~ Friday’s first race featured a dead heat tie for first and dead heat tie for third ~
NEW KENT, Va. (July 28, 2025)—One of horse racing’s rarest results occurred on Friday at Colonial Downs Racetrack as the day’s first race featured a “double dead heat” with a tie for first and a tie for third. While dead heats occur a few times per year around the world, the double-dead heat is considered extraordinarily rare, especially since the introduction of photo-finish technology.
Since 1990, records show only 15 double dead heats for first and third over more than 2 million races run throughout North America.
“I’ve been in the racing business for more than 20 years and this was definitely a first for me,” said Frank Hopf, Senior Director of Racing at Colonial Downs. “It just speaks to the kind of excitement and competition fans will find on every race day here at Colonial.”
In Friday’s first race, a $70,000 “maiden special,” Magic Wallet ridden by Victor Carrasco and Sometime ridden by Axel Concepcion each finished in 1:04:59 to tie for the win, while Birdy Whisper ridden by Johan Rosado and Smols ridden by Gavin Ashton finished in 1:06:34 to tie for show, or third place. In an interesting coincidence, Birdy Whisper and Smols are stablemates with a common owner and trainer, Carlos Munoz of CM Thoroughbreds.
The result produced a complicated outcome for bettors, with payouts for two winners, two different exacta results (picking first and second), four different trifecta results (picking first, second, and third), and four different superfecta results (picking first, second, third, and fourth.)
Colonial Downs is currently preparing for its August 9 Festival of Racing, which will be the biggest day of racing in Virginia history with more than $2.5 million in prize money up for grabs. Tickets for this premium racing event are available at www.ColonialDowns.com including $5 general admission. Racing continues at Virginia’s premier thoroughbred racetrack each Wednesday through Saturday until September 13 with a special race card on Labor Day.
