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If you need a reason to stay up at watch the races at Charles Town on Saturday night it is that the Charles Town Oaks is being run.  A field of 10 entered the two-turn sprint race and it’s a deep field with nine shippers on a lone, local filly.  The local entrant is the John Casey trained Down Town Allen, a filly that has won five straight races and eight of 13 overall around the track.  She won her last race by over 13 and her speed figure rates very well versus the others in the Oaks.  The others she will face include horses from California, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and Florida.

Down Town Allen likes to run on the front end, but there are several others who will be doing the same.  Southern Fireball, Richiegirlgonewild, Karmageddon, Beyondallboundarys, Bronx City Girl, and Come Sunday have all run their best races at or close to the pace.  Beyondallboundarys will probably take a stalking position and be in a good spot coming for home.  Belle of the Hall is the morning line favorite dropping from the Grade 1 Test.  She can certainly win and she will be one that will benefit from a speed duel.  Derwin’s Star and C C’s Pal are the late threats. Derwin’s Star finished less than a length behind Belle of the Hall three back at Philly Park and C C’s Pal drops from a graded route race.  No matter the result it should be a great race around the short track.

The stakes races this weekend at Fairplex deal with two-year-olds that were sold at the Barretts sales.  On Saturday the fillies get their race in the Debutante and on Sunday it’s the colts and geldings in the Juvenile.  The Debutante is led by Brazzle Dazzle, Dearly Concerned, and Cactus Jane.  Each of them broke their maiden in their last race with Dearly Concerned earning the highest speed figure.  Cactus Jane had an interesting story behind her, too long for her, and was well meant in her first career start.  She was claimed out of that race and could be any kind.  True Way of Grace is still a maiden after two starts, but the Yes It’s True filly has the highest purchase price of the field.

On Sunday a field of 10 will line up for the Juvenile and it appears it will be a good betting race.  Clubhouse Ride has the highest speed figure of the group and looked good breaking his maiden.  Road ready drops in class from the Grade 1 Del Mar Futurity where he did take some betting action behind J P’s Gusto.  Wealthy Aviator scored in his first career start and has a bullet workout over the track earlier this week.  Two interesting horses are the Arizona-shipper Including Gold and War Pilot. Including Gold is the only horse to win over conventional dirt and War Pilot was actually bet down from his morning line in his debut and ran well.  Both of those horses should be decent prices on Sunday.

Golden Gate has a small, $12,876, pick-6 carryover for Thursday’s card and the sequence looks like a manageable one to play. The bet starts in race three with a scheduled post time of 4:38 ET.  In race three Technician has the class edge, top jockey, and top trainer that will make the gelding a short price. Six furlongs could be stretching it, but he should have a solid lead through the early stages. Race four looks to be between Scandalous, Sidepocket Lou, and Swiss Ski.  Quick Meeting is dropping in class, but he seems to enjoy running second and third.  Cashmere Mist takes a drop in class in race five and is the one to beat.  Hulahalla is the morning line favorite, perhaps because of Russell Baze, but the horse had to be 22-1 in his last for a reason and has no works since.

In race six many pick-6 tickets will single Candy Five Hundred, but there are some question marks. The horse is a Candy Ride out of an A.P. Indy mare so is 5.5 furlongs ideal? The Craig’s bred the gelding, but they are not the owners of record.  Of course the trainer is a robust 30% with first time starters, so he may not have to be much.  The Southern Cal shipper Cantona holds the cards in race seven with The Hunt Is On a close second.  Those two are; however, winless in their 25 combined starts.  Western Roses and Point Mugu are two firsters to consider if playing a deeper ticket.  Race eight comes down to Joshua’s Dream and if the five-year-old can make it to the winner’s circle in what appears to be the lowest level of his career.  He does have Baze and Hollendorfer plus sports a four-for-nine record at Golden Gate.  After him there really isn’t much and he will be a very short price.

This past Monday, early in the morning, a fire swept through three private barns located across the street from Hollywood Casino at Charles Town Races in West Virginia.  The three barns were not were not owned by Charles Town, but the track was able to get an inhabitable barn of theirs up and able to house horses within two hours.  The quick thinking by the horsemen and Charles Town employees led to at least 20 horses being saved.

The Charles Town Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association (HBPA) is accepting donations, which will be used to assist the horsemen who were stabled in those barns.  The Pennsylvania HBPA made a donation of $5,000 on Tuesday, the day after the fire.  The property damage alone was estimated to be $1.2 million.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to the horsemen who lost their horses on Monday and to all those in the Charles Town community.

To make a donation please call the HBPA at (304) 725-1535.

The feature race on Friday at Presque Isle Downs is the Presque Isle Mile. The race drew a field of 11 highlighted by the 2009 Presque Isle Mile winner Cherokee Artist.  Cherokee Artist faces some stiff competition this year, which is evident by the morning line favorite being 7-2. That line was given to Mambo Meister.

Mambo Meister exits the Grade 1 Vanderbilt at Saratoga, but only has one previous start on a synthetic track.  Last year Mambo Meister finished fifth in the BC Mile at Santa Anita and must prove he can win outside of Calder. Gayego is the second choice on the morning line and he has had plenty of success on synthetics.  He has finished in-the-money in eight of 11 starts on synthetics including four wins.  He also ran in the Vanderbilt and finished just over eight lengths in front of Mambo Meister.  With the big name horses in this race, long shots like Allie’s Event, Running Stag, and Successful Dan could get overlooked.  Running Stag ships in from Woodbine, has 14 first and second place finishes in 19 synthetics starts and drops from back-to-back Grade 3 races.  He should be placed in a good spot just off the speed and could be the pick to upset them all.