RICHMOND, Va. (WTVR) – The Strawberry Hill Races will be held in the Fall, not the Spring, race organizers announced Tuesday morning. The exact date and location have not yet been announced.
“We have decided to revise our initial plans for 2013 and will hold the Strawberry Hill Races in the Fall, just as its founding organization, the Deep Run Hunt Club, did when it held its first race meet in 1895,” Christie Harrell, general partner in Strawberry Hill Races, said in a press release. “However, the meet will return to its traditional Spring date in the years to follow, beginning April 12, 2014.”
aGRAshare, established by Harrell and Mildred Dotson, bought the rights to the Strawberry Hill Races last year when its previous owner – the State Fair of Virginia – filed for bankruptcy and put the race up for auction.
Mark Lovell, whose company Universal Fairs bought the State Fair of Virginia, said in an interview last year that he would be interested in holding the Strawberry Hill Races at the Meadow Event Park in Caroline County.
Organizers said they intend to hold the Strawberry Hill Races at a Central Virginia farm, though the exact location has not yet been made public.
The event had been held at Colonial Downs in New Kent County since 2000. Before that, the races took place at State Fair of Virginia’s Fairgrounds on Strawberry Hill.
