Charles Town

🇺🇸 WEST VIRGINIA

750 Hollywood Drive, Charles Town, WV 25414

Racing at Charles Town

Racing Dates

Racing takes place all year long at what is a very busy track, post time being either 12:30PM or more commonly 7:00PM under the lights.

Each month will feature between 12 and 19 days of live racing, Wednesday through Sunday every week.

About Charles Town

Hollywood Casino at Charles Town Races (to give it its full title), is a race track just outside of Charles Town, West Virginia. Charles Town is one of the busiest tracks in the country with over 200 race days per year, running generally on a 5-day week with full details of each race on TVG.

Charles Town plays host to the Sprint Festival with four open stakes races worth $500,000, as well as the West Virginia Breeders’ Classics and the Charles Town Classic which is an important Grade 2 race.

The latter named race is worth anything between $500,000 and $1,000,000 depending on the graded status of the winner.

As well as a full schedule of live racing, Charles Town provides bettors with over 3,000 slot machines and table games on site to keep everyone entertained every day of the week.

Charles Town History

The Charles Town Race Track opened for business in Jefferson County way back in December 1933. After West Virginia legalized racing and parimutuel betting, Charles Town was the first track to open in the state with a 3000-seat heated grandstand and a 200-seat restaurant.

We are perhaps lucky to have Charles Town given that it was built during the Great Depression, lost money in its first two years in operation and could have easily closed for good. After the influential Albert J. Boyle bought the track however he attracted big gamblers from Washington and Baltimore who changed its fortunes for decades.

When another change of ownership occurred in 1964, the track installed lights for night racing and this is still something the track is famous for to this day.

The track was in financial trouble again by the 90’s but, in 1996, West Virginia voters approved the advent of lottery machines inside state tracks and so once more there was a renaissance for Charles Town and as of today, these machines bring in most of the revenue for this venture.

Charles Town Track Details

The track at Charles Town is a conventional dirt track of around ¾ of a mile, also featuring a chute. There is no turf track at this venue. The tight nature of the turns at Charles Town make for exciting sprint racing, especially during the Sprint Festival in early summer which is somewhat of a spectacle here.

Biggest Races

Charles Town Classic (Grade 2) – one and 1/8 miles, four-year-olds and over (April).

Charles Town Invitational Dash – four-and-a-half furlongs, three-year-olds and over (June).

Lady Charles Town – four-and-a-half furlongs, three-year-old fillies (June).

West Virginia Sprint Derby – four-and-a-half furlongs, three-year-olds (June).

Red Legend Stakes – seven furlongs, three-year-olds (June).

West Virginia Breeders’ Classic – one and 1/8 miles, three-year-olds and over (October).

Bet Charles Town With TVG!

Now you know all about the track, don’t forget you can wager on races there with TVG. Head to our schedules page to check out the latest race times then bet and watch live!

Address

750 Hollywood Drive, Charles Town, WV 25414

Contact

Chris McErlean (christopher.mcerlean@pngaming.com)