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three to four miles, sometimes run in heats.
The agricultural depression of the early 1800s curtailed racing in Virginia as elsewhere, and the Civil War — and its aftermath — was a terrible cut info the fledgling racing business.
Racing slowly revived, but prize money was small. Even the Virginia Gold Cup had no purse in its first 52 runnings; it added a monetary prize in 1978.
Racing was inhibited by the illegality of gambling, which generates prize money. The prohibition in Virginia was only recently lifted: though Morven Park in Leesburg tried portable parimutuel machines for gambling in 1992 and it was only when Colonial Downs opened in New Kent County in 1997 with a $60 million facility that racing again became big business here.
Colonial’s meet this year runs June 21-July 23.
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