West Virginia Breeders' Classic

The West Virginia Breeders Classic is a thoroughbred horse race for West Virginia breds run at a distance of one and one/eighth mile on the dirt. Open to three-year-olds and up, it takes place each year at the Charles Town Races in Charles Town, West Virginia, and offers a purse of $500,000. Along with this race are eight other West Virginia Breeders’ races on the same day for West Virginia-bred horses.

In its 20th running, the West Virginia Classic and its complement of similar races was created in 1987 by retired Washington Redskins and New York Giants football great Sam Huff. Huff owns Thoroughbreds, and was born in West Virginia.

Past winners

* 2007 - Eastern Delite (Oscar Flores)
* 2006 - Speed Whiz (Anthony Mawing)
* 2005 - Speed Whiz (Anthony Mawing)
* 2004 - A Huevo (Ramon Dominguez)

Owner Mark Hopkins's A Huevo, trained by Michael Dickinson, was disqualified from first and placed last in the 1999 edition of the race after a post-race test revealed traces of clenbuterol. Wind N'Springs Farms Eastern Delite, trained by Freddie Johnson has also been disqualified from first and placed last from 2007's edition of the race, after the post-race test revealed a positive for caffeine. However, 2nd place finisher Confucius Say has not been awarded the purse yet, due to litigation. If the ruling is upheld, Confucius Say will surpass the $1 million plateau in earnings.

References

* [http://www.ctownraces.com/ Charles Town Race Track]
* [http://www.wvbc.com/ West Virginia Breeders’ Cups]
* [http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/magazine/features/si50/states/west_virginia/essay/ An article about Sam Huff.]