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 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.
“Late in the day, there was so much rain in such a short period of time. It created puddles on the racecourse,” Woodbine managing director Michael Copeland told reporters. “There were safety concerns. When there are safety concerns, safety is always considered the number one priority in decision making. So we consulted with our veterinarians and our jockeys and came to the conclusion that it was not safe to continue racing.”
“And then the next step was to say, OK, this is a big day for racing in Canada. How do we make sure the 165th (King’s Plate) still goes ahead? So we made the decision to run it on Friday. We’re going to broadcast the four stakes races and the King’s Plate and move them to Friday. So Friday is going to be a spectacular program now. We were hoping it would go ahead today, but Mother Nature had other plans.”
He said the circuit would be in touch with those who had purchased tickets for the King’s Plate and inform them of Saturday’s cancellation. He said it was too early to know if the King’s Plate could be broadcast nationally on Friday as it had been scheduled for Saturday. He said the circuit would work to get it distributed through as many channels as possible.
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Copeland said the postponed races would not be redrawn. These stakes would be supported by other races.
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 day’s five stakes races were contested. The $1 million Canadian King’s Plate, the first race of the Canadian Triple Crown and the oldest continuously run stakes race in North America, was topped. Copeland expressed hope that the six-day delay of the King’s Plate will not negatively affect the second race of the series, the Prince of Wales Stakes on Sept. 10 over 1 3/16 miles on dirt, because horses have less recovery time between races. The Breeders’ Stakes on Sept. 29 over 1 1/2 miles on turf at Woodbine concludes the Canadian Triple Crown.
Tapeta drains differently than dirt roads and can normally handle steady rain, but Saturday’s rainfall was apparently too much, Woodbine authorities said.
“I spoke to one of our most prominent trainers who said that at any other racetrack this would have been cancelled a long time ago and it was only thanks to Tapeta and our ground staff that we were able to hold on as long as we did. Everyone has worked so hard,” Copeland said.
