The stabling area at Colonial Downs will open Wednesday, June 10 for horsemen and new arrivals in preparation for the 2026 summer Thoroughbred meeting, the track announced Monday.
With training scheduled to begin the following Thursday, live racing is set to kick off Thursday, June 25 with a record-setting season featuring an expanded schedule. The meet will offer 45 days of live racing and will be conducted everything Thursday through Sunday from opening to a special Labor Day program Monday, Sept. 7. It will be the most live racing days in the history of Colonial Downs racetrack.
The stakes schedule will feature 35 races and handicaps worth more than $6.5-million in purses, headlined by the Colonial Downs Festival of Racing Saturday, Aug. 1. The day will be anchored by the GI Arlington Million, GII Beverly D. and GII Secretariat Stakes, in addition to contesting five additional stakes on the afternoon. Labor Day racing on closing day will feature the GIII Old Dominion Oaks atop a six-stakes program.
Horsemen are reminded that nominations close Wednesday, June 10, for a pair of opening weekend Virginia-restricted stakes events. The $125,000 Edward P. Evans Stakes for Virginia-bred, Virginia-sired and/or Virginia-restricted older horses–along with its distaff counterpart, the $125,000 Brookmeade Stakes–will be contested Saturday, June 27, the first Saturday of the meet.
Open maiden special weight races will carry purses of $70,000, while Virginia-restricted maiden special weights will compete for $87,500. Allowance purses will reach up to $80,000 for open company runners and $90,000 for Virginia-restricted competitors. To view the condition books, please go here.
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