By T. D. Thornton
Both Charles Town Races (165 dates) and Mountaineer Park (125 dates) got approval Dec. 16 from the West Virginia Racing Commission (WVRC) to finalize live racing schedules for 2026.
The awarding of race dates in West Virginia is annually an outdated, several step process.
A state statute requires Charles Town to apply for 220 programs every year, and Mountaineer is required to apply for 210 dates.
But those quotas haven't been reached for quite some time.
So what has ended up happening in recent seasons is that after the initial approvals of those mandated 220 and 210 dates every November by the WVRC, both venues have subsequently come back before the commission to ask for reductions that reflect what each track and its respective Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association chapters think is a workable schedule.
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