Arlington cancels two races on Saturday card

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. - Arlington canceled its third and fourth races Saturday after a long delay caused by a heavy storm that struck the track early in the afternoon.

Between the second race, which went off at 1:30, and race 3, scheduled for 1:59, a strong line of storms passed through the area, bringing strong wind, lightning, and, most of all, heavy rain. Race 3 was delayed as Arlington waited for the weather to pass, but after the rain had lessened, a small group of jockeys came out to inspect the Polytrack surface, which was being used for all nine Saturday races, the turf course having been deemed too wet for racing.

By the time the riders had finished looking at the track and conferred with management and stewards it was past 3:30, at which point Arlington decided to skip two races on the program.

“The jocks had some issues with the surface,” said chief state steward Eddie Arroyo. “Due to the time constraints for horses and everyone else, [Arlington] canceled races 3 and 4.”