Jill Byrne

The GIII Virginia Derby, the marquee event of the Colonial Downs season, highlights the New Kent oval's 2020 stakes schedule. The turf event for 3-year-olds anchors the 18-day meeting's closing day Saturday, Aug. 29. Also featured on Virginia Derby Day: the Virginia Oaks, Rosie's S. and Kitten's Joy S. The 2019 Rosie's winner Four Wheel Drive (American Pharoah) went on to win the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint. The 2020 season kicks off July 23 with live racing days over a six-week period will run every Thursday, Friday and...

For many, the impending return of structured racing to Virginia at Colonial Downs in New Kent evokes stirring memories of a horse culture firmly embedded in the Commonwealth's history. On a personal level, I cannot help but harken back to my days as a track and field athlete at the College of William and Mary in the heart of Colonial Williamsburg, when I would routinely pair 18-mile training days with evening trips to a musty OTB down the road in Hampton to bet Penn National and Charles Town. I'd often...