Santa Anita cancelled for Saturday
DiscreetCat
Moderator
Unbelievable. This hasn't even been posted on the Santa Anita website yet (like we weren't going to find out?).
from Daily Racing Form:
ARCADIA, Calif. - Santa Anita was forced to cancel a lucrative 10-race program on Saturday after its Pro-Ride synthetic track failed to sufficiently drain following 3 1/2 inches of rain in a 24-hour period from early Friday into Saturday.
Five stakes were scheduled, including the Grade 1 Las Virgenes Stakes for 3-year-old fillies, the Grade 2 Robert Lewis Stakes for 3-year-olds, and the Grade 2 Strub Stakes for 4-year-olds. A decision on when those races will be rescheduled was expected on Sunday, according to racing secretary Rick Hammerle, who declined to speculate on when they could be run. "We have a lot of options," he said.
Racing was scheduled to resume on Sunday with a nine-race program, though that could be affected by expected wet weather expected through Saturday.
The track's racing department was going forward on Saturday morning with entries for Wednesday's program. The three graded stakes, as well as the $65,000 Leroidesanimaux Stakes and $60,000 Wishing Well Handicap on turf, could be offered later in the week or next weekend. The timing of when those races will be rescheduled is a sensitive issue since they are preps for more lucrative races in coming weeks. The Strub, for example, is a prep for the $750,000 Santa Anita Handicap on March 6.
The cancellation of Saturday's program is the fourth time at this meeting that racing has been lost because of extensive rain and insufficient drainage on the main track. The programs of Jan. 18 and 21-22 were lost when more than seven inches of rain fell in a five-day period.
Rain began to fall early Friday morning but did not prevent an eight-race program from being run after track superintendent Richard Tedesco and his crew were able to aerate the synthetic surface in an effort to improve drainage.
After racing ended on Friday, and until dawn on Saturday, Southern California was hit with a significant rainstorm that Tedesco said left Santa Anita's rain gauge at 3 1/2 inches and climbing.
"It was 3.5 inches when the last storm went through," Tedesco said Saturday morning. "We've got standing water everywhere [on the racetrack]."
Tedesco said the most severe rain hit Santa Anita in the hours before dawn on Saturday. "When I got in here at 2 a.m., it was raceable," he said. "Since then, we've been pounded."
Santa Anita lost 11 days of racing during the 2007-08 meeting because of insufficient drainage on a Cushion Track synthetic surface. In the summer of 2008, the track replaced the Cushion Track material with Pro-Ride material.
No racing days were lost during the 2008-09 meeting, but problems have resurfaced this season, when rainfall totals have been higher than normal for the region.
The cancellation of Saturday's program was a blow to the track's bottom line. The 10-race program was one of the better cards of racing from a quality standpoint since the meeting began on Dec. 26.
from Daily Racing Form:
ARCADIA, Calif. - Santa Anita was forced to cancel a lucrative 10-race program on Saturday after its Pro-Ride synthetic track failed to sufficiently drain following 3 1/2 inches of rain in a 24-hour period from early Friday into Saturday.
Five stakes were scheduled, including the Grade 1 Las Virgenes Stakes for 3-year-old fillies, the Grade 2 Robert Lewis Stakes for 3-year-olds, and the Grade 2 Strub Stakes for 4-year-olds. A decision on when those races will be rescheduled was expected on Sunday, according to racing secretary Rick Hammerle, who declined to speculate on when they could be run. "We have a lot of options," he said.
Racing was scheduled to resume on Sunday with a nine-race program, though that could be affected by expected wet weather expected through Saturday.
The track's racing department was going forward on Saturday morning with entries for Wednesday's program. The three graded stakes, as well as the $65,000 Leroidesanimaux Stakes and $60,000 Wishing Well Handicap on turf, could be offered later in the week or next weekend. The timing of when those races will be rescheduled is a sensitive issue since they are preps for more lucrative races in coming weeks. The Strub, for example, is a prep for the $750,000 Santa Anita Handicap on March 6.
The cancellation of Saturday's program is the fourth time at this meeting that racing has been lost because of extensive rain and insufficient drainage on the main track. The programs of Jan. 18 and 21-22 were lost when more than seven inches of rain fell in a five-day period.
Rain began to fall early Friday morning but did not prevent an eight-race program from being run after track superintendent Richard Tedesco and his crew were able to aerate the synthetic surface in an effort to improve drainage.
After racing ended on Friday, and until dawn on Saturday, Southern California was hit with a significant rainstorm that Tedesco said left Santa Anita's rain gauge at 3 1/2 inches and climbing.
"It was 3.5 inches when the last storm went through," Tedesco said Saturday morning. "We've got standing water everywhere [on the racetrack]."
Tedesco said the most severe rain hit Santa Anita in the hours before dawn on Saturday. "When I got in here at 2 a.m., it was raceable," he said. "Since then, we've been pounded."
Santa Anita lost 11 days of racing during the 2007-08 meeting because of insufficient drainage on a Cushion Track synthetic surface. In the summer of 2008, the track replaced the Cushion Track material with Pro-Ride material.
No racing days were lost during the 2008-09 meeting, but problems have resurfaced this season, when rainfall totals have been higher than normal for the region.
The cancellation of Saturday's program was a blow to the track's bottom line. The 10-race program was one of the better cards of racing from a quality standpoint since the meeting began on Dec. 26.
Comments