Racing applications for the 2023 fall harness season at Shenandoah Downs are now available.
All horse people wishing to compete in the eighth annual meet in Woodstock, Virginia must fill out an application and return it to Racing Secretary Dee Lineweaver by Aug. 1. The racing applications can be found on the track's website at shenandoahdowns.com.
The seven-week season, which will run from Sept. 16 to Oct. 29, follows a seven-week spring meet, which ended on May 14. Races will be held every Saturday and Sunday at 1 p.m.
The highlight of the campaign is the 26th running of the Virginia Breeder's Championships, which will take place on closing day, Sunday, Oct. 29. A total of eight divisional titles will be contested, each with an $80,000-plus purse. Elimination races for three-year-olds are slated for weekends three and four of the meet while two-year-old elims go to post on weekends five and six.
The Breeder's Championships were held at Colonial Downs in New Kent from 1998-2014, at the Oak Ridge Estate in Nelson County in 2015 and have been held at Shenandoah Downs since.
A four-day Shenandoah County Fair meet will precede the pari-mutuel session though racing applications are not necessary to compete there. Meet dates are Aug. 30-31 and Sept. 1-2. Roger Huston will announce the first three days of the historic 106th fair meet. Overall, harness racing has taken place for 137 consecutive years in Woodstock.
Shenandoah Downs is conveniently located at the Shenandoah County Fairgrounds, halfway between Winchester and Harrisonburg off I-81 at Exit 283.
The Virginia Harness Horse Association (VHHA) also has an important deadline looming for 2022 Standardbred foal owners. Yearling registration into their lucrative residency program must be set by July 1. In order to become eligible to earn hundreds of thousands of dollars in bonus monies, foals need to spend six months at a Virginia farm before they turn two years of age. Current year foals, however, have until July 1, 2024 to find a Virginia-Certified farm to spend their residency at. Program details are at vhha.net or by calling Debbie Warnick at 443-463-0917.
(With files from Shenandoah Downs)