The $1 million Charles Town Classic will go post-ward this Friday, Aug. 28, with added appeal for bettors. The 1-1/8-mile, Grade 2 event is surrounded by five 7F stakes races that make up a Pick 6 wager featuring a $96,814 carryover pool and, more importantly, a mandatory payout. It only costs 20 cents to play, but if your ticket is alive late in the sequence, you’ll have to stay awake until almost midnight to see the tail end of the 13-race card play out.

Charles Town Race 8 (8:32 p.m. EST)

MYSTIC LAKE is back to defend her title in the $300,000 Pink Ribbon Stakes, but the speed that carried her to a 13-for-26 record and $1.6 million bankroll will be fully tested if the field remains intact. Soon-to-be millionairess IRISH MAXIMA has six wire-to-wire wins at 7F – though none around two turns that the distance mandates at Charles Town – by a combined 33-1/4 lengths in the last two years. FOIS GRAS is the top pick in the leadoff leg. She bid 3-wide at the top of the Churchill Downs stretch last out from post 8 and led until the closing yards against odds-on favorite Eclatant, a Grade 1 winner and runner-up in the Breeders’ Cup Fillies & Mares Sprint. ICONA MAMA is a big longshot to consider. She posted escalating speed figures with Lasix to start her 4-year-old season, finishing behind 1-to-9 winner Kappa Kappa and between two next-out allowance winners when a “willing” third two starts back. She draws the rail with Manny Franco in from New York to ride.

Charles Town Race 9 (9:05 p.m. EST)

SOLITUDE DUDE, one of three entrants for trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. in the Robert Hilton Memorial for 3-year-olds, just missed after a stretch battle against Local Knowledge (103 Beyer) in the Grade 2 Amsterdam at Saratoga last out. SCULCOS FOLLY won three consecutive stakes races at as many distances against New York breds by a combined 19-1/2 lengths before the streak ended in a fast-paced 1-1/16-mile route race. Both are entered in the $500,000 H. Allen Jerkens Memorial the next day at Saratoga but would face 3-to-5 morning-line favorite Englishman if they run there. If SOLITUDE DUDE runs here, he is a solo play in the Pick 6. If he is scratched, use SCULCOS FOLLY and LANGVAD on the ticket.

Charles Town Race 10 (9:44 p.m. EST)

Local sensation AT A PREMIUM toyed with 19 overmatched rivals to win her four starts by a combined 40-1/2 lengths. She draws outside of post 2 for only the second time and will get the class test in the $750,000 Charles Town Oaks (G-2). LUV YOUR NEIGHBOR raced 3- and 4-wide much of the way but found more in mid-stretch to win the Delaware Oaks going a route of ground, upgrading three consecutive graded stakes placings. LITTLE MISS CURLIN is 4-for-4 and a three-time minor stakes winner at 6F with jockey Jareth Loveberry aboard. She could sit the right trip from just off a projected lively pace in her first try around two turns.

Charles Town Race 11 (10:25 p.m. EST)

BULLARD ‘sustained a solid bid,’ earned a 102 Beyer and finished second to multiple Grade 3 winner Navajo Warrior (10-19, $632k) on a night when four stakes races at Prairie Meadows were won in wire-to-wire fashion. Defending Charles Town Classic champ BANISHING arrives to the $1 million race at 1-1/8 miles off a 6-1/2F minor stakes victory as he did last year. He reportedly will bypass the Forego Stakes at Saratoga this weekend to run in this spot. SKIPPYLONGSTOCKING disappeared in his bid for a Classic three-peat in 2025, but he turned the tables on BANISHING in the Pegasus World Cup Invitational (G-1) earlier this year. Don’t sleep of ‘Skippy’s’ stablemate, FULL SCREEN, who posted four 97-plus Beyers in his last five route races and adds blinkers after drifting in the Saratoga stretch last out.

Charles Town Race 12 (10:55 p.m. EST)

West Virginia breds take center stage in the $75,000 Frank Gall Memorial and, aside from longshot DIRECT APPEAL, the field is a combined 31-for-71 at the 7F distance. TECHINTHERELEASE opened a commanding lead and won last year’s Gall in the midst of an 8-for-10 winning streak with an average 86 Beyer. He fired three bullet workouts at the bullring for his second start this year. JUBAWITHATWIST, a model of consistency who doesn’t shy from the photo-finish camera, will eclipse a half million in earnings if he wins. SPOTAFREEONE rallied to win 7 of his last 10 starts, three by a neck and two in WV-bred stakes company.

Charles Town Race 13 (11:25 p.m. EST)

MALIBU YEARS, a $5,000 claim in March, has blossomed into one of the favorites in the $75,000 Sadie Hawkins Stakes for fillies and mares. She swept by the favorite on the turn to win on a muddy track two back, then drew even at the top of the lane and won going away on a good track en route to her career-best 80 Beyer. ZIP START, a three-time WV-bred stakes winner around two turns, followed the move of MALIBU YEARS to finish second at a distance which she’s conquered 4 of 8 times. OVERNIGHT POW WOW went post-ward as the odds-on favorite in 18 of 21 starts at Charles Town, winning 11 times from start to finish but only drawing outside of post 6 three times. She is as game as they come.

Suggested Pick 6
CT 8th Race: 1,3, 5, 8
CT 9th Race: 3 (If scratched, use 4 and 6)
CT 10th Race: 5, 7, 9
CT 11th Race: 4, 6, 8, 10
CT 12th Race: 3, 5, 7
CT 13th Race: 2, 5, 8
Cost for a 20-Cent ticket: $86.40