NEW CUMBERLAND, W.Va. — The winners of prominent stakes in their most recent starts are among the 37 3-year-olds nominated to the $400,000 Grade III West Virginia Derby, which will be held Sunday, Aug. 3, at Mountaineer Casino, Resort & Races. The 2025 West Virginia Derby will be the 55th in its history.

The program, which includes the $200,000 West Virginia Governor’s Stakes, will have a first post time of 5 p.m. The shift from a Saturday afternoon to a Sunday twilight program was made in 2023.

Admiral Dennis, a colt by Constitution, captured the inaugural $200,000 Delaware Derby at Delaware Park in his last start June 14 for trainer Brad Cox, who has three horses nominated for the 1 1/8-mile West Virginia Derby. Cox, who regularly ships horses to Mountaineer for its big day, captured his first West Virginia Derby last year with Dragoon Guard, who is among the nominees for the Governor’s Stakes.

Admiral Dennis, owned by Albaugh Family Stable, finished fourth in the Grade I Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland in April and has been training at Churchill Downs since the victory in Delaware. Cox also nominated Instant Replay, winner of the Texas Derby in May, and Flood Zone, who won the Grade III Gotham Stakes at Aqueduct Racetrack in March.

Cox, who has won the Governor’s Stakes four times, said July 24 he expects to have horses for both Mountaineer stakes but was not sure which ones would be entered.

East Avenue, bred and owned by Godolphin and trained by Brendan Walsh, fell a nose short of winning the Blue Grass Stakes and then finished eighth in the Grade I Kentucky Derby. His connections took a pass on the other two Triple Crown races, and the Medaglia d’Oro colt returned with a front-running score in the Grade III Matt Winn Stakes at Churchill in his last start.

Also nominated is Norman Stables’ Coal Battle, a three-time stakes winner including the Grade II Rebel Stakes at Oaklawn Park in Arkansas in February for trainer Lonnie Briley. The Coal Front colt finished third in the Grade I Arkansas Derby, 11th in the Kentucky Derby, third in the Matt Winn, and most recently was a close second in the Grade III Indiana Derby, which usually produces West Virginia Derby runners.

He and others based in Kentucky could opt for the $300,000 Ellis Park Derby the following weekend.

Along with Dragoon Guard, a 4-year-old Arrogate colt bred and owned by Juddmonte Farms, the 1 1/16-mile Governor’s Stakes nominees include stablemate Hit Show, who won last year’s edition of the race and since then has won four graded stakes including the Group I Dubai World Cup in early April. The 5-year-old Candy Ride horse is bred and owned by Gary and Mary West.

Trainer Robertino Diodoro nominated a pair of horses that competed in 2024 at Mountaineer. Heroic Move, a 5-year-old Quality Road horse owned by Arnold Bennewith, Rick Wiest, Clayton Wiest, Lana Wiest, Randy Howg, R6 Stables, Gary Kropp and Norman Trembley, finished second behind Hit Show in the Governor’s Stakes, while Komorebino Omoide, a 5-year-old horse by California Chrome owned by Perry Martin, finished a close third in the same race.

In all, 53 horses were nominated to the Governor’s Stakes, which is now a listed event. Entries for the Aug. 3 West Virginia Derby program will be taken Tuesday, July 29.

Admission tickets for Aug. 3 are required for attendance and are available online at the Mountaineer website, at the Mountaineer gift shop, or at the gate the day of the event. Food trucks will be available beginning at 2 p.m., and there will be live entertainment from 2:30-4 p.m.