Heat prompts Horseshoe Indianapolis to push back first post next week

Horseshoe Indianapolis in Shelbyville has shifted first post for its weekday cards next week to 6:45 p.m. in anticipation of another heat wave blanketing the area, the track announced on Thursday.

The cards scheduled for Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday next week will all start at 6:45, according to the track, approximately four hours later than normal. Long-range forecasts are predicting heat indexes exceeding 100 degrees for much of next week.

Next week’s heat wave will be the second to hit the Midwest in short order. This week, similar temperatures caused Horseshow to cancel its Tuesday and Wednesday cards, though a card on Thursday is going ahead amid temperatures of 91 degrees and 60 percent humidity. Churchill Downs in Louisville, 90 miles to the south, also canceled its midweek cards.

:: Get ready for Saratoga and Del Mar with a Quarterly subscription to DRF Past Performances

A front of mild air is expected to move into the Midwest on Friday and push high temperatures down 15 to 20 degrees for the weekend. But a new warm front is expected to replace it on Monday.

Horseshoe is also dealing with a quarantine of one of its shedrows after two horses earlier in the week tested positive for strangles, a highly contagious bacterial infection of the upper airway. Approximately 20 horses in the affected barn are being isolated from the rest of the population and will not be able to train until the quarantine is lifted near the end of the month.