Heat forces Colonial to cancel July 4 card

Colonial Downs in New Kent, Va., has canceled its July 4 racing card due to a persistent heat wave that has led to scheduling changes at tracks throughout the U.S. in the past week.

Colonial had been holding out hope of hosting its holiday card all week, moving its post times up to late morning to escape the hottest part of the day. But the mid-Atlantic region is being hardest hit by the heat wave this weekend, and the track finally announced on Friday afternoon that the July 4 card was off.

Colonial had eight races scheduled for the card, including two $125,000 stakes races, the Miss Disco and Star de Naskra. Those races are being moved to July 11.

Colonial said that it will add a day of racing on Monday, July 13, to make up for some of the lost races this week. Colonial also canceled its Friday card because of the heat.

Live racing is still scheduled for Sunday, July 5, and Monday, July 6, though first post has been pushed up to 10:45 a.m.

:: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.