Scrappy T may be part of impressive Turf Cup

Colonial Downs will celebrate its first big day of the 2008 Thoroughbred meet Saturday, and it promises to be one of the most entertaining afternoons in the New Kent County track's 12-year history.

Not only does the highlight of the program - the $600,000 Colonial Turf Cup (Grade III) - include three horses that competed in the Triple Crown, but there also is the likely return of locally owned Scrappy T, who finished second in the Preakness three years ago, and Mint Slewlep in the Old Nelson Handicap.

Like Scrappy T, Mint Slewlep is owned by Marshall Dowell of Mechanicsville and trained by Rob Bailes. It's possible one of them could be scratched before post time. Scrappy T never has raced on grass, and Mint Slewlep finished a distant eighth in last year's Turf Cup, his only appearance on grass.

In addition, the $200,000 All Along Stakes (Gr. III), featuring nine-time winner Rutherienne, for fillies and mares is on tap, along with the $60,000 Buckland Stakes over 5½ furlongs, in which 10-time winner Smart and Fancy is the heavy favorite.

"That's an impressive card," said Peter Burnett, who is the chairman of the Virginia Racing Commission.

"I think we've drawn a very, very competitive bunch of 3-year-olds to run in [the Turf Cup]," Iain Woolnough, the track's general manager, said of the 10-horse field. "The quality is there . . . a lot of top trainers and a lot of top jockeys."

Early favorite Adriano, ridden by Edgar Prado, and Court Vision (Garrett Gomez) both ran in the Kentucky Derby, and Kentucky Bear was sixth in the Preakness.

Post time for the 10-race card is 12:55 p.m., with the Turf Cup scheduled to go off at 5:40.

Memorandums offered on sale of racetrack

The potential sale of Colonial Downs, which was announced in January, has reached the level where several companies have received offering memorandums, according to Ian Stewart, president of the track.

The group "handling the sale for us has solicited indications of interest from various parties around the country," he said. "Those ones that are interested have been given a confidential offering memorandum, asking them to give us some indication of their interest level and what they think it's worth. When we get those back, we'll decide whether there's any point in having further discussions with any of those people."

Stewart wouldn't say how many parties were interested or what the asking price was, but said, "We're not looking to give the racetrack away. I think we'll know relatively quickly whether somebody is prepared to pay a price that's in the ballpark."

Since the memorandums went out in late May, Stewart indicated he expected to have some replies by early July.

Karamanos receives three-day suspension

Horacio Karamanos, the all-time wins leader at Colonial Downs who sits atop the rider standings (15 victories) after the first eight days, has been suspended three days for a bumping incident last Friday. He's scheduled to be up on longshot Baltimore Bob in the Turf Cup on Saturday and begin serving the suspension Sunday.

Average attendance for eight dates this year is 1,257, with a top crowd of 3,735 for Father's Day. - John Packett