Churchill Downs cancels Wednesday card

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Churchill Downs on Tuesday morning canceled its 10-race Wednesday card because of unseasonably cold conditions and a frozen racetrack.

About three inches of snow fell early Monday in the Louisville area, and despite the Churchill maintenance crew harrowing the track around the clock since last Thursday, they could not prevent it from freezing. Training was canceled Tuesday morning and was expected to be canceled Wednesday, too, following an overnight low in the mid-teens.

One lingering question is whether a 10-race Thursday program will also have to be canceled. That seems quite likely: the high temperature for Wednesday was expected to peak in the low 40s, with the overnight low into Thursday dipping to 24. The Thursday high is supposed to hover around 32 degrees.

A slight warming trend was forecast as the week wore on, with a high in the low 50s forecasted for Saturday.

This is the first full-card cancellation due to weather at Churchill in almost 2 1/2 years, when it canceled on June 28, 2012 due to extreme heat.

The last frozen-track cancellation was Nov. 13, 1986, according to Churchill.