputation. It was just living out his good fortune to grow up in a small corner of the world perfectly suited to mounted hunting and to have the privilege to spend his life doing just that.

Jean Perrin Derrick, Ex-MFH

March 22, 1952 - January 11, 2023

The foxhunting world lost a well-known and much-admired ambassador of the sport when Jean Derrick succumbed to injuries suffered in a fall while leading Belle Meade Hunt’s first field. A Texan by birth, Jean embodied the spirit and sass of the Lone Star State with the gentility and charm of South Carolina, where she practiced law, and Georgia, which served as the base for her hunting exploits.

Her childhood enthusiasm for equestrian sports blossomed into a passion for mounted hunting that became the dominant force in her life. (Her law practice website featured just two photos, one of her jumping a stone wall and the other jumping a coop in the hunt field.) She served as MFH for two South Carolina hunts, Whiskey Road Foxhounds and the now disbanded Edisto River Hounds. For the past several years Georgia’s Belle Meade Hunt has been her hunt of record where she maintained a well-appointed hunt box and led first field with unequalled spirit.

Jean did not, however, limit her exploits to the expansive territory of Belle Meade. She traveled extensively throughout the country and hunted with a wide range of packs from coast to coast. Her legion of friends and admirers encompassed a sizeable portion of the North American foxhunting community.