Winter weather forces Oaklawn, Penn to call off weekend
racing
The winter weather continues to cost tracks live race dates as officials at
Oaklawn Park and Penn National have canceled for the upcoming weekend.
Overall, Oaklawn Park has lost six days because of weather since the start of
the meet, including opening day. The Hot Springs venue was dealt another rough
hand by Mother Nature in the form of snow Friday morning, forcing the track to
cancel its entire weekend of racing. The latest cancellations follow ones
Thursday and Friday due to frigid temperatures and a frozen racetrack.
“There is no doubt that the weather has wreaked havoc on the racetrack, but
we also took the safety of our patrons, horsemen and employees into
consideration,” said David Longinotti, Oaklawn’s assistant general manager of
racing. “We were hopeful that we could race Saturday and Sunday because the
forecast is for warming temperatures, but after this latest blow, we had no
choice but to cancel.
“We wanted to make this call early for the convenience of our horsemen and
visitors, who may have been traveling this weekend.”
Oaklawn remains open for simulcasting over the weekend, but live racing is
not scheduled to return until Thursday, with a 1:30 p.m. (CST) first post.
The $100,000 Essex H., originally scheduled for Saturday, will now be either
February 12 or 13.
The week’s barrage of winter storms also claimed another racing victim with
the cancellation of Friday and Saturday’s live racing programs at Penn National
Race Course.
“The storm on Wednesday in our area was freezing rain and ice, and then above
freezing temperatures on Thursday put us into a freeze-thaw cycle that is very
hard on the racing surface,” said Mark Loewe, vice president of racing. “You
can’t remove ice like it was a layer of snow, and when it thaws in the daytime,
and then freezes up at night, there are problems.”
Weather reports for the Central Pennsylvania area call for light snow late
Friday and then a mix of snow and freezing rain on Saturday.
“After consulting with our horsemen, we will not scrap the weekend programs
but rather move the Friday and Saturday cards, as drawn, over to next Monday and
Tuesday, respectively.”
The winter weather has even reached as far south as Houston, where Sam
Houston Race Park canceled Friday’s night card. The weather has created
dangerous conditions on the track’s two racing surfaces as well as slick
conditions for drivers. The track remained open for simulcast operations, and
live racing is expected to resume on Saturday.