PROVIDENCEFORGE -- Changes abound at Colonial Downs, with a new management team in place, a new dirt racing surface and a sense of independence.

Gone, for about $10 million, is a management agreement with the Maryland Jockey Club that lasted nine years for the state's only pari-mutuel horse racing track.

The buyout by Colonial Downs owner Jeff Jacobs also meant the departure of general manager John Mooney, an MJC employee, and Iain Woolnough's promotion from director of treasury management to general manager as the track looks toward its 10th season.

"It's a new era for Colonial Downs," Woolnough said Wednesday.

Opening day is Friday, the first of a record 42 days of thoroughbred racing that will be highlighted by a pair of $1 million races -- the June 24 Turf Cup and the July 15 Virginia Derby. The races make up half of Jacobs' $5 million Grand Slam of Grass.

The Grand Slam, offering a $2.36 million bonus to a horse that sweeps all four races, will also include the $400,000 Secretariat Stakes at Arlington Park on Aug. 12 and the $2 million John Deere Breeders' Cup Turf at Churchill Downs on Nov. 4.

With the income from nine off-track betting parlors, including one in Vinton, feeding the purse account and horses being turned away because the barns have no more room, the outlook at the New Kent County track may be more positive than it has ever been.

A lot of that has to do with the presence of Woolnough, a native of Scotland with more than 2,000 career victories as a jockey, and an infectious, upbeat nature.

He's been at the track since it was only visible on a blueprint, helping at first to oversee the installation of the dirt and turf courses considered among the best in racing, and has weathered the legal and regulatory storms that once dominated.

There were times, he joked, when "Kevlar was like the suit of the day" when the day included a trip to the Virginia Racing Commission, which oversees the track's operation and frequently found itself defending horsemen and others angry with the track.

Now, he said, is a time to reap the rewards of what the track has become.

After having too much clay in the dirt track last year, Colonial Downs went back to its previous mix that incorporates more sand, and it's already drawing raves like before.

"I see they got it back to where it was and the horses should run so well over it," said trainer Hamilton Smith, the career leader with nearly $1.8 million in winnings here.

Smith, who has been bringing horses to the track since it opened in 1997, said he'll run about 50 horses during the thoroughbred meet.