2025 Charles Town Classic Contenders & Odds

The 17th running of the $1,000,000 Charles Town Classic, West Virginia's biggest day in racing, at Charles Town Races will run on Friday, August 22.

Entries for the August 22 Charles Town Classic and Charles Town Oaks card will be taken on Saturday, Aug. 16.

Skippylongstocking Higghlights 77 Nominations For 2025 Charles Town Classic

August 12 - Two-time Charles Town Classic winner Skippylongstocking leads a list of 77 nominations for the $1 million Grade 2 Charles Town Classic and $750,000 Charles Town Oaks (G2), which closed this past Friday.

The Classic and Oaks will both be run on Charles Town's biggest night of the year - Friday, August 22 - a card that features eight stakes races with over $2.7 million in purse money on the line.

Owned by Daniel Alonso and trained by Saffie Joseph, Jr., Skippylongstocking's 2024 Classic win was nearly identical to his 2023 triumph. Since his most recent Classic victory, the son of Exaggerator has added wins in Santa Anita's Hollywood Gold Cup (G2) and the Challenger Stakes (G3) at Tampa Bay Downs, along with third-place efforts in Gulfstream's Pegasus World Cup Invitational (G1) and Oaklawn Handicap (G2).

Skippylongstocking is exiting a seventh-place effort in the Whitney Stakes (G1) at Saratoga. Joseph, who also nominated G3 winner Alexander Helios and Digital Ops, has indicated that Skippylongstocking will defend his title in Charles Town, where he'll look to become the first three-time winner of West Virginia's richest race.

Trainer Brad Cox leads all trainers with four Classic nominees, including 2025 Dubai World Cup (G1) winner Hit Show, multiple G2 winner First Mission, and G3 winners Bishops Bay and Most Wanted.

G1 winner Mullikin was nominated by trainer Rodolphe Brisset. The son of Violence has never run the nine-furlong distance of the Classic, but finished second to Locked in the 2024 edition of the Cigar Mile (G2) at Aqueduct.

Post Time was third behind Mullikin in that Cigar Mile, and prior to that was second in the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile (G1). He was nominated to the Classic by trainer Brittany Russell. The G2 winner is coming off a sixth-place effort in the Whitney.

G3-winning millionaire Banishing is in the midst of a stellar five-year-old campaign for co-owner and trainer David Jacobson. In addition to capturing the first graded stakes win of his career in the Oaklawn Mile (G3), he also ran second while arguably best in the Churchill Downs (G1) on the Kentucky Derby undercard. Banishing is likely to contest the Classic, with Charles Town Classic-winning jockey Tyler Gaffalione expected to ride.

Other notable nominations include G2 winners Honor Marie (Whit Beckman) and Trademark (Victoria Oliver), as well as G3 winners Awesome Aaron (Norm Casse), Dean Martini (Lacey Gaudet), Heroic Move and Komorebino Omoide (Robertino Diodoro), Repo Rocks (Jamie Ness), Society Man (Danny Gargan), and Tumbarumba (Brian Lynch). Multiple graded stakes-placed runner Tarantino (Peter Eurton) is also likely to run.

This year's Charles Town Oaks marks its second year as a G2 and remains the richest sprint stakes for 3-year-old fillies in North America. The nominations are headlined by G1 winners Kilwin and Scottish Lassie, G3 winners Echo Sound and Fondly, and graded stakes-placed runners Quickick, Vodka With a Twist, Volleyballprincess, Hollygrove, Icona Mama, and Indy Bay. Of the 49 nominees, 26 are stakes winners, with five others having achieved graded stakes-placed status.

Trainers Tom Amoss and Saffie Joseph Jr. top the list with four Oaks nominees each, followed by Rusty Arnold and Jorge Abreu with three each.

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