America's Best Racing. The Jockey Club.

Located in New Kent County, Colonial Downs is Virginia’s only pari-mutuel Thoroughbred racetrack. The track features a Summer Thoroughbred racing season, a Fall harness racing season, and an ever growing year-round slate of special events.

Eighty percent of the Summer Thoroughbred races are held over the Secretariat Turf Course, which at 180 feet wide, is the widest grass surface of any track in North America. The 1¼ mile dirt track is the country’s second largest, next to Belmont Park’s. The large dirt track enables harness horses to pace or trot a one mile distance while encountering just one turn, the only track anywhere to offer this unique configuration.

The Virginia Derby is Colonial’s annual showcase event. The 2011 Virginia Derby (Gr. II) was held last July and had a purse of $600,000. The event drew over 9,000 racing fans the New Kent oval.