GRADE 1 WINNER WORLD BEATER HEADLINES OLD DOMINION DERBY SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 6 AT COLONIAL DOWNS
Posted on September 2nd, 2025
Photo caption: Grade 1 World Beater (#6), shown winning the Audubon Stakes at Churchill Downs, is the 9-5 morning-line favorite in the Grade 3 $500,000 Old Dominion Derby on Saturday, Sept. 6 at Colonial Downs. (Credit: Coady Media)
Photo caption: Mesero (#7) is one of nine 3-year-olds entered for the Grade 3 $500,000 Old Dominion Derby on Saturday, Sept. 6 at Colonial Downs. (Credit: Coady Media)
With $1.3 million in total purses across six turf stakes, Saturday’s card also includes the $250,000 Old Dominion Oaks (Listed), $150,000 Colonial Cup, $150,000 Da Hoss, $125,000 Exacta Systems Rosie’s Stakes, and $125,000 Kitten’s Joy.
Scheduled as the final race on a 10-race card which starts at 12:00 p.m., the 1 1/8-mile Old Dominion Derby drew a field of nine 3-year-olds.
In his last start, World Beater captured the Saratoga Derby (G1) with a strong closing run, reeling in front-runner Juwelier and holding off Test Score. The Oscar Performance colt gave his trainer Riley Mott his first Grade 1 victory. With a runner-up finish in the Belmont Derby (G1) at Saratoga and a win in the Audubon Stakes at Churchill Downs in May, World Beater has earned $826,414 from eight starts and has hit the board in all six of his turf races.
Jaime Torres, his regular rider who missed the mount in the Saratoga Derby due to a travel issue, is named to ride the morning-line favorite from post 6 in the Old Dominion Derby.
Top among his challengers is Mesero, owned by CJ Thoroughbreds and Delia Nash. The gray colt, trained by Dale Romans, won on debut and briefly flirted with the Kentucky Derby trail as a 2-year-old. A half-brother to Grade 1 winner Bleecker Street, he was later switched to turf. After winning a turf allowance at Keeneland in his 3-year-old debut, Mesero has had rough racing luck in stakes company, finishing behind World Beater in the Audubon after clipping heels at the start and later getting pinned on the rail in the Kentucky Downs Preview Nashville Derby at Ellis Park, where he finished seventh. Mychel Sanchez rides from post 2.
Other logical contenders include two entries from trainer Kenny McPeek: Native Runner, runner-up in the American Derby for Calumet Farm, and Lured Away, owned by David A. Bernsen, who makes his turf debut after a third-place finish in the local Petramalo Mile.
Additional threats include Iron Hand, a four-time winner owned by Baoma Corp and trained by Jose D’Angelo, and Soleil Volant, owned by Jacques Dupuis Jr., Luke Bourque and Bobby Sutton, trained by Graham Motion and ridden by Kendrick Carmouche, who has mounts in all six stakes on Derby Day.
Here is the complete field for the $500,000 Old Dominion Derby (G3), listed from the rail out with jockey, trainer and morning-line odds: Native Runner (Horacio Karamanos, McPeek, 8-1); Mesero (Sanchez, Romans, 8-1); Just a Fair Shake (Xavier Perez, Daniel McKenzie, 15-1); Soleil Volant (Carmouche, Motion, 15-1 ); Iron Hand (Edwin Gonzalez, D’Angelo, 5-1); World Beater (J. Torres, Mott, 9-5); Thirteen Colonies (Axel Concepcion, Phil Antonacci, 10-1); Lured Away (Emmanuel Esquivel, McPeek, 10-1); and Outrunner (Paco Lopez, Jorge Duarte, Jr., 6-1).
General admission is $5 for Old Dominion Derby Day is $5 and can be purchased online at www.colonialdowns.com.
Racing fans who can’t make it to Colonial can wager at any of the Rosie’s Gaming Emporiums throughout the state, The Rose Gaming Resort in Dumfries or VA-Horseplay locations in Chesapeake and Henrico. Bettors also can wager on racing from Colonial Downs via www.TwinSpires.com, the official advance-deposit wagering service for Churchill Downs Incorporated and its family of racetracks. TwinSpires.com boasts an improved wagering experience and mobile app combining the latest technology with the ability to wager on virtually every quarter, harness and thoroughbred horse race from venues around the globe. TwinSpires.com also offers access to unmatched insight and analysis from horse racing experts, handicappers, insiders, educators and Bloodstock Research Information Services (Brisnet).
About Colonial Downs
Colonial Downs Racetrack, in New Kent, Virginia, hosts live thoroughbred racing on two nationally renowned surfaces – the Secretariat Turf Course, the widest turf course in North America at 180 feet wide and on a 1 1/4-mile dirt track. The Colonial Downs Group, which is owned by Churchill Downs Incorporated (NASDAQ Global Select Market: CHDN), also operates Rosie’s Gaming Emporiums® throughout the commonwealth, which offer innovative historic horseracing (HHR) gaming and full card simulcasting as well as Rosie’s Game Room in Collinsville, and The Rose Gaming Resort® in Dumfries which offers 1,650 HHR gaming terminals, full-card simulcasting, eight bars and restaurants and more than 100 hotel rooms.
