honeysuckleHit by heavy rain, which initially forced the planned turf races to be moved to the main Tapeta track, has cancelled the King’s Plate races after the fifth race on August 17. The King’s Plate and four other races will now be held on Friday, August 23.
This date would avoid weekend conflicts with other major stakes races, such as the packed stakes program on Travers Stakes Day, August 24, at Saratoga Racetrack.
Officials said the cancellation was due to horse safety and unsafe racetrack conditions and was made after consultation with the Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association, jockeys and veterinarians.
The Tapeta surface at Woodbine appeared to hold up to the first downpours of the day before the track later abandoned racing. Race six, had it been cancelled, would have been run about an hour and a half later than scheduled. Lightning and heavy rain had caused weather-related delays earlier in the day.
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The horses of the sixth race were in the paddock and were unsaddled shortly before the cancellation was announced.
None of the five stakes races scheduled for that day were run, led by the $1 million Canadian King’s Plate Stakes, the first race of the Canadian Triple Crown and the oldest continuously run stakes race in North America. Woodbine officials hoped that the six-day delay of the King’s Plate would not significantly affect attendance at the other races in the series. The scheduled date for the second race, the Prince of Wales Stakes over 1 3/16 miles on dirt, is September 10 at Fort Erieand the Breeders’ Stakes on September 29 over 1 1/2 miles on turf at Woodbine concludes the Canadian Triple Crown.
Tapeta drains differently than dirt tracks and can normally handle steady rain, but Saturday’s rainfall was apparently too much, Woodbine officials noted. Puddles of standing water were visible in other areas of the track, such as the area between the main Tapeta track and the inner turf track. A video posted on social media of the tunnel that horses use to get from the paddock to the track also showed standing water.
This story will be updated.
