Since moving the Charles Town Classic and Oaks to the same card in 2020, the blockbuster program has produced three of the four largest single-card handles in track history, with the two largest coming in 20. The other unrestricted stakes-the Russell Road and Misty Bennett Pink Ribbon-remain at $250,000. In addition to the Charles Town Oaks (G3), one other unrestricted stakes race on the Classic night undercard-the Robert Hilton Memorial for straight 3-year-olds-received a purse hike to $350,000. The Jeff Runco trainee will be pointed to the Charles Town Classic again in 2023, looking to improve on that second-place performance under Charles Town's reigning five-time leading rider, Arnaldo Bocachica. While unable to match the win of fellow West Virginia-bred Runnin'toluvya, David Raim's Muad'dib continued a trend of success for local runners in the Classic by finishing second last year before pulling off a repeat of his own in the Sam Huff West Virginia Breeders' Classic.
