Aqueduct cancels Sunday, Monday cards due to frigid temps

Live racing Sunday and Monday at Aqueduct has been canceled due to extreme cold, the New York Racing Association announced Sunday morning.

Training on Monday at both Aqueduct and Belmont Park is also canceled. Both tracks were open for training on Sunday.

According to the National Weather Service, temperatures on Sunday and Monday were forecast in the mid-to-high teens, but the wind chill on Sunday was between zero and 5 degrees. On Monday it is expected between minus-10 and zero degrees.

These cancellations come after frigid temperatures canceled Thursday’s card and the last five races of Saturday’s card were scrapped after the jockeys expressed concerns about the condition of the main track.

Five stakes scheduled between Thursday and Monday were lost, including Monday’s $150,000 Jerome Stakes, a race that offers qualifying points to the May 5 Kentucky Derby. Other stakes lost were the East View, Damon Runyon, Bay Ridge and Alex Robb, all $100,000 races restricted to New York-breds.

The long-range forecast calls for brutal temperatures next weekend as well, creating a tricky situation for NYRA management on when to reschedule these stakes races. In a text message to horsemen, NYRA management said “we have every intention of running those stakes once we have a favorable forecast.”

It was previously announced that the East View, scheduled for last Thursday, has been rescheduled for Jan. 7.