It has been announced that a very brief meet of pari-mutuel harness racing will be taking place this October at a location that features a one-mile track and has not hosted live racing since 2001.
Live harness racing will return to Virginia this October for a four-day meet of pari-mutuel racing at the beautiful Oak Ridge Estate in Nelson County.
Located just off Route 29 in Arrington, halfway between Charlottesville and Lynchburg, Oak Ridge last played host to pacers and trotters back in 2001.
All the action is sponsored by the Virginia Equine Alliance (VEA) and will be contested over a one-mile dirt oval on back-to-back weekends – October 10/11 and 17/18. Wagering on the races will be available all four days. Win, place, show, exacta, trifecta and daily double bets will be offered.
The highlight of the meet will be the $300,000 (est.) Virginia Harness Day of Champions, which has been scheduled for Sunday, October 18. Eight championship races featuring Virginia's best two and three-year-old pacers and trotters of both sexes will compete on the same card. Prep/elimination races will be held the prior weekend – three-year-olds on Saturday and two-year-olds on Sunday.
In addition to the Virginia Breeders' races, there are seven different late-closing series that horses can be entered to contest. The first leg of the series will be held either on Saturday or Sunday of the first weekend, and the respective final legs, which will carry purses of between $5,000 and $7,000, will be held on closing weekend.
Two of the seven are open handicap races – the John Holland Jr. Memorial Trot and the Oak Ridge Pace. The remaining five are open to Standardbreds that are Virginia-owned, bred or sired. Pacing events are named respectively for the USTA, the Holland Family and Nelson County, while the trotting counterparts are named for the VEA and ‘To All Who Helped Make This Season Happen.’
The barn area will open on Sunday, October 4. Qualifiers and the first draw will both take place on Wednesday, October 7. Horsepeople must present current coggins papers for all horses upon arrival. For more information or to get stall applications, call the racing secretary, Craig Andow, at 551-204-1796.
The physical address for the Oak Ridge Estate is 2300 Oak Ridge Road, Arrington, Virginia 22922.
For more details on the harness meet and all of the new VEA initiatives, visit virginiaequinealliance.com.
(VEA)