Nominations for the $500,000 Virginia Derby, the first-ever Kentucky Derby qualifying race at Colonial Downs, closed on Wednesday, Feb. 26 with 89 3-year-olds. The centerpiece of a special three-day meet beginning Thursday, March 13, the 1 1/8-miles Virginia Derby will be held on Saturday, March 15 together with the 1 1/16-miles $250,000 Virginia Oaks, which closed with 57 3-year-old fillies nominated.

The winning horse in each race will receive 50 points toward the Kentucky Derby presented by Woodford Reserve (G1) or the Longines Kentucky Oaks (G1), respectively. The second- through fifth-place finishers will earn 25-15-10-5 points on a sliding scale.

Coming off a year where he saddled both the Kentucky Derby and Kentucky Oaks winner, Ken McPeek leads all trainers with 14 nominations to the Virginia Derby. Top among them are Maximum Promise and Render Judgment. Owned by Back Racing and Run for LaRoses, Maximum Promise already has earned 8 Derby qualifying points finishing third in the John Battaglia Memorial at Turfway Park Racing & Gaming and fifth in the Lecomte (G3) at Fair Grounds. Grabbing 4 points with his third-place finish in the Gun Runner at Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots, Render Judgment is owned by Baccari Racing Stable, Dream Walkin Farms, MJM Racing and Rocket Ship Racing.

Brad Cox trains 11 of the Virginia Derby nominees, led by two colts who are tied for ninth on the Road to the Kentucky Derby leaderboard in Juddmonte’s impressive last-to-first Lecomte winner Disco Time and CHC & WinStar Farm’s John Hancock, who is undefeated after wiring the field in the Sam F. Davis at Tampa Bay Downs.

On Your Left Racing nominated their accomplished Virginia-bred, Omaha Omaha. Trained by Michael Gorham, the homebred has already racked up 11 Derby points by running second in the Withers and third in the Jerome, both at Aqueduct.

Top among the six nominated who are trained by Bob Baffert is Michael Pegram, Karl Watson, and Paul Weitman’s Del Mar Futurity (G1) winner Gaming, who was an Eclipse finalist as outstanding male juvenile.

Fifty-seven 3-year-old fillies were nominated to the Virginia Oaks. Brad Cox leads all conditioners with 10 nominees, headlined by Godolphin’s multiple graded stakes winner Good Cheer, who is perfect in five starts. Most recently capturing the Rachel Alexandra (G2) at Fair Grounds.

Grantley Acres, Ryan Conner, and Berkels0813’s Simply Joking is the standout of the four fillies nominated from Whit Beckman’s barn. After debuting victoriously at Fair Grounds in the Letellier, the Practical Joke filly maintained perfection when stretching out to wire the Silverbulletday, earning 20 Oaks points.  

The Virginia Derby week stakes action will kick off on Friday, March 14 with two Virginia-restricted overnight handicaps for older horses. All Virginia-restricted races are open to Virginia-bred, -sired, and -certified horses.

Nominations for the seven-furlong $150,000 Boston Handicap closed with 28 older horses, led by the 4-year-old millionaire Book’em Danno. Trained by Derek Ryan, Atlantic Six Racing’s New Jersey-bred won the 2024 Woody Stephens (G1) at Saratoga, one of five stakes scores on his resume.

Book’em Danno is the epitome of the classy Thoroughbreds who qualify as Virginia-certified, meaning they were conceived and foaled outside of Virginia but spent more than six months in the Old Dominion state prior to Dec. 31 of their 2-year-old year. More information can be found from the Virginia Thoroughbred Association here: https://www.vabred.org/virginia-certified-horses-residency-program/

The six-furlong $150,000 Stellar Wind Handicap closed with 19 older fillies and mares. Two were nominated from Maryland’s reigning champion trainer Brittany Russell’s barn, including Morgan’s Ford Farm’s homebred Binnie. The Virginia-bred upstart has won four of her five starts.

Complete nominations for Colonial Downs stakes races March 13-15 can be found here: https://www.equibase.com/premium/eqbHorsemenAreaSNHW.cfm?trk=CNL.